Maestro FAQ’s – Property Users
What is social media?
“Social media” is a blanket term used to describe the consumer-generated content created and disseminated through social interaction on the internet. With the advent of highly accessible publishing technology, anyone who is online can publish content for any/everyone to see.
Why is it important to monitor it for the travel industry?
The proliferation of user-generated content has led to a number of quite popular booking and review sites, such as TripAdvisor.com. Seven of the top 10 most trafficked travel sites have consumer reviews on hotels.[1] And, 80% of American travelers have used online reviews before booking, and of those, 80% report that the reviews had a direct impact on the booking decision.[2]
What is Maestro?
Maestro is Hilton Worldwide’s Social Media Monitoring program. It is an online interface that centralizes all public social media about our hotels, and our competitors, into one dashboard, allowing for quick, easy listening to our guests. You can also engage with your guests by replying to comments through your Maestro dashboard.
How often should I check Maestro?
Check Maestro each day to hear what your guests are saying about you and your competition.
How do I access Maestro?
Maestro is accessed through OnQ Insider. Click on “My Applications,” and in the drop-down menu, select “Social Media Monitoring.” This will open the Maestro dashboard for your hotel.
Can I make the dashboard load more quickly?
The dashboard has lots of graphics on it. Because of this, it loads a bit more slowly than other interfaces that are mainly text.
What is a “clip?”
A “clip” is another name for a “comment” or “post” that someone has written on the internet.
What is a “widget?”
“Widget” is the name for each section of the dashboard. Some of the widgets are charts, others are listings of clips. Each widget has click-through capability so that the user can view all of the clips that make up each category. Simply clicking on any section of a widget will open a new window displaying all of the relevant clips.
How does the Maestro system determine “sentiment” (positive, neutral, negative)?
The automated engine that runs Maestro reads each clip, and determines sentiment based on the words and phrases in the clip. Because this is an automated system, it can never fully understand the intention of every individual that posts a comment. For example, the engine does not understand sarcasm. Therefore, it is important to read each and every clip to gain a full understanding of the commentary.
What should I do if the incorrect sentiment has been assigned to a clip in my opinion?
Neither you nor your hotel are being scored or graded on Maestro at all. The sentiment ratings are simply a way of showing you a general attitude of a clip. Sentiment of a clip cannot be changed. If you feel a clip has been given the wrong sentiment, simply ignore the sentiment designation.
What do the “Heat Map” widgets mean?
The “Heat map” widgets show themes, ranked by volume, that are mentioned in clips about your hotel. In the example above, the theme “room cleanliness” has been mentioned 128 times in positive reviews over the last 30 days. Each theme has click-through capability, so by clicking on a theme, the user can read all of the clips that make up that category.
Who at my property has access to Maestro?
The General Manager at each property has been given automatic access to Maestro. If they do not appear to have access or you need to set up access for a Maestro Manager, your GM will need to log into https://onqsecurity.hilton.com/securityrequests/login.aspx and make the request.
How do I get access for team members other than the GM?
In December 2009, we asked all hotels to submit their Maestro Manager contact in JACK, so we can set up their access. All DOS’s should have access now as well. If you need to designate a new contact, first ensure that anyone that you believe should have access to Maestro meets the brand guidelines for team members who should respond to social media on behalf of the hotel. Individuals should be trained on responding to guests and on the nuances of social media.
Once you believe that access should be granted to an individual, have them log on to OnQ Insider and click on the blue star at the top of the page to the right of their name. Click on “Modify My Account” and then enter the OnQ username and password. Click on “Change My Access” and choose the “Applications” tab at the top of the screen. Scroll down to find “Social Media Monitoring,” click the check box, and click NEXT until Finish. This will generate an approval email to the supervisors who can approve new applications for the team member.
What should I do first?
The most important thing to do is to read every clip about your hotel. The widgets are at-a-glance ways to prioritize the clips, such as by sentiment or theme. Also, scroll down to the competitor section and read the clips about your competitors to see what guests are saying about those hotels.
How does Maestro know who my competitors are?
Your Smith Travel Research (STAR) competitive set has been loaded in to Maestro. We will periodically update this list for competitive sets that may have changed.
How do I respond to a clip?
Click on the title of a clip. A new window will open that shows the entire text of a clip. At the top is the title; below the title is the website where the clip was created, the author, and the date it was posted. To respond to a clip, click on the hyperlink “View Original Document.” This will open the originating site, and take you to the thread where the review was first posted. You can respond to the review if the site allows you to do so.
What should I say in my response?
Each brand has guidelines and recommendations for responding to clips. Please refer to these guidelines or discuss this with your brand representative.
Once I respond, will Maestro pull my response back in to the dashboard?
No, only original reviews are pulled in to the tool.
What is “Board Reader?”
Board Reader is simply one of the providers that helps gather the information from the internet.
I see clips that are relevant to other hotels, but not to my hotel. What should I do?
If occasional reviews on other hotels appear, you can simply ignore them. However, if clips frequently appear that are not relevant to your hotel, you can contact your Brand Representative, who can revise the rules that pull content for your hotel.
What sites does Maestro pull content from?
There are thousands of sites that Maestro examines to find content about our hotels and competitors. The major hotel review sites (Trip Advisor, Expedia, Orbitz, Priceline, Hotels.com, etc) will make up the majority of clips for your hotel. Maestro also examines communities, blogs, and micro-blogs (such as Twitter) for comments. Maestro cannot pull content from Facebook due to the privacy rules for the site.
Can I set up alerts so I’m notified when a review comes in?
Yes. In early January 2010 we will have documentation on setting up alerts for the Maestro tool, so that you are emailed when clips arrive. These will be distributed by your brand teams.
Can we change the date range to increase/decrease the size of responses?
Yes. There is a “Date Range” drop-down box on the toolbar at the top of the dashboard; you can select any time period you wish, and all of the widgets (charts) will change.
Can we choose which Sites are monitored?
Maestro monitors tens of thousands of websites. You cannot choose which sites are monitored, but if you know of a “new” site that might contain commentary about your hotel, or are curious to know whether a specific site is being monitored, you can send that information to your Brand Performance Support Director, and they can find out for you.
Can we add a hotel that is not on our comp set with STR because they choose not to report?
Currently, we are only able to add the STR competitors. However, you can search for content about any hotel by simply typing the name of the hotel in the search box (“Watchlist”) at the top of the dashboard, and all content for that hotel will appear.
Can we remove a hotel from the comp set list?
Every six months, we will submit comp set changes to Maestro. However, you can search for content about any hotel by simply typing the name of the hotel in the search box (“Watchlist”) at the top of the dashboard, and all content for that hotel will appear. The comp set included is only your hotel’s primary comp set; the secondary comp set is not included.
Can we respond or address competitor reviews?
You should never respond to a review or comment about a competitor. Simply refer to them to gain competitive intelligence. In addition, we don’t want to bribe or solicit for positive reviews through any site.
Is there any danger that older content is lost?
Content has been loaded into Maestro beginning with November, 2009. As we progress, historical data is stored on the site and will not be lost.
My hotel is in pre-opening status. When will my hotel be set up on Maestro and when can I view responses to my comp set hotels?
Pre-opening hotels will be included in Maestro once their comp set is created and set up through OnQ. This will usually take place about 3-4 weeks after the STR comp set has been created.
Where can I go to learn more?
A 10-minute training session on Maestro has been developed for Hilton University. Simply log on to Hilton University; then click on “Click Here to Begin,” and in “Browse Course Catalog” type in “Maestro” or “Social Media Monitoring.”
[1] Compete.com, October 2008 – September 2009 website traffic.
[2] Pew Internet Research.