How Edwardian Hotels London Saved Thousands of Hours Using AI in Reputation Management

Kris Leszczynski, the Group General Manager of Service Operations at Edwardian Hotels London, faced the challenge of managing a high volume of online reviews across multiple luxury hotels. With over 10-15,000 online reviews received annually, the task of responding efficiently and with a consistent quality was daunting. Language barriers and time constraints further complicated the process. However, with MARA's AI-powered solution, Edwardian Hotels London not only streamlined their review management but also saved thousands of hours and improved the quality of their responses to ensure that every guest feels heard and valued.

Feel free to watch the recording of the live webinar featuring Kris Leszczynski, as an alternative to reading:

Key Achievements

Substantial time savings by partially automating review responses
Improved response quality and consistency
Enhanced team efficiency, and satisfaction and improves language skills
Seamless workflows through integrations with major review platforms
Valuable insights for strategic decision-making
Search Engine Optimization through the implementation of Smart Snippets

The Company

Edwardian Hotels London is a privately owned hotel group that has been operating and developing its hospitality portfolio since 1977. Since then, the portfolio grew into a collection of 13 luxury hotels and numerous restaurants and bars in prime locations.

In January 2024, Edwardian Hotels London announced the sale of 10 Radisson Blu Edwardian properties, distilling its portfolio into a boutique collection of three ultra-premium hotels and iconic dining experiences. Each property reflects Edwardian Hotels' commitment to delivering exceptional guest experiences, blending modern luxury with traditional hospitality

The Londoner, Edwardian Hotels London’s latest opening, is a member of Preferred Hotels & Resorts’ prestigious Legend Collection. The group also owns and operates The May Fair and The Edwardian Manchester, both part of premium lifestyle brand Radisson Collection, as well as a range of luxury restaurants and bars, including award-winning brands such as May Fair Kitchen, Peter Street Kitchen, and May Fair Bar.

Behind the success of Edwardian Hotels London stands a unified culture and family ethos, where all employees are aware of the difference they can make to the running of the business. With more than 70 languages spoken by the teams across their hotels, the diverse workforce does not only make their guests from all over the world feel welcomed but also contributes their unique skills, backgrounds and personalities to the brand.

The Problem

Edwardian Hotels London receives a high volume of online reviews, with over 10,000 to 15,000 reviews annually across its properties. In the highly competitive luxury sector, timely and high-quality responses to guest feedback are crucial for maintaining the group’s reputation and guest satisfaction.

Prior to implementing MARA's AI-powered review management solution, responding to this overwhelming number of reviews presented several challenges, particularly around efficiency, and quality of the responses. Many of the team members at Edwardian Hotels London, do not consider English to be their first language. This linguistic diversity often led to difficulties in understanding long reviews quickly, and crafting grammatically correct, thoughtful, and personalized responses. Moreover, the manual process was time-consuming and repetitive, with staff members often spending 5 to 7 minutes crafting a single response. With increasing review volume and the ongoing problem of staff shortages in the hospitality industry, Kris observed that this inefficiency was leading to delays and repetitive responses and, most importantly, was detracting from the team's primary focus: providing top-tier service to guests.

The Solution

Turning to MARA's AI-powered Online Reputation Management system two years ago, Edwardian Hotels London found a game-changing solution to their review management challenges and achieved remarkable results. The key features that transformed their review management process included:

1. Multi-Language Capability:

MARA’s AI enables the diverse teams at Edwardian Hotels London to understand reviews in any language, and efficiently respond in a consistent, high-quality manner without the need for manual translations.

2. Response Drafts and Automation:

MARA's automation capabilities, including the pre-generation of response drafts for new reviews overnight, streamlined the response process and significantly reduced the time spent on crafting replies.

3. Brand Voice and Smart Snippets:

The possibility to activate a Brand Voice AI and to use pre-set phrases tailored to frequently addressed topics allowed for customized and consistent responses, maintaining the unique identity of each property in communication and minimizing the need for manual editing. Smart Snippets also enabled Edwardian Hotels London to effortlessly implement SEO-relevant terms in their guest communication.

4. Integration with Major Platforms:

MARA’s direct integrations with Google and Booking.com further simplified the response process and saved the team unnecessary steps in the workflow when responding to reviews across multiple platforms.

5. Advanced Analytics:

MARA also provides Edwardian Hotels London with comprehensive insights into public guest feedback for better strategic decisions.

6. Continuous AI Improvement and Learning:

The AI's ability to learn from past interactions and the continuous improvement of response suggestions over time is a major asset for Edwardian Hotels London, further enhancing their response quality.

The Experience

The implementation of MARA brought about a significant transformation in Edwardian Hotels London's review management process:

1. Enhanced Operational Efficiency

MARA dramatically reduced the time needed to respond to reviews, transforming a process that once required several minutes per response into one that takes mere seconds. This efficiency has allowed the team to reclaim valuable hours each day, enabling them to focus more on direct guest services and other high-priority tasks.

2. User-Friendly Interface and Quick Adaptation

The intuitive design of MARA, combined with an easy onboarding process, ensured that Edwardian Hotels' staff quickly adapted to the tool. The user-friendly interface minimized the learning curve, allowing the team to seamlessly integrate MARA into their daily operations without disruption, which has made MARA a vital part of Edwardian Hotels London’s digital toolkit.

3. Consistent, High-Quality Responses

MARA’s AI generates responses that are both comprehensive and consistent, ensuring that all critical points in guest reviews are addressed. The AI’s ability to also learn and replicate the brand's tone ensures that the responses maintain a personal touch, meeting the luxury standards and individual requirements of the different hotels and F&B locations.

4. Customization and Control

Despite the automation, Edwardian Hotels London retained full control over the content of their review responses. With MARA’s customizable automation options, the team can review, modify, or personalize the AI-generated response drafts before posting them, ensuring alignment with the unique needs of each guest interaction.

5. Improved Guest Engagement and Online Reputation

The ability to respond quickly and simultaneously with a high degree of personalization has resulted in a response rate of almost 100% and significantly improved guest relations. MARA's efficiency and quality ensure that guests feel heard and valued, contributing to positive engagement and satisfaction.

6. Language and Skill Development

An unexpected advantage of using MARA has been the improvement in the language skills of Edwardian Hotels' diverse team. Staff members have refined their writing abilities by interacting with and learning from the AI-generated responses, leading to better communication skills overall.

7. Advanced Features and SEO Optimization

MARA’s advanced features, such as smart snippets for recurring topics and automated responses to non-text reviews, have further streamlined the review management process. Additionally, Edwardian Hotels London also used Smart Snippets to enhance the hotel’s SEO efforts, with responses being optimized for search engines, driving better online visibility.

8. Active Participation in Platform Development

Edwardian Hotels London’s feedback has been integral to MARA’s continuous improvement. This active collaboration has ensured that the platform evolves in ways that directly benefit the hotel's operational needs and guest engagement strategies.

Through the integration of MARA's AI solution, Edwardian Hotels London has achieved a remarkable transformation in their review management process. By automating and streamlining review responses, the hotel group not only saved thousands of hours of manual labor but also significantly enhanced the quality and efficiency of their guest interactions. They have been able to respond to over 50,000 reviews in two years, achieving near 100% response rates.

For Edwardian Hotels London, MARA has proven to be more than just a tool; it is a strategic partner in maintaining and enhancing the guest experience. The success of this collaboration has led to the expansion of MARA’s use beyond hotel properties to include food and beverage outlets, with plans to integrate it into spa services in the future.

Experience MARA today.

Just like Edwardian Hotels London, you too can optimize your review management process and elevate your online reputation with MARA's AI solution. Take the first step towards efficient and effective guest feedback management by exploring MARA's features and benefits.

Schedule a personalized demo and start your journey towards enhanced guest satisfaction and operational excellence.