Since its opening at Easter 2016, the Shandon hotel & Spa has been quickly recognised as one of the best hotels in County Donegal to stay on TripAdvisor. This is a huge achievement for such a young company to already rank number 4 out of 71 hotels and number 1 in Portnablagh.
TripAdvisor’s algorithm for determining the popularity index score takes into account quantity and quality of TripAdvisor reviews, guidebook ratings and comments from all over the Web. According to TripAdvisor, “the algorithm weights more recent information more heavily.” It’s a black-box algorithm meaning there’s no way to really figure out how much weight each carries and what other factors might go into the mix.
Carolynne Harrison – General Manager believes that the key to their success has been their focus on quality and creating a superior guest experience. More often than not, hoteliers fixate their strategy on getting a high ranking on TripAdvisor or being above their comp set, however, its really simple, create a fantastic product, ensure your staff have all the training and tools to do their job with ease and professionalism, this creates a happy, empowered and confident team who will ensure that every guest feels special… once your guest feels special, the positive reviews will follow.
Carolynne said ‘ we listen to our guests, our guests are the ones who have improved what we offer, with constructive feedback we can implement products or processes which will make the experience better each time’. As a young company and a new team, we are like sponges right now, according to Carolynne who admits that, she had a very steep learning curve to get it right and none of it would have been possible without engaging with her customers, addressing their weekly ‘tops & flops’ in the resort and ensuring that if something wasn’t right that it is fixed immediately.
The Shandon Hotel & Spa has also been named as ‘Luxury Hotel & Spa of The Year’ by the luxury travel awards – which is international.
For more information visit TripAdvisors top hotels in Donegal https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotels-g186601-County_Donegal-Hotels.html
