The Quiet Room label and the power of the traveller
The Quiet Room label is a certificate for quiet hotel rooms. Great, you may say, but what has this to do with digital travel marketing? More than you might think. The QR-label is in fact a logical consequence of the explosion of digital travel experiences and travellers’ reviews.
Positive travellers’ experiences are becoming increasingly important to the commercial success of hotels. A few negative reviews on Booking.com or Tripadvisor and the bookings take a nosedive. There is even talk about doing away with the star qualification and replacing it with a ranking based on travellers reviews. Hotels which listen carefully to their guests’ remarks can adapt their product and thus get better reviews.
Noise is the No. 1 complaint in world wide surveys of hotel guests’ complaints. (source)
An increasing number of people are actively looking for silence when they book a holiday. Quiet locations are sought after and many web sites advertise the fact that hotels are situated in a quiet location. (Examples are en.escapio.com/quiet-hotels, www.relaisdusilence.com, Article HLN.)
But what if you are visiting a beautiful city and still want a quiet hotel room? There are very few hotels in larger cities where you will not be bothered by ambient noise in and around the hotel. Some hotels solve this problem by creating silent zones or offering ‘white noise’ machines to their guests, like the Sound+Sleep machines in some Fairmont hotels. Others have instigated so-called snore brigades which patrol the corridors at night and address guests who are noisy sleepers. But the really clever hotels make sure they have well-insulated rooms for guests who require them. They can advertise these on their website and get positive reviews which other travellers will use when booking a hotel room. See Tripadvisor.
The QR-label addresses this issue by creating an official certificate for hotels. After having their rooms tested for noise and possible adaptations, they acquire the right to carry the label. They can use this in their marketing and travellers know that a hotel with the QR-label is guaranteed to have quiet rooms. As we speak, some forty Dutch hotels want to acquire the label and a lot of hotels in other countries there have shown their interest among which hotel chains like Golden Tulip/Accor and Swissotel. The first certifications will take place at the beginning of 2015.
Conclusions about the online label
In view of the complaints and growing demand for silence among travellers and the interest of hotels, it seems that the time is ripe for the QR-label. It contains a clear message, has great visibility and can easily be added to websites and social media.
If you want to share your views on quiet hotels or your experiences with noisy hotel rooms, leave a message on www.quiethotelroom.org or on our Facebook page.
