Guest comments on websites

[la vache!]

I've just been having a chat with some guests about how they found us and why they booked - and as well as the pool, the thing that finally made them book here were the guest comments on the website. I know there have been some comments from posters before that they are not worth the html code they are written in, but it seems that they aren't a complete waste of time after all.

[Hells Bells]

Susan, I too have had a couple of comments from guests that the website swung the booking in my favour.

[Normandy Cow]

Ditto, and therefore I am meticulous about updating it regularly

[LaLuz]

Ditto, and therefore I am meticulous about updating it regularly

I'm interested to know if you add the comments yourself rather guests doing directly?

[Hells Bells]

La Luz, my experience had been about 50/50. Some send me some comments back by email, others have left them on the website.

[Normandy Cow]

Ditto, and therefore I am meticulous about updating it regularly

I'm interested to know if you add the comments yourself rather guests doing directly?

I don't have the facilities on my website for guests to do it directly. When I go out to the house (about every 6-8 weeks), I copy down the guest comments, then when I get back to the UK I add them to the website. I don't always add the whole entry as many of them are too long for the website, but where I miss out text I replace it with an ellipsis.

[LaLuz]

This interests me as I've never done that as I thought guests might think I'd just made it up!

Perhaps I should rethink?

[la vache!]

LaLuz,
that's what I thought, but apparently not! I just add the comments from the guest book but will be more vigilant in keeping it updated from now on.

[LaLuz]

Maybe it's me that's suspicious. I've looked at gusetbooks in the past and wondered how many comments are from close friends or family! Now what does that say about me?

[Normandy Cow]

Luz,
I know what you mean, that is what I used to think, and probably still do sometimes.
But in my case, they really are all genuine - if they weren't then that would either mean that I had loads of friends or a very good imagination to be able to make up all those comments!
In any case, they are all there to be inspected in the guestbook at the house, but then again a prospective renter wouldn't get to see that until they had booked and arrived at the house so they will just have to trust me on this one...

(PS, I am a big softie, and I had a lump in my throat when I read the comment from the little boy who wrote that "Christmas day was the best ever I have had". Would have to be a real lowlife to make something like that up...)

[debk]

I enter our guest comments onto our website. (By way of permission, there's a note in the front of the books themselves that says the comments will be added to the VisitingPortugal testimonial page.)

I don't think it takes too long before the different writing styles -- and languages -- make it fairly obvious that the comments are written by different people.

Just to reiterate what others have said: we have many, many guests who tell me they book because of the comments in our guestbook. (Though most admit that they don't read all of them. Too many!) Online guest comments are efinitely worth the html they're written upon.
debk

[A-two]

It was a rainy week and they left helpful suggestions for what to do, including several restaurant reviews.

"Food and service not as good as expected" is the first one, followed by two others where they were more impressed. The poor review is for a restaurant we don't recommend for all the same reasons. Another one is new that we have yet to try and the last one, we don't recommend for the food either, only for a lively bar. They don't seem to have been to any of the restaurants we do recommend.

I'm now thinking that it might be better to exclude all restaurant reviews from the online comments, good and bad (this is the first negative). All comments would still be available in the guest book itself for people to read on arrival.

Do you include restaurant reviews in the online version?

[la vache!]

Personally, I just include comments about house, facilities, garden, pool etc. and maybe the area generally. Restaurants are very subjective - we have a great farm one near us which we recommend, cheap as chips (4 good courses for 13€), very good traditional French country fare. Everyone who has gone there (including the French) have raved about it, until one group this August who said it was OK, but they preferred a very average crêperie in the local town.
There is no accounting for taste!

[Fraise]

I don't mention the restaurants on the web.* There was one that I plugged in the guest handbook cos it was REALLY good- I went again a couple of weeks ago and it was awful !! Same owners, they've got rid of the chef to save money. I had to wait until the house was empty so I could get in and delete it from the recommendations.

* = I don't put the whole comment in usually as they are often long -winded in their praise ! Brilliant, but too long for my web site. They are all in the visitor book for guests to read, in fact one guest said she LOVED reading the visitors comments

www.thepetitmanoir.com

[Giddy Goat]

When I go out to the house (about every 6-8 weeks), I copy down the guest comments, then when I get back to the UK I add them to the website.

Catherine, a bit off topic but how does this work? In summer you have a Saturday changeover, so when you are at Le Gaillon, you are chez vous for the week, oui? I have not been to our property since the start of the season; like you, we have just one house, and no gites, so when we're there, we count the cost in lost income. Le G is a beautiful property, and in order to visit with this level of frequency, you must be turning bookings away. I wish we could do this too, as it is clear that things are not quite the same when we're not around. A fretting goat is not a pretty sight!