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Collecting reviews.

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 9:23 am
by sazzleevans
Hi

I have been collecting my reviews each year via homeaway. I have been fortunate to get 100% response rate for reviews last season. The first guest this year though questioned adding a review to Homaway as they now ask reviewers to login. Which she didnt want to do. Happy to add email etc not not login as too much fuss.

So my question where do you collect your reviews. I have seen trust pilot etc but wanted an opinion. What do you all do,

This guest reviewed happily last year on HA and wanted to help this year but didnt like the new login on HA.

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 2:23 pm
by cleanforum
I personally use TA for reviews when I travel, so that is my goal for review location. Additionally I split some others between HA and OD (which if I recall have different review databases.

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 2:25 pm
by sazzleevans
Thanks! Problem is with TA is the only way to get reviews is via my ad on TA which doesn't let me add web details as they take commission

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 2:38 pm
by cleanforum
Yes its a bit convoluted getting review on TA I found. I have a commision ad on FK which then gets copied onto TA. I get few rentals from FK and even less from TA, I really just use them for the reviews..

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 2:39 pm
by newtimber
I think most review sites (TA included?) require guests to log-in to leave a review now.

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 2:54 pm
by sazzleevans
I'm trying to be as independent from rental sites as I can only 2 weeks via rental sites this year and rest all direct May to October so considering a review site off main booking sites maybe an option

Re: Collecting reviews.

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 8:18 pm
by OrangeBlossom
sazzleevans wrote:Hi
The first guest this year though questioned adding a review to Homaway as they now ask reviewers to login. Which she didn't want to do.
I read on another thread that there is a way around clients having to log in, though I didn't quite understand how the method worked.
I can't refer you to the exact post now as I hadn't been on LMY for a while and had to read loads yesterday to catch up.
It might be worth posting a question with a more specific header that might prompt a repeat of that reply or a direction to the post I read.

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 8:20 pm
by sazzleevans
Thanks I will look. My old way of doing it did work but they seek to have closed that loop hole!

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2016 6:34 am
by Casscat
I haven't found that guests mind toooooo much about the requirement to log in, because most will have provided their details to one site or another to make a booking enquiry in the first place. I do warn them that they will be spammed to all eternity but that as required by law there is an 'unsubscribe' option if they get pestered. If you really don't want to put people through this process, or fear that many are put off leaving a review because of it, then probably the guest comments section of your own web site is the only viable alternative.

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2016 6:51 am
by sazzleevans
Yes I think your right when the book through a rental listing site. Luckily I've been striving for independence and over 18 months I've spun it all around and now get almost all mine direct BUT I am still a listing site slave feeling I need do do it! When you get independent where do you register reviews...hmm..last year I stuck with sending them to HA but I think I need do change but to what?

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2016 6:57 am
by sazzleevans
It's an amazing position to be in but I have been doing this for 12 years mostly via homeaway and now I've got almost what I was after, independence it's difficult to let go!! I still check my HA ranking and want more reviews for dates late in season or early i haven't filled but should I ditch that for something like trust pilot and aim to get those too direct. Sounds obvious but it's a real mind shift!

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2016 10:02 am
by cleanforum
Not sure what you guys mean by independance.

About half of our bookings are repeat, the rest, by whatever means they come will often look for reasurance by reading reviews either from the site they are booking from or from another review site. This helps them get perspective and build trust before making a booking. So, independant or not I think that you canĀ“t overlook reviews on a trusted web or at least some other site other than your own personal site.

For example I luckily do not have to use either ABB or BC for the moment but may have to in the future. When that happens I will be at a disadvantage on those sites for not having a single review there.

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2016 10:22 am
by sazzleevans
Its me jumping for joy the word independant means as you guessed repeats, or social media or my website but not via a listing site. I kept the reviews on HA and keep adding for that reason i need reviews but not sure if HA best choice now. I did create a new listing on spain-holidays.com last year and started collecting reviews there for when i leave HA all together but that hasnt been a good listing for me. Zero bookings from it so far.

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2016 1:10 pm
by cleanforum
Yep, Independent is happiness indeed. 8)

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2016 5:07 pm
by Ben McNevis
If have your own webpage, then you can have a Google "My Business" entry (which is a good thing to do for all sorts of reasons) and then your guests can leave reviews on Google. Personally, I ask guests to review either on TA or on Google so we collect reviews on both.

Homeaway, for us, does increasingly little, so I don't want our guests to waste effort putting reviews on there.