Crumby Tripadvisor Review and they have yet to stay with us.

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toddburme

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They booked for March and since we did not contact them right away for a booking over 90 days away, they reviewed us with a one. I know we are taking care of it and it might go away. The crumby thing is he ruined several days of my life for a really small thing. Yep, we missed his phone call. It happens but rather then scream about it to the world maybe just call again?
/rant
 
That's about the stupidest thing to do.... For one thing, it's a violation of TA rules to rate value if you haven't stayed. For another, it creates a horrible relationship, before they have even arrived. Are you sure you want them?
Sorry about this. (And tell TA they haven't stayed, so they can't judge value).
 
Wow. That is totally insane. I don't think TA will remove it although it doesn't hurt to ask them to contact the guest and tell them they can't judge you on anything other than 'service' because they've not set foot in the door. If you find out TA won't do anything, give it your best mgmt response. 'We are sorry we missed the phone call. We hope you enjoy your stay once you arrive in March. We do wish you had just tried to call us again rather than telling the world we are a total failure on all fronts when what happened was- we missed your one phone call.'
 
That's about the stupidest thing to do.... For one thing, it's a violation of TA rules to rate value if you haven't stayed. For another, it creates a horrible relationship, before they have even arrived. Are you sure you want them?
Sorry about this. (And tell TA they haven't stayed, so they can't judge value)..
No , you don't have to stay at a place, you just have to have some interaction with them and TA allows you to post. This happen to friends of mine who specifically told a couple they don't take children and then they showed up with a baby and were turned away.
 
My first reaction was to offer a refund as we obviously will not satisfy their needs. But I would love to meet or beat their expectations and get them to revise their opinion of us. Wishful thinking maybe. A no win situation... Boy are we glad to have them coming!
 
Here is the phone number and web site of a B &B that MAY be more to your liking. I would be sooooo tempted to communicate THAT!
 
That's about the stupidest thing to do.... For one thing, it's a violation of TA rules to rate value if you haven't stayed. For another, it creates a horrible relationship, before they have even arrived. Are you sure you want them?
Sorry about this. (And tell TA they haven't stayed, so they can't judge value)..
No , you don't have to stay at a place, you just have to have some interaction with them and TA allows you to post. This happen to friends of mine who specifically told a couple they don't take children and then they showed up with a baby and were turned away.
.
But you aren't allowed to mark VALUE if all you have done is based on service. That is a violation of the ToS, which specifically doesn't let you rate things you haven't experienced.
And as one guy a TA told me, sometimes when people do that, it's a blessing in disguise. It allows you to put up a response that makes them look stupid and at the same time communicates that you hold your guns on your policies. Which tells those that want to violate them that you won't stand for it and at the same time, reassures those who know that you stand by policies to ensure that they have a good stay.
But VALUE... isn't allowed if you haven't experienced it. They could only mark service.
 
I would contact them personally, explain that you saw the review and let them know what type of business you have: we are a small business and with only 1-2 people it is sometimes difficult to do everything at the same time. Some times we are busy with current guests, sometimes out grocery shopping and sometimes running vacuum etc while cleaning rooms, any of which could have been the reason we missed your call. Maybe we are not the proper fit for your stay, here are a few other places (I would provide hotels, they seem like hotel people), we will issue a refund today and cancel your reservation.
Once completed I would then issue your MR on TA with a brief explanation and that a refund of their deposit was issued.
 
My first reaction was to offer a refund as we obviously will not satisfy their needs. But I would love to meet or beat their expectations and get them to revise their opinion of us. Wishful thinking maybe. A no win situation... Boy are we glad to have them coming!.
toddburme said:
My first reaction was to offer a refund as we obviously will not satisfy their needs. But I would love to meet or beat their expectations and get them to revise their opinion of us. Wishful thinking maybe. A no win situation... Boy are we glad to have them coming!
You know, it's just me but I don't want to play that game. I am not going to tap dance around guests who have already slammed my place for all the world to see. Without even trying to get in touch a second time. What if THEY dialed the wrong number? That kind of guest expectation is out of line with reality.
I see 3 options: refund them stating that it doesn't appear this is the right location for them if an unreturned phone call requires blasting the innkeeper in public; rebut on TA (do this anyway); forget who they are and treat them like anyone else when they arrive. Act like it never even happened.
Here's my experience- the person with the highest sense of entitlement usually ends up having the worst experience. They get the chipped glass at breakfast. The fire alarm goes off while they're sleeping. The power goes out. It rains. The sun shines. The store is out of the ONE thing they drove all this way to buy. Their restaurant server had a tattoo. And a nose ring. And, like today, they're going to get snowed in.
If all that happened was you failed to return their phone call in what they considered to be a timely manner, well, I'd hate to be them. Life is going to beat them into the ground.
 
My first reaction was to offer a refund as we obviously will not satisfy their needs. But I would love to meet or beat their expectations and get them to revise their opinion of us. Wishful thinking maybe. A no win situation... Boy are we glad to have them coming!.
toddburme said:
My first reaction was to offer a refund as we obviously will not satisfy their needs. But I would love to meet or beat their expectations and get them to revise their opinion of us. Wishful thinking maybe. A no win situation... Boy are we glad to have them coming!
Wait, they didn't cancel, they are staying with you? They must be pretty silly..."Be nice to the person cooking your food"
 
it's 6:45 pm eastern time on saturday dec 29 and i just read the review ... so it's there. very unfair and very poorly written
 
it's 6:45 pm eastern time on saturday dec 29 and i just read the review ... so it's there. very unfair and very poorly written.
Very strange, I just checked again and I can't see it. I even went to a different computer to see if it made a difference. It's 3:55 pacific time now
 
6:38 CST. Is this it? Is it referring to a March 2012 stay? VERY weird review. Real jerk. If you ever get the chance, spit into their food before you serve it. I MEAN IT!
Also, I'd love to see my high school English teacher take a red pen to this.
The wife and I visit several B&B's and this one is one has very poor communication. We booked online and we left our phone # and email to have them contact us with special requests. They never made any contact. We have no idea what were getting into. We also made contact with the massage person and she said that she'd make sure the B&B would contact us, it never happened. I can wait to see there reply to this as they seem to have good reason for there actions.

Stayed March 2012, traveled as a couple
 
What's really obx is they say they stayed last year, not coming up. And they bait you with 'I can wait to see there comments...'. Actually, their grammar is so bad they are already stating you have a good reason for not contacting them.
(The reason others are/are not seeing this is because the servers are all over the place and they don't all get updated at the same time.)
 
That review is just wrong! In your management response you can make it clear that their reservation is not for months and due to spending time with your guests and family over the holidays you planned on contacting them in the beginning of January. Prospective guests would totally understand the situation.
I'd probably contact them apologizing that I hadn't contacted them earlier and ask if they wanted to cancel their reservation I would be happy to and hope they do!
Bah Humbug!
 
What's really obx is they say they stayed last year, not coming up. And they bait you with 'I can wait to see there comments...'. Actually, their grammar is so bad they are already stating you have a good reason for not contacting them.
(The reason others are/are not seeing this is because the servers are all over the place and they don't all get updated at the same time.).
I saw it earlier today, but it's gone, so likely removed and it just hasn't propagated fully.
 
i don't like it AT ALL. complaining that you didn't get a return phone call yet for a future stay is not a review about a stay. boo!!! i don't like the tone or the baiting or the mis-statement as though they've already stayed there. i really do think that you HAVE to show date of your stay in a review, not a future date, so they used 2012 on purpose. this is all wrong.
 
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