Stepping back

Negative perception is a difficult beast for any hotel, destination, or even region to overcome.

And while the media is often responsible for generating these perceptions - ask many westerners for their impressions of the Middle East and they will range between "don't know" and "dangerous", regardless of the reality - hotels and destinations still have the most powerful tool to influence the public: from their guests.

This point was illustrated by John Arlidge's scathing review of the Banyan Tree Desert Spa and Resort, Al Areen, which appeared in The Times last year.

While not wanting to repeat Arlidge's points - the title ‘The Bahrain hotel that's mad, bad and boring' gives you a suitable impression of the contents of the review - the fact remains that he obviously did not enjoy his time at the hotel for a variety of reasons (although some of them were beyond the resort's control).

When asked about the negative press, general manager Sami Ayari said there was no need to comment, as it was a personal view, before going on to list the numerous positive reviews the property has received in other international publications.

However what was interesting about the review is the feedback that it generated from the web-using public in The Times' online forum.

Some were quick to agree with Aldridge (although most were disgruntled expats who were consumed by debate about whether Bahrain really was "as dull as dish water").

But others leapt to the defence of the property, with comments such as "I have stayed in this hotel several times and it is one of the nicest hotels I have been too, and those include five-plus stars worldwide, hotels in Europe and the US".

There seems to be a lot of fear in the industry about the nature of online reviews, be it by guests or the travel media.

Indeed, I wouldn't have even noticed this particular story if it had not been brought to my attention by several hotel PR professionals based in Dubai, often accompanied by words to the effect of "I'm glad this didn't happen to me".

But ultimately this sort of feedback, for want of a better description, provides hotels with the perfect opportunity to step back and see their properties through fresh eyes.

If a traveller already has negative perceptions about a property they can easily be won over with the good service that many hotels consistently offer.

And once guests leave pleasantly surprised, it will be the best free advertisement the hotel's ever had.

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