Are reviews worthwhile?

From the moment they step through the door your bookings become guests, and their experiences determine whether they ever come back.
brightmike
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Are reviews worthwhile?

Post by brightmike »

Interesting article about reviews, not specific to holiday lets, but does mention TA.

https://www.lcn.com/blog/how-to-encoura ... er-reviews
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Ben McNevis
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Post by Ben McNevis »

If only folks would take note of the reviews of OD, HA and HL (e.g. on Trustpilot but also on many other consumer review sites) the world would be a better place. We can only hope.

These companies are scoring as low as the worst of the banks, based largely on renter reviews - go have a look if you haven't done so recently!
Cheers, Ben
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e-richard
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Post by e-richard »

Trustpilot is a great place to just go and have a moan. Its not a balanced review site. Hey, even the reviews on Trustpilot about Trustpilot are scathing.

None of the review sites are perfect, but reviews are a way of the internet driven life. Get to use them properly and they can be very beneficial. Its a numbers game, so I am seriously keen to find new ways of encouraging more guests to post reviews.

Any (new) ideas ?
** Richard
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Ben McNevis
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Post by Ben McNevis »

Well, e-richard. Funny you should mention that because I saw on some thread today that you don't bother with deposits to save time and effort on returning them, and I remembered about that when I looked at the starter on this thread.

I use the email that goes with return of deposit to ask for reviews and photos. Often enough to make it worth the effort we get a review and sometimes a booking for the following year. I just think that the more you engage with people the more likely they are to be on your side.

I've just replied to a reply to my "return of deposit" email tonight where the folks said that they didn't want to leave and have decided to house-hunt in the area and are now looking for accommodation for 3-4 months over the winter. I can't offer the whole 3-4 months but we could well come to an arrangement to have the cottage full for the least busy time of year.

BTW, I don't take deposits really seriously - we take it by cheque where possible and attach a photo of the destroyed cheque to the "return of deposit" email.
Cheers, Ben
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Nemo
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Post by Nemo »

I encourage reviews wherever possible. Only a small proportion leave them, but they all count. I don't take a deposit, but still send a follow up email asking if they would like to leave me a review.

I have many options, so spread them round the different sites; whilst it's sad to dilute them, I just think it pays me to spread the net wide. They all have the right to reply, and I always leave owner comments in my replies.
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Post by e-richard »

Ben McNevis wrote:Well, e-richard. Funny you should mention that because I saw on some thread today that you don't bother with deposits to save time and effort on returning them, and I remembered about that when I looked at the starter on this thread.
Yup, I do not bother with security deposits, but I do certainly bother sending an end of stay thank you email and a low key polite invitation to review - with a link to the review site. Like Nemo, I spread it around a bit.

However, having received an initial bunch of great reviews they have distinctly slowed down. I sense that the slow down coincided with the review sites (HomeAway and TA) requirement that the guest registers before they can post a review. Do they really want more junk email :roll: :twisted:

My end of stay message looks like this:
I hope that you had a pleasant stay in Carvoeiro and everything was to your satisfaction. Please do write and tell me if there were any problems - or indeed if you have anything extra to say.

Public reviews really help us sell more weeks which we need to keep improving and maintaining the apartment. If you would like to write a public review of your stay, please feel free to add your comments (anonymously if you like) at HomeAway reviews

I look forward to hearing from you again one day.
So, why do most guests send me a warm thanks and sometimes identify issues, but only 1 or 2 per year write a public review ?
** Richard
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Nemo
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Post by Nemo »

As I mentioned elsewhere, I signed up to Owners Direct as a guest and have been inundated ever since with emails from both Owners Direct and Homeaway, even though I've never signed up to Homeaway. It was a completely different email address to others I use, hence I know I didn't sign up to Homeaway - knowingly at least! I don't read any of it, which reminds me to go and unsubscribe now. :wink:
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greenbarn
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Post by greenbarn »

Nemo wrote:As I mentioned elsewhere, I signed up to Owners Direct as a guest and have been inundated ever since with emails from both Owners Direct and Homeaway, even though I've never signed up to Homeaway. It was a completely different email address to others I use, hence I know I didn't sign up to Homeaway - knowingly at least! I don't read any of it, which reminds me to go and unsubscribe now. :wink:
No no - don't unsubscribe! Instead, redirect all the emails back to HA :twisted:
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Nemo
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Post by Nemo »

greenbarn wrote:
Nemo wrote:As I mentioned elsewhere, I signed up to Owners Direct as a guest and have been inundated ever since with emails from both Owners Direct and Homeaway, even though I've never signed up to Homeaway. It was a completely different email address to others I use, hence I know I didn't sign up to Homeaway - knowingly at least! I don't read any of it, which reminds me to go and unsubscribe now. :wink:
No no - don't unsubscribe! Instead, redirect all the emails back to HA :twisted:
:lol: :lol: :lol: :twisted:
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answering negative reviews - a new perspective from Basil

Post by vtflats »

After receiving a particularly vicious and unfair TripAdvisor review this morning - we counted to 110 and then posted a balanced response through gritted teeth...
Afterwards we decided to do some research online on how to handle these increasingly poisoned pen (keyboard) low-life guests who simply do not understand that in 9 times out of 10 holiday home owners are working themselves to an early grave bending over backwards to please our guests and they simply dont understand the damage bad reviews do to our businesses - if only in the time and anger it takes to respond to these time wasters. Apologies - quite angry about this whole review system and how it is scewed in favour fo the guests - but I rest my case - that is another story.

Anyway - I wanted to make your day a little jollier (in between the normal routine of sheet washes, cleans, dealing with scam bookings, combatting discount requests and various other time consuming activities) and share with you a novel and hilarious approach to responding to negative reviews.
Let me present to you - the views of Basil:

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php? ... 6592970081

And best TripAdvisor responses to negative reviews here:
https://www.facebook.com/Trip-Advisor-b ... 592970081/


Again - we visit the LayMyHat forum only rarely and contribute even less often. At the moment we may not be able to respond to comments / questions for a very long time as we are very busy getting our letting back on track after it was ruined by a recent Airbnb guest so please dont be offended if we cant monitor and respond to this thread. We only posted to cheer you up.
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Post by Jenster »

I think reviews are really valuable to both owners and guests - I know I always turn to the reviews first when buying any service or product. I always send out a post stay email in which I politely request one.

The chances of a negative review damaging your business are over-rated I feel - any reasonable guest would recognise one dodgy review among many good ones as suspect, and the owner can also mitigate a bad review with a well considered response. If the overall impression from photos, description and response to reviews is good, I would dismiss one bad review as unimportant.
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