Just for fun...change things up again

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Posted on Thu, 09/02/2010 - 11:18am

Morticia

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I've been happily chugging along with 5 stars on TA for a few weeks now. The 2 inns ahead of me have been getting a lot of 5 star reviews so now I have 4.5 stars. I think you get your star rating based on reviews other than your own. It's comparative to other places. I haven't had any new reviews since the one that popped me up to 5 stars. My reviews are now 'stale' and have knocked a half point off.

I'm surrendering. It's tough to play when the rules change everyday.

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This comment (83588) was in reply to the Original Topic on Sat, 09/04/2010 - 11:22am

#1 TOP

camberleyhotelh...

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We ask guests not to use our Wi -fi to do reviews as we know they won't show up people don't realise and do a review but it never appears for that reason. My neighbour in jest said we should all pop round to each others places and use the wi-fi to do our own reviews LOL

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This comment (83475) was in reply to the Original Topic on Fri, 09/03/2010 - 12:32pm

#2 TOP

camberleyhotelh...

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I get reviewed from TA, Booking.com and Laterooms. Both booking.com and laterooms send them an automatic email on departure to their home email saying click on this link to leave a review and they generate a large number of reviews (2-3 a week minimum) they seem to do it in a simpler way also eg categires to mark out of 6 (clean, value for money, etc) and then a small box for comment it makes it easy for people to leave a quick review where as TA you have to make a special effort to go to the site and be bothered.

This comment (83512) was in reply to comment 83475 on Fri, 09/03/2010 - 5:41pm

#3 TOP

One Day

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Yeah......well..........an envelope and a $.44 stamp certainly is reasonable enough to solicite a favorable review......

Unethical..........

Makes me wonder what other shady things they do, have done, or will do.

This comment (83466) was in reply to the Original Topic on Fri, 09/03/2010 - 12:07pm

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Joey Bloggs

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I asked once from an innkeeper that has 200+ and wins awards from them and is now nearly in foreclosure...and I was called a shark or something. Basically told to rack off.

I truly wanted to know why those guests traveling to small town USA to a small B&B would post so many more reviews than anyone else we have ever known.

For some reason the question was considered wrong and how dare we think it is not all on the up and up and we all got the backlash.

Of all the guests who bring up TA on their own and tell me they found us there and will be sure to write a lovely review the very minute they step in their door...never do. So yes, there is something more to it. I don't care what anyone says, solicit all the reviews you want, it is harder to get them, unless there is a twist to this equation somewhere.

DISCLAIMER - I am speaking of Inns here in the USA. Not overseas, things are different there, I realize this, I can only speak for this country and how things operate here. Our UK guests are the most willing to read reviews and write them. They rely on TA and others while making their travel plans. The 200+ was from an "other" website, not TA. So perhaps the "other" website allows the use of the one pc to write the reviews, unlike TA who more diligently monitors that IP.

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This comment (83541) was in reply to comment 83466 on Sat, 09/04/2010 - 8:25am

#5 TOP

catlady

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oh my...can I guess who that was? My good buddies have just for some reason been put on the TA site and watch list as the #2 Romantic Inn in the US. They don't tout that..never have..they don't have a clue as to why they were put in that category..but hey..they will take it. Their website has been hit like crazy the past week...solidly.... from TA...they are loving it!!!

And...they NEVER solicit a review from their guests and over 400 have put in reviews to date. For them, it has become their cash cow.

This comment (83558) was in reply to comment 83541 on Sat, 09/04/2010 - 9:26am

#6 TOP

Highlands John

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One of my issues with TA is that in the UK to officially be a B&B you can only take up to 6 guests and your property is classed as a private residence (your home), more than 6 and you become a business and a commercial property (with all the extra legal issues that entails).

We're a B&B with 3 rooms, but on the TA B&B listings there a numerous "Guest Houses" with up to 12 rooms calling themselves B&Bs. Legally they are a guest house, but ok, they can call themselves what they like, depending on the facilities they offer, but on TA we have no chance of getting anywhere near as many reviews as us becuase on an average day they have 2 to 3 times as many guests as us.

Having said that, I think there are several factors used in the calculation of ratings of which number of reviews is one.

For those of you that say even though you email people they still don't review, when are you emailing? When I get home from holiday my mail box can have up to 500 emails in it. I group them into 3, the urgent ones I action immediately, the rubbish I delete and all the rest all sit in my Inbox for weeks waiting for me to get around to actioning, until I'm sick of seeing them and then most get deleted. I suspect that for most guests review request emails fall into the last category.

So, on the morning people check out I write them a review request email, I personalise it so if for example I know they're going to xxx after leaving us I'll put "we hope you enjoyed your stay in xxx", so it doesn't look as though I'm just sending the same thing out to everyone. Then I put the date several days after I know they'll get home on the subject line and save it to my "Drafts" folder. Then all I have to do is every few days check my drafts folder and any that have reached their alloted date I remove the date from the subject line and send. I try to avoid Mondays for the same reason as above, and also try to send during the morning so I catch people in the office.

This comment (83645) was in reply to comment 83558 on Sun, 09/05/2010 - 9:13am

#7 TOP

gillumhouse

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I can personalize the thank you letter to be e-mailed to the guest AND set the date it is to be sent. I did not used to include a link to TA but I do now. For my horse guests I also include the link to one of my horse directories. The e-mail is sent about 3 to 4 days after departure. I recently got reviews from 2 of my horse people - glowing I might add!

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This comment (83565) was in reply to comment 83558 on Sat, 09/04/2010 - 10:03am

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Morticia

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Usually a week to 10 days after they left us. Because I'm so slow, not because I thought about it!

This comment (83554) was in reply to comment 83541 on Sat, 09/04/2010 - 9:10am

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Morticia

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But they used to...they had a link right on their site that asked guests to leave a review. It's great that they are being chosen for the honors. It's more than likely a formula that TA uses to see which places get selected as 'romantic' by the largest percentage of reviewers.

This comment (83556) was in reply to comment 83554 on Sat, 09/04/2010 - 9:13am

#10 TOP

catlady

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Sorry, I meant they never asked personally. If people click on the link from their web site...I see that as a little different. That anyone can use...they don't really solicit reviews like I know some innkeepers do.

This comment (83663) was in reply to comment 83556 on Sun, 09/05/2010 - 1:02pm

#11 TOP

catlady

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I did a quick look at my friend's GA stats yesterday. Visit to their site was up 70% as a result of whatever TA sent out calling them #2 Romantic Inn in the US. You could see the dramatic change the week the article was posted. Amazing. Almost 4,000 new page views to their home page from TA for the last week. So you know folks are using it and reading it. We can't ignore that.

This comment (83668) was in reply to comment 83663 on Sun, 09/05/2010 - 1:09pm

#12 TOP

Morticia

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I would definitely think it's a really excellent selling point to get listed as any of the review sites' 'best of'. And everytime TA sends out an email like that, they'll see another surge.

This comment (83468) was in reply to comment 83466 on Fri, 09/03/2010 - 12:10pm

#13 TOP

Morticia

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I've mentioned it before...less than 1% of guests have ever left a review. And this is asking them to. Which is why I've stopped.

This comment (83446) was in reply to the Original Topic on Fri, 09/03/2010 - 9:04am

#14 TOP

One Day

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OK........so perhaps others are "paying" guests for reviews..........how are they doing this?...........what compensation?

This comment (83449) was in reply to comment 83446 on Fri, 09/03/2010 - 9:44am

#15 TOP

Morticia

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One Day wrote:

OK........so perhaps others are "paying" guests for reviews..........how are they doing this?...........what compensation?

Reduced rates on their next visit, gifties, free dinner, etc. Or flat out cash.

This comment (83455) was in reply to comment 83449 on Fri, 09/03/2010 - 10:56am

#16 TOP

One Day

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yeah..........they would have to post the review before checking out...no?

I wouldn't give a guest a discount for a future stay....telling them....btw.....here's a discount certificate for a future stay.....but, you have to give us a great review when you get back home.................if they don't.........what do you do? ..........not honor the certificate?

Pay them cash...........sure.........here's $20......when you get back home, post a great review of us..........

Problem I see with giving guests anything for a review...........how the heck do you trust them to do it when they get back home?

I'd be more inclined to think they are pushing the issue during their stay......to me that would be like telemarketing......I don't appreciate the push

This comment (83456) was in reply to comment 83455 on Fri, 09/03/2010 - 11:34am

#17 TOP

copperhead

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One Day wrote:

yeah..........they would have to post the review before checking out...no?

Pay them cash...........sure.........here's $20......when you get back home, post a great review of us..........

Problem I see with giving guests anything for a review...........how the heck do you trust them to do it when they get back home?

I'd be more inclined to think they are pushing the issue during their stay......to me that would be like telemarketing......I don't appreciate the push

Not necessarily would they need to provide the gift BEFORE the guest checks out! There is something called mail, or if the gift is a special discount on their next stay, that would be awarded at the time of booking.

I do recall a thread or 2 - here and on other forums regarding B&B's setting up a computer for guest use - having a link to review sites available there. There are problems with doing this as the sites do frown on many reviews with the same IP address being used.

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This comment (83559) was in reply to comment 83456 on Sat, 09/04/2010 - 9:30am

#18 TOP

Highlands John

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A hotel near us was asking guests to leave a review on their PC in the hotel and got taken off TA because so many reviews came from the same IP address and TA took it to mean they were submitting their own reviews. (Never any suggestion they were offering incentives).

We had a guest submit a review on our PC here (because he asked me to show him how to do it), but it never appeared (I suspect for the same reason).

This comment (83425) was in reply to the Original Topic on Thu, 09/02/2010 - 10:29pm

#19 TOP

copperhead

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JB wrote: I guarantee those with a high number of reviews are asking or rewarding in some way. I know they will deny it, but there is no way they could have hundreds of reviews otherwise.

I agree! There must be some type of 'thank you' going on. I just can not believe that we have that different of a guest demographic than those folks. We have very happy guests leave here stating they will be posting a review but nothing ever appears. We all know that when they get home their lives get back to normal & not that we are forgotten, but posting a review has slipped their minds. I have tried the post emails, that gets me zip as well...other than a personal email back from time to time. There may be a couple that complete the review, but do not follow through with the confirm email, but I just do not believe that there are an abundance of those.

This comment (83422) was in reply to the Original Topic on Thu, 09/02/2010 - 10:13pm

#20 TOP

Joey Bloggs

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MTL the review sites think you should ask for reviews. They send us cards to put in the rooms and give to our guests. They think they could email them on our behalf and ask for a review.

Asking, is up to you whether you do it or don't do it. I guarantee those with a high number of reviews are asking or rewarding in some way. I know they will deny it, but there is no way they could have hundreds of reviews otherwise.

This comment (83431) was in reply to comment 83422 on Fri, 09/03/2010 - 6:15am

#21 TOP

Highlands John

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Joey Bloggs wrote:

I'm not going to deny it, of course we ask people to leave reviews, I don't understand businesses that don't. If I'm going to get a bad review, and it happens to most of us at one point or another, then I'd rathr have 1 bad review in 200, than 1 bad review in 3.Also, the more reviews are being added to our entry the quicker a bad review gets buried on pages 2, 3, 4, never to be seen again.

Now rewarding is strictly against TA rules and if you do that and TA find out then I expect they'd remove you from the site.That we most definately do not do.

This comment (83434) was in reply to comment 83431 on Fri, 09/03/2010 - 7:17am

#22 TOP

Morticia

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I don't think TA removes you but you get a lovely red warning message that it has come to their attention that the reviews may have been paid for and are not 'unsolicited' guest reviews. (And, yes, they DO tell you to solicit away!)

This comment (83413) was in reply to the Original Topic on Thu, 09/02/2010 - 7:45pm

#23 TOP

copperhead

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Mortica wrote: It's tough to play when the rules change everyday.

That is excactly correct. My one 4 star rating among all 5's changed my overall ranking to 4. The only thing I can think is that some of my other reviews are considered 'stale' and are worth less now. Now that they have moved my listing to the small town, instead of with my close by city, I might as well have been brushed off the face of the earth as no one searches for that little town - there is nothing there - not even ME! I paid for the link prior to them moving me and I am royally over this. A total waste of my money to which I plan to bring to their attention.

This comment (83414) was in reply to comment 83413 on Thu, 09/02/2010 - 8:08pm

#24 TOP

Morticia

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Personally, I think that now that they have requested payment, they'd better be listening a whole lot better than before. Otherwise, I think a TA website is in order...kind of like: DontPayTA.com wherein anyone who DID pay this year and got worse service than prior years goes on record with what happened, what they did to resolve it and how TA responded. Then everyone can make up their own minds how it works.

BTW, the whole thing about putting ALL the lodging properties together with fewer than 12 in a town is loony. The website should function seamlessly across any city/town. If I'm looking one day for East Overshoe lodging and the next day for NYC, I should not have to figure out how the site works all over again.

My BIL used to say, 'You get what you pay for,' when I complained about Google. Well, if I'm paying, I expect service.

This comment (83410) was in reply to the Original Topic on Thu, 09/02/2010 - 6:57pm

#25 TOP

MTLLodge

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So are you all saying that you ask your guest for a review? Hmmmmmmmm maybe that is why I don't have any.

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This comment (83429) was in reply to comment 83410 on Fri, 09/03/2010 - 5:02am

#26 TOP

Highlands John

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Most definately.

If you go to your page on TA, click the "Manage your listing" link at the top, there are then instructions and links that you can copy/paste into emails to guests.

This comment (83411) was in reply to comment 83410 on Thu, 09/02/2010 - 7:00pm

#27 TOP

Morticia

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MTLLodge wrote:

So are you all saying that you ask your guest for a review? Hmmmmmmmm maybe that is why I don't have any.

At the very outset, it doesn't hurt to ask select guests to write a review, IF you want them. I used to ask but I don't any longer. I didn't have a very big success rate with that line anyway. My guests are not internet happy. Reviews now are a total surprise.

This comment (83372) was in reply to the Original Topic on Thu, 09/02/2010 - 12:34pm

#28 TOP

wendydk

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Morticia...I truly think that the 4.0 vs 5.0 overall ranking difference is lost on readers. They want to know what people SAY about you. As long as your reviews are positive, you have it made in the shade.

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This comment (83375) was in reply to comment 83372 on Thu, 09/02/2010 - 1:10pm

#29 TOP

Morticia

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Little Blue wrote:

Around here 4 stars puts you close to the bottom of the list and THAT makes a huge difference. Hanging on to third place is ambitious on my part!

This comment (83392) was in reply to comment 83375 on Thu, 09/02/2010 - 3:32pm

#30 TOP

Highlands John

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Yes, I'm also struggling to hold on to 3rd place around here. 4 years ago when we first started deliberately chasing reviews we very easily attained the no.1 stop, not just locally but in Scotland too. More businesses are TA savy these days and we have to fight to maintain our position.

This comment (83369) was in reply to the Original Topic on Thu, 09/02/2010 - 12:21pm

#31 TOP

Samster

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Don't worry about it. Keep on doing what you do and let the review stuff go! It is what it is........

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Just for fun...change things up again

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