Are travelers using social media (reviews, Twitter, Facebook etc) to exact special treatment? Looking for examples.

[Daniel Edward Craig]

Hi there,
I'm working on an article about travelers using the public nature of social media (Facebook, Twitter, TripAdvisor etc) to request special treatment in advance of stay, to air grievances during their stay, and to use the threat of writing a bad review to exact concessions, discounts etc.
The lodging industry is used to dealing with challenging guests, but the public nature of social media makes it even more challenging. I'm looking for examples of this type of behavior as well as examples of how you've dealt with it. I'd like to include the experiences of B&Bs/small inns as well as hotels.
The purpose of the article is to help lodging operators deal with these situations. You can email me at [email protected] If you prefer to remain anonymous just let me know.
I'm on a tight deadline so the sooner the better. Thanks so much. For more about me visit www.danieledwardcraig.com. Dan

 

[Alibi Ike]

There have been some excellent stories about guests demanding the moon in return for either a good review or no bad review. I hope some of those innkeepers get in touch with you.

 

[egoodell]

I would imagine that most innkeepers will want to remain anonymous in fear of lawsuits. These kind of guests use blackmail, so a lawsuit would be next.
The most common occurance is a demand for a discount upon check out or blackmail of a bad review.
RIki

 

[JBloggs]

Daniel I feel this is more pertinent in the UK than here, I hear more of the "Review threat" going on over there as many more travelers have discovered this power at their fingertips to get their way. 99% of our guests are genuine, sweet guests. 1% are rotten to the core, but haven't had a TA review threat in our 8 years of operating this 6 room B&B.

 

[Joey Camb]

http://www.bedposts.org.uk/
this is the place to look if I was you

 

[Daniel Edward Craig]

Thanks for your responses! Still looking for examples, so let me know if you have a good one. Also, if you need help responding to reviews join my free Review Clinic webinar with Revinate: http://www.danieledwardcraig.com/2011/06/the-review-doctors-are-in.html

 

[Daniel Edward Craig]

Daniel I feel this is more pertinent in the UK than here, I hear more of the "Review threat" going on over there as many more travelers have discovered this power at their fingertips to get their way. 99% of our guests are genuine, sweet guests. 1% are rotten to the core, but haven't had a TA review threat in our 8 years of operating this 6 room B&B..

Hi Joey, Can I quote you on your "99% of our guests are genuine ...1% are rotten to the core ... " remark? It's a good one and will resonate with other properties. If so, can I use our property and name? Feel free to email me at [email protected] Thanks!

 

[egoodell]

There are chat forums on TA that you should check out - they discuss a lot of what you are interested in.
Riki

 

[HighMountainLodge]

I think this is a perfect example of why we need to hold review sites at arm's length. We have "claimed" our TA site, but will never give them a dime. Nor do we advertise our good reviews on our website.
Let them do their thing; we'll do ours.
We've never had a guest attempt to blackmail us, and I can't imagine any of the laid-back folks we get even conceiving of such a thing. We've given discounts--and even free rooms--when something has gone wrong, but those perks have always been at our initiative.

 

[JBloggs]

[COLOR= rgb(68, 68, 68)]Interesting long tale about a hotelier's wrestle with TripAdvisor [/COLOR][COLOR= rgb(68, 68, 68)]http://t.co/07ApfnF[/COLOR]

 

[gillumhouse]

Being in an "off the path " location, I do not have a particularly high occupancy to get the "TA blackmailers" as my guests have for the most part, been great. However, I can give you my response to the threat of a bad review - Do it because no one runs my business except me. I do not worry about reviews. I treat my guests as I want to be treated but my policies -especially cancellation policies - are there for a reason - and I will follow my policies.