The Barclays Feedback Economy report has found that putting processes in place to better manage customer feedback will create a more responsive sector, attract more overseas tourists and encourage domestic visitors to stay longer and spend more.
The more responsive sector could add £2bn to the UK economy, with the impact of the sector’s large supply chain contributing a further £1.2bn, the report suggests.
Mike Saul, head of hospitality and leisure at Barclays, said: “The rise of feedback sites has been a disruptive force within the hospitality industry over the past decade. Our research reveals that those working in the UK hospitality and leisure industry feel that these faster, easier and simpler feedback mechanisms are a good thing for the industry – resulting in more agile businesses better able to serve the evolving needs of consumers.
“However, there is even more that the hospitality industry can do to capitalise on this opportunity. Our research shows that being more responsive to customer feedback could increase the value of the UK hospitality and leisure industry to the wider economy by more than £3 billion over the next decade.”
The Barclays survey found that over half (59%) of UK consumers read other people’s reviews and they play an important role in helping them decide where to visit. This rises to 70% amongst 25-34 year olds.
Almost half (45%) of all consumers are more likely to leave a review today than 18 months ago, citing factors such as access through smartphones (42%) or awareness of the importance of reviews (33%).
A majority (82%) of the hospitality industry says that feedback has been beneficial for their business and two thirds (68%) think it has been beneficial for the sector as a whole.
Businesses cited a number of benefits from online feedback, including more repeat business (63%) and the identification of issues within the business (61%). However many (63%) of businesses are not currently managing feedback in the long term or maintaining records in a formal Customer Relationship Management system.
Moreover, two thirds of the hospitality and leisure industry (66%) expect the importance of online feedback websites to increase over the next 18 months. In response, 73% of businesses plan to make changes over the next five years.
More than a quarter (27%) will be investing in specialist staff training to manage customer feedback, close to a quarter (22%) expect to appoint a dedicated staff member or team and 13% anticipate working with an external consultancy or specialist feedback management agency.
TripAdvisor was seen to be the most relevant online feedback site, with 60% of respondents citing the website as being relevant to their business. The traditional route of professional reviews in guidebooks is in decline, seen as relevant by less than one quarter of the sector (23%), whereas professional reviews by newspapers and magazines fare better were rated as relevant by a third (33%) of the sector, rising to nearly half of bars and pubs (46%).