So anyone can write a review!

So I think I have this correct. Correct me if im wrong! Anyone can write a review on TA correct? You don't even have to stay at the property to review. I have had 2 situations this last week.
1) Here is what happened. A guests had given us a time of 4pm arrival. My sons had a Church gathering at 4:30 that I had to get them to. I left at 4:15pm the guest had not arrived yet. I placed a not on the door stating to call me and I would check them in by phone. Guest called at 4:35 pissed at us because we were not in the office when they arrived. My wife explained to her that everything was fine and they could simply go to their room because we needed to get our kids to a planned Fall fest at our Church. The lady was so rude to my wife. My wife said," I will have my husband call you in a few min to talk with you!" After my wife got off the phone she was so upset at the actions and the verbal abuse by this lady. In fast we really do not think she was in the right mind or might of been under the influence of something. No normal person would of acted like that. So we felt after the actions of this lady that it would be best if she found other lodging. I called her back and told her the situation and now she was really mad. I felt for the safety of ourselves and the comfort of other guests this was the correct thing to do. I refunded her money right then and there with my phone so I could be finished with her. We'll she reviewed us on TA. I'm so mad. This just isn't right.
2) This next one really gets me upset. I just got off the phone with a lady who called and wanted to make a reservation without giving a deposit. I refused to budge because we have been burned before. She was way out of line on the phone with me. I remained calm and would not budge. She then started in on me about how horrible my customer service was. She said, I think i'm going to go on TA and write a horrible review about you. Then hung up the phone on me. So does this person have the right to slam us on TA because I would not take her reservation without a deposit? If this is true, than I'm ready for a war. I can play that game. Send me a private message and I will write a glowing review of your property. In fact, I will have my wife write one as well. We can all write reviews of all of our properties and all of us will be #1 in town. If TA allows a review like this, than game on. I enjoy all of you and thats good enough to me to write a review. So bring it on. "Can you tell I'm upset?".... But really, if they can do this. Then we all can.
I really can't deal with this much more. The whole TA thing is really getting me upset and down. I'm getting tired of people walking all over us and feeling the entitlement that they get what ever they want and the customer is always right. I get up in the mornings and its like walking on eggs shells.

because they had contact with you on the phone, they can review per TA. So sorry you have had to deal with this on top of all else. Kiss Jen, hug the Moms and the boys and forget it. Do not give them room in your head.

Yes, since both have had a customer service experience with you, they can post reviews BUT those reviews must be limited to what they actually experienced. For example the person on the phone cannot review sleep quality, the appearance of the rooms, or anything like that -- they can only whine that you wouldn't give them a reservation without a deposit. If they rated "sleep quality" or something else like that, you can request that the review be pulled.

Hillbilly said:

She said, I think i'm going to go on TA and write a horrible review about you. Then hung up the phone on me.

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What a horrible week! So sorry!
As I recall, it's in your favor to notify TA in advance when someone makes a threat like the quote above to get their way. The public's power is considerable on TA, but it's not unlimited. If you let them (TA) know, before the review, that she's threatened in this way for a bogus reason (demanding you change your stated policy just for her), you stand a decent chance of having the review rejected by TA.
I think.
There's a process for the advance notification, but I can't recall what it is.

Yes. Anyone who has a business interaction with you can write a review. They do not have to stay. Funny how the ones who are so happy we could help them out never think to do this.
Sorry this happened.
When the reviews show up write your response and then wait a day before posting it.
You've got the perfect response for Mrs A in your fear of her behavior disrupting the other guests and Mrs B is a gift because now guests know not to call without a credit card.
Make the 2 of them do your work for you.

You can try to preempt by logging into your ta account and looking for the link to report a threat. But. Did you get an email addy from her before getting to the credit card problem? It will help to have that.

Yes according to TA guidelines they both are able to write a review as long as they only review to the extent of their interaction with you and your inn.

Since one did threaten you with a bad review you can warn TA of the treat and TA will take that into account should such a review try to post. TA however does not make this task easy. I did this just a month or so ago and had to hunt the site to find the area to file. I was going to provide that process but it looks to me they moved (or removed) it from the site. Check the TA owner forum to see if someone will provide the location.
Sorry Hillbilly. If either of them post a review, use your management response to set the record straight.

I'm so sorry that this has happened to you.

Hello to everyone; I believe I've been a member of this forum for over six and a half years, and have only posted a couple of times at least five years ago. How time flies, but now I feel I have a bit of experience in the field of innkeeping, enough to occasionally toss my opinion into the mix. I would like to comment about TA reviews as they certainly can sometimes drive one to frustration if not tears.
The first review I ever received, before I even knew what a review was, came from a young couple who never stayed with me. They put up a terrible review on TA after they canceled at the last minute and I told them they might have to pay for the room they reserved anyway. I actually never did charge them and I felt devastated about the only review I had on TA being a horrible rating. I had to write a response three times before TA would accept and publish my response. I learned the only thing one can say in response to a review has to acknowledge the problem the guest had and make some kind of statement that implies you will strive to correct what ever the problem was. You certainly can't say anything negative about the guest themselves.
Since then all the excellent reviews I have received far outweigh the negative. I don't even pay much attention to them any more, I think a couple of folks have said that I was rude. All I can say is if I have ever been rude to anyone they darn well deserved it. "You can't please all of the people all of the time", and people who read the reviews know that. The true value of your B&B will shine through a few bad reviews if the large majority of your reviews are good; so Hillbilly, don't stress out too much
TA is the "elephant in the room" and probably the most expensive one also. Every time they call me to renew my listing I give them a piece of my mind about how much I dislike some of their operational policies, but they don't care and unfortunately I have to keep my listing on TA because it's more important in bringing guest to me than any thing else I do. With the exception, at this point, of return guests and word of mouth from folks who have been here. Didn't mean to ramble on so long, but thinking about TA does that to me.

sunburst2 said:

Hello to everyone; I believe I've been a member of this forum for over six and a half years, and have only posted a couple of times at least five years ago. How time flies, but now I feel I have a bit of experience in the field of innkeeping, enough to occasionally toss my opinion into the mix. I would like to comment about TA reviews as they certainly can sometimes drive one to frustration if not tears.
The first review I ever received, before I even knew what a review was, came from a young couple who never stayed with me. They put up a terrible review on TA after they canceled at the last minute and I told them they might have to pay for the room they reserved anyway. I actually never did charge them and I felt devastated about the only review I had on TA being a horrible rating. I had to write a response three times before TA would accept and publish my response. I learned the only thing one can say in response to a review has to acknowledge the problem the guest had and make some kind of statement that implies you will strive to correct what ever the problem was. You certainly can't say anything negative about the guest themselves.
Since then all the excellent reviews I have received far outweigh the negative. I don't even pay much attention to them any more, I think a couple of folks have said that I was rude. All I can say is if I have ever been rude to anyone they darn well deserved it. "You can't please all of the people all of the time", and people who read the reviews know that. The true value of your B&B will shine through a few bad reviews if the large majority of your reviews are good; so Hillbilly, don't stress out too much
TA is the "elephant in the room" and probably the most expensive one also. Every time they call me to renew my listing I give them a piece of my mind about how much I dislike some of their operational policies, but they don't care and unfortunately I have to keep my listing on TA because it's more important in bringing guest to me than any thing else I do. With the exception, at this point, of return guests and word of mouth from folks who have been here. Didn't mean to ramble on so long, but thinking about TA does that to me..

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You will have a listing on TA whether you pay them or not. By paying them you just get a small link to your website, or your e-mail, or your phone number, published on your listing, and the ability to post specials.

My response to a review that I wouldn't take a reservation without a deposit would be short and sweet.
You are correct that we only reserve rooms with a deposit. I understand the grocery store only gives away food with a payment as well. And the taxi guy doesn't take you where you want to go unless you promise to pay him. Our rooms are our business and they are worth money. If you want one, you do have to pay for it.

Wish I could read them, so that I could see if they violated ToS, but I can't.
Yes, they can review.
No, they can't fully review, just comment on the interactions.
The only saving grace is that you have the final word. In this case with the deposit, you can simply reply something like...

• We refused to accept a reservation without a deposit in spite of verbal abuse on the telephone and then threatened with a bad review because they did not like our clearly stated policy. We regret that this person felt they were so entitled.

As for the other one, I might have tried to call and coordinate with them on the phone if I had an outside engagement. But you might want to mention that

• We attempted to coordinate the guest arrival to no avail. Instead of calmly resolving the situation, the guest proceeded to yell and threaten us on the telephone. We try to calm the situation, to no avail. We then promptly refunded them and asked them to find more appropriate accommodations.

Best that I can come up with at the moment. Make sure they didn't review ANYTHING that didn't actually see or do. Or said anything that was personal, threatening, discriminatory or defamatory.
Oh... and find out where they work. I'm sure they need a yelp review

TheBeachHouse said:

My response to a review that I wouldn't take a reservation without a deposit would be short and sweet.
You are correct that we only reserve rooms with a deposit. I understand the grocery store only gives away food with a payment as well. And the taxi guy doesn't take you where you want to go unless you promise to pay him. Our rooms are our business and they are worth money. If you want one, you do have to pay for it..

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TheBeachHouse said:

My response to a review that I wouldn't take a reservation without a deposit would be short and sweet.
You are correct that we only reserve rooms with a deposit. I understand the grocery store only gives away food with a payment as well. And the taxi guy doesn't take you where you want to go unless you promise to pay him. Our rooms are our business and they are worth money. If you want one, you do have to pay for it.

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On the phone I might have said I could give her the number of the no tell motel as I know they don't even take credit cards, everyone pays in cash. (If I was having a bad day.) On a good day I would have stuck with the original, 'sorry, we do not accept reservations without a credit card to hold the room. This protects you as well as us. Without a credit card on file I am entitled to rent the room to the next caller who has a credit card and notify you of the cancellation.'
When we get obstreperous callers, and we get them, I try to just repeat the same thing over and over in slightly different ways until they hang up.
I might have asked, 'Are you threatening me?' just to see where that would go. Otherwise, it's sometimes better to just hang up while you're talking to the person.

Hillbilly said:

I really can't deal with this much more. The whole TA thing is really getting me upset and down. I'm getting tired of people walking all over us and feeling the entitlement that they get what ever they want and the customer is always right. I get up in the mornings and its like walking on eggs shells.

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I know whereof you speak. It does wear on a person. I don't generally think of the review system while interacting with guests. It's odd that we have almost 200 4 or 5 star reviews and then we have those people to whom we said 'no can do'. They've torn us apart. They drag us down in the rankings (and it takes another 20 5 star reviews to even move up one slot) and everyone reads those reviews and says, 'wow, that person had a bee in their bonnet' and they laughingly ask us what the deal was. Still, if TA is going to have that kind of impact on our livelihood we do have to pay attention and get the response right.

Report that first one, she commented on things she never saw like sleep quality and cleanliness. They'll make her rewrite it and resubmit it.

The best part about the life that God has given us is that the sun sets and a new day begins in under 24 hours.
With that we are given a chance to rethink everything that set us off, burned us the day before. I hope today is that day. That you won't allow anyone, friend or foe to steal your joy.

We had a bad TA review posted by someone who never stayed here but had dropped by and wanted a room tour when we were full and we were not able to accommodate them. We did show them our common areas, offered them coffee or a soft beverage, and gave them info. All of this while I was checking in other guests. So much for trying to put your best foot forward...
After multiple emails to TA (while I was on my own vacation on board a ship!), TA did pull the fake review since it mentioned what a room was like and our service and they were never a guest here. They also wrote a bad review of one of the other B&Bs here and hadn't stayed there either. Initially TA was not going to pull the review, but I was very persistent.
I'm so sorry this happened to you. Sometimes I am baffled by people...

Samster said:

We had a bad TA review posted by someone who never stayed here but had dropped by and wanted a room tour when we were full and we were not able to accommodate them. We did show them our common areas, offered them coffee or a soft beverage, and gave them info. All of this while I was checking in other guests. So much for trying to put your best foot forward...
After multiple emails to TA (while I was on my own vacation on board a ship!), TA did pull the fake review since it mentioned what a room was like and our service and they were never a guest here. They also wrote a bad review of one of the other B&Bs here and hadn't stayed there either. Initially TA was not going to pull the review, but I was very persistent.
I'm so sorry this happened to you. Sometimes I am baffled by people....

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15 seconds of believing what they say counts because they KNOW it matters to the innkeeper. They are so insignificant in their own world (probably because they are doing nothing but complaining) that now they have POWER.

gillumhouse said:

Samster said:

We had a bad TA review posted by someone who never stayed here but had dropped by and wanted a room tour when we were full and we were not able to accommodate them. We did show them our common areas, offered them coffee or a soft beverage, and gave them info. All of this while I was checking in other guests. So much for trying to put your best foot forward...
After multiple emails to TA (while I was on my own vacation on board a ship!), TA did pull the fake review since it mentioned what a room was like and our service and they were never a guest here. They also wrote a bad review of one of the other B&Bs here and hadn't stayed there either. Initially TA was not going to pull the review, but I was very persistent.
I'm so sorry this happened to you. Sometimes I am baffled by people....

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15 seconds of believing what they say counts because they KNOW it matters to the innkeeper. They are so insignificant in their own world (probably because they are doing nothing but complaining) that now they have POWER.
.

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That seems to be the essence of it.