Negative guest comments

[Angel]

I say on my HL ad: "We have received many favourable comments, but do not believe in posting them as they cannot be verified!!!"

Potential guests then get directed to my Villarenters/RentalSystems page where the Reviews are verified by them as being from paying guests.

And I know for a fact that some HL reviews are made up.

Honesty is always the best policy.

[Clexane]

We have a guest book which we leave in the Villa and post everything verbatim in its original language and translate it into English or French as may be appropriate. Our guest book comments to date have been positive as our maintenance caretaker is there most days to clean the pool, maintain the garden/landscaping - so I think small niggles like what you ahve experienced are nipped in the bud.

I must sy though your two comments on bird poo and deck chairs are incredibly niggly. on deck chairs we only provide four and our Villa takes eight. We also have outdoor settings around the pool that take six and four respectively so maybe thats why our guests are happy.

I would publish the comments though I would put in a footnote explaining how they where dealt with and rectified in good time.

[Sue Dyer]

I agree with Fluffs as long as artistic license isn't taken too far!

I know there is a theatre critic at the moment campaigning against the quotes on West End posters. He has written reviews such as "If this play wasn't so diabolical it would be screamingly funny. Avoid at all costs" for them to end up on posters as "Screamingly Funny" - The Guardian.

I know Lay my Hatters are much to honest for that!

[Alan Knighting]

Sue,

I agree with Fluffs as long as artistic license isn't taken too far!

The “artistic licence� I had in mind was taking out comments about things such as bird poo and deck chairs. As was said in Forrest Gump “shit happens� and deck chairs are rickety by nature.

I think my guests mostly appreciate the comments, both good and bad, about local shops, bars, restaurants and places to visit. I regard comments about the accommodation and about us as being quite pointless, each guest makes up his/her own mind about such things. Needless to say they all love us to bits!

Fluffy

[debk]

Needless to say they all love us to bits!

[vrooje]

only tiny things so far like the stone floor in the kitchen being cold

Ah, yes, we've had that comment too... we have tile and wood everywhere. Not sure how to solve it except to a) carpet the whole house wall-to-wall, or b) provide slippers for everyone. We've actually considered the second one.

We were just at our rental property and it was great to read the guestbook, not just to have a pat on the back about how lovely our home is and how we're able to help provide quality holidays for people, but also to open our eyes about things we may not see.

For instance, every time we go to the house we love to just sit in the living room and listen to the birds chirping and the ducks splashing around. With all the wonderful sounds of nature, it never occurred to us to put a music player in the house. But a couple of our guests requested it in the guestbook, so we purchased one this time.

Since the guests were generally happy with everything, their requests were very polite -- one said, "the only thing that could have made this more perfect would have been a CD player, so that we could have woken up to Vivaldi's Four Seasons!" That was barely a negative, but it got the message across, and it was nice to know about it so that we could write in the margins that we've now provided that extra touch. And then future guests know we care. As Alan points out, they won't find out until they get there -- but it's still something.

The best we can do in terms of verification is to simply offer to put potential future clients in touch with past clients so they can verify things themselves. We have had a few requests for it. It takes a couple of days, because we wait for permission each time before giving out an e-mail address, but it seems to be worth it so far.

[Giddy Goat]

The best we can do in terms of verification is to simply offer to put potential future clients in touch with past clients so they can verify things themselves. We have had a few requests for it.

I've not had this situation yet, but might at any point of course, and see on your website's testimonial page that you actively invite people to do just this. How many requests is 'a few'? I hadn't thought of including this facility on mine.

[vrooje]

Literally a few, 3 or 4, I think, over the three seasons we've had the testimonials page up. So it's not that common, but it helps a select few feel more comfortable with the booking. And in our experience, the previous clients who respond are always happy to help.