How long after the fact have you ever responded to a TA review?

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Tim_Toad_HLB

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Bree brought up a good point in the "Value Adding" thread about always responding to inaccuracies in a review, so the question came to mind.
With the new feature on TA where a reader can click on the numeric rating value and see instantly all of your 2 dot reviews reviews for example, the old theory about not worrying much about really old reviews loses some value because people can now go right to any bad review with one click. We have two total that have troubled us for a few years and one really old one that we just let get buried behind all the great ones.
I guess what I'm hoping to hear is whether people think by doing a management response on a three year old review, readers could perceive that as being a bit too fixated on or too sensitive about critical aspects of reviews.
How long after the fact has anyone ever responded to a review that while not totally negative, could give a false impression because the reviewer didn't quite have some facts straight?
For context, this is one of the ones I'm referring to:
He and his wife were here one night, got the full tour of the property like everybody else and online he questioned the property size and even other reviewer's comments on its 4.5 acre size. This in spite of being told how big it is and never walking more than five feet anywhere from his car to his room.
Then he told the entire online TA world that if you don't like spicy food "you better not stay there, because everything they serve has hot green chiles in it. This in spite of neither of them choosing the one of three entrees offered that day that had any spiciness in it and the fact that we always offer at least one entree per morning that isn't even "southwestern" at all. And our entrees are prepared while the guest is at the table so anything could be left out.
If I had a nickel for every call or email I responded to that said "We'd love to stay at your place, but we saw this review about all the spicy food and we can't eat it."
 
If it's been 3 years it's definitely too late for a couple of reasons...the one you mentioned about seeming fixated or conversely having it seem like you only decided to care now.
For me, if I received 2-3 phone calls commenting on any particular point that was patently untrue, and I was doing repair work over it, that's when the response would have gone in. I had a lone comment about an uncomfortable bed and wondered if I should try a little self-promo over how the beds were new or just let it go. No one who called after that made any mention of the comment so I let it go as far as making a response to it.
However, if you get another review now that mentions food, you could always pop something in on that one that mentions the menu choices if you want. The hope would be that other reviewers have since mentioned the selection of breakfast items and that the comments made years ago are being overlooked with new guests maybe thinking the breakfast changed or that that particular guest was just very sensitive to anything.
 
Thanks, that all makes perfect sense and mirrors our feelings about it.
"However, if you get another review now that mentions food, you could always pop something in on that one that mentions the menu choices if you want. The hope would be that other reviewers have since mentioned the selection of breakfast items and that the comments made years ago are being overlooked with new guests maybe thinking the breakfast changed or that that particular guest was just very sensitive to anything."
You are absolutely right. So many folks comment about the variety and choices here, that it just never seemed to be a priority to go in after some length of time and respond and potentially appear a little too sensitive or fixated on TA to begin with.
Plus, for TA regulars the topic of "reputation management" and business owner manipulation of the review process is big news right now, so we really are trying to stay above the fray on those topics.
We get so many folks telling us that they found us there and that the reviews sealed the deal for them, but we downplay it from the minute hear that on the phone or email to the minute they walk out the door on their last day.
For one, we sometimes can't tell the TA "hostage takers" from those that regualrly write reveiws of their experiences and talk is cheap in my opinion. The hostage takers will remind us constantly about it even once here and in our heads and never verbalized we're like "Don't worry, we heard you the first freakin' time, you're getting treated great, you don't have to keep reminding me."
The "not walk your talkers" remind you less, but if you laid awake at night waiting for the review they swore 15 times they were writing "as soon as we get home" you'd be very, very tired all the time.
We find the most valuable reviews we get are the ones written in a style that reveals sincere satisfaction and not PR firmspeak. In my opinion, one review by a repeat guest is worth ten, first time reviewers who just joined the day their first review was published and reveal some owner coaching or prodding going on.
 
Tim, I have always been one of those that said let the bad reviews get buried. But, given the new TA sorting and the fact that you KNOW that the review has cost you reservations much less the ones that you do not know about, I am leaning in another direction.
Yes, the review is old so a response now to THAT person directly is far past due but there is a way to take at least address the issue and reduce these concerns with new guests. You could make a response that tells about your menu choices, nothing more, nothing less. This could at least bring these viewers to then look at your website before yahing or naying your place. TA could reject it but I personally think it is worth a try.
This new sorting feature to TA is damaging to almost any property, time does make a difference - things can change significantly over a period of months, let a lone years. I have seen reviews of hotels that clearly went through a 'bad review period', did a renovation then rave reviews. I am afraid that with this sorting feature only the experienced TA viewer that will analyze this to the degree needed and will discard some really good places to stay due to this suffle.
 
The date appears that you post the mgmt response. Don't reply to something three years later, let sleeping dogs lie.
I would love to have some spicy SW cooking! So who knows maybe that review is actually driving more bookings your way... Too late to comment on it anyway.
 
Tim, I have always been one of those that said let the bad reviews get buried. But, given the new TA sorting and the fact that you KNOW that the review has cost you reservations much less the ones that you do not know about, I am leaning in another direction.
Yes, the review is old so a response now to THAT person directly is far past due but there is a way to take at least address the issue and reduce these concerns with new guests. You could make a response that tells about your menu choices, nothing more, nothing less. This could at least bring these viewers to then look at your website before yahing or naying your place. TA could reject it but I personally think it is worth a try.
This new sorting feature to TA is damaging to almost any property, time does make a difference - things can change significantly over a period of months, let a lone years. I have seen reviews of hotels that clearly went through a 'bad review period', did a renovation then rave reviews. I am afraid that with this sorting feature only the experienced TA viewer that will analyze this to the degree needed and will discard some really good places to stay due to this suffle..
Thanks, I really aprpeciate the thoughtfulness folks are putting into this. As far as that four dot review, some folks could read between the lines a little and see some quirkiness, but the only other remotely negative review we've received that went unresponded to is this three dot:
"My boyfriend and I stayed for 3 nights based on Trip Advisor's 5 star raving reviews. Well, I was disappointed being a seasoned traveler who loves staying at B & B's. I found the host Tim to be quite short with us as our arrival time in the evening must have disrupted his schedule. Our accomodations were average at best, but to be fair, we had one of the lower priced rooms. The evening hot tub under the stars was a delight, there were robes in the room, but no slippers/sandals. Breakfasts were excellent, Emily was very pleasant and a great cook! There was a beautiful kiva in the entry room, would have made a much better impression had it been lit upon our arrival or for the chilly fall mornings...never saw it used! Having the office in the entry room was not the best impression either. We witnessed another couple getting reprimanded because they misunderstood the brief breakfast hours alotted and had arrived to the dining room at 9:30am (breakfast is from 8-9:30). Unless you give a B&B a five star rating on the breakfast alone, I would strongly reconsider another accomodation."
With so much of consumer driven reviews, anything that could reveal a customer's contribution to a situation is left out and really does force people to go on the defensive. That one is three and a half years old and just riddled with stuff crying out for response, but back then we were firmly in the "just let it get buried behind all the great ones" camp. I'm more and more convinced that many bad reviews are written strictly to punish a business for trying to uphold any semblance of policy or behavior considerations.
Issue one: They made it sound like some official travel writers for TA had given us the golden seal of approval and let them down. Most TA regular users probably read that comment as an insult to other average travelers who post most of the reviews, but who knows. Could also have been a case of unrealistic expectations and we now know it definitely was a case of filet mignon taste on a hamburger budget. This "seasoned" traveler joined TA the day she wrote the review and has since not contributed one reveiw, posting, etc. Like all the other reviewers of our place were neophyte travelers who had never stayed a night anywhere in their lives.
Issue two: These two were on a multi-week road trip and kept calling and changing their actual arrival date nearly every day for four days in a row. We never added any fees and couldn't re-open the room for the three days they didn't show up because they always left us in doubt. So in the height of the busiest month of the year here, we had a room open for three days before they finally decided to grace us with their presence.
No slack cut in the review for us being flexible on the arrival date musical chairs and them costing us money. We actually did turn away a caller who wanted a room for two of the three nights they jammed us on.
Issue three: Finally on the night of their grand arrival, when the red carpet should have been rolled out and the main fireplace ablaze in early October when its still 80 degrees during the day here, they called at 7pm to say they were "grabbing a quick dinner in Santa Fe and then coming to check in."
So I'm in the reception room every fifteen minutes from 9pm on and after trying their cell phone at 10:30 they won't answer. They finally arrive at just before 11 and have armloads of grocery bags with food. All the other guests had gone to bed already and I'm wanting to get these two in their room without a fuss. So what is stated as "evening" is actually almost 11pm and me being "quite short" with them is actually me trying to respect the quiet time of three other rooms full of sleeping guests. They got real snippy about being hungry and not being able to use the kitchen due to our health code regulations, so it was chips and salsa in their room.
The only thing "disrupting my schedule" was these two lying boneheads, who had blown our calendar in one room apart for three days at no cost to them. They arrived at least two and half hours after what one should expect from folks "grabbing some quick dinner and on their way".
Honestly, at that time of night, I have one thing on my schedule, a little Lettermen and some sleep.
Issue four: The fireplace. We don't even start offering fires in our guest room that has a fireplace until 10/15 at a minimum because it is still too warm here. Like I was gonna light a fire at 10:30pm after everybody else had gone to bed for two guests we still weren't 100% sure were going to honor the revised reservation. And the "office" is actually a desk, chair, all-in-one printer for boarding passes, reciepts, maps, restaurant menus, etc. When you walk in a hotel lobby, what do you see first? A counter and "office"
Issue five: The reprimanding of the late guests for breakfast. They didn't misunderstand, they slept in. The wife was in her final stages of chemo and needed all the sleep she could get. Actually, it was more like "Oh, let me make sure Emily can still serve you the full cooked breakfast"
We did get some vindication on that one, because that couple ended up posting the most beautiful review on TA and it got placed right after this louts review.
Yikes, I can't believe I'm reliving this one all over again. Long and short of it, trust your gut and we'd rather refuse service in the face of a couple big redflags and take our chances on a bad review these days then have our dignity and self-respect trampled on multiple times the way a few have done.
These two were rude, condescending to us and the other guests. Jerked us around multiple times even before arriving and after arriving including trying to then get out of their reservation after the first night because the woman really wanted to be downtown the whole time. Instead of just letting them go scott free, we made the mistake of telling them they'd be responsible for the full charges if they left.
That put them on an even bigger mission to poison the well, and this was the result of that moment of us not trusting our instincts due to inexperience. Its a mistake that hasn't and doesn't occur very often anymore.
 
The date appears that you post the mgmt response. Don't reply to something three years later, let sleeping dogs lie.
I would love to have some spicy SW cooking! So who knows maybe that review is actually driving more bookings your way... Too late to comment on it anyway..
I wouldn't reply- it would likely make the dead come to life. I will say that the suggestion of choosing another recent review that mentions food and popping off a cheery note sounds like a possibility.
 
The date appears that you post the mgmt response. Don't reply to something three years later, let sleeping dogs lie.
I would love to have some spicy SW cooking! So who knows maybe that review is actually driving more bookings your way... Too late to comment on it anyway..
I wouldn't reply- it would likely make the dead come to life. I will say that the suggestion of choosing another recent review that mentions food and popping off a cheery note sounds like a possibility.
.
knkbnb said:
I wouldn't reply- it would likely make the dead come to life. I will say that the suggestion of choosing another recent review that mentions food and popping off a cheery note sounds like a possibility.
I agree with knkbnb. Next time you get a TA review that mentions your wonderful food, do a management response thanking them and then you can slip in the fact that you have multiple choices for your guests to choose from.
 
Tim, I have always been one of those that said let the bad reviews get buried. But, given the new TA sorting and the fact that you KNOW that the review has cost you reservations much less the ones that you do not know about, I am leaning in another direction.
Yes, the review is old so a response now to THAT person directly is far past due but there is a way to take at least address the issue and reduce these concerns with new guests. You could make a response that tells about your menu choices, nothing more, nothing less. This could at least bring these viewers to then look at your website before yahing or naying your place. TA could reject it but I personally think it is worth a try.
This new sorting feature to TA is damaging to almost any property, time does make a difference - things can change significantly over a period of months, let a lone years. I have seen reviews of hotels that clearly went through a 'bad review period', did a renovation then rave reviews. I am afraid that with this sorting feature only the experienced TA viewer that will analyze this to the degree needed and will discard some really good places to stay due to this suffle..
Thanks, I really aprpeciate the thoughtfulness folks are putting into this. As far as that four dot review, some folks could read between the lines a little and see some quirkiness, but the only other remotely negative review we've received that went unresponded to is this three dot:
"My boyfriend and I stayed for 3 nights based on Trip Advisor's 5 star raving reviews. Well, I was disappointed being a seasoned traveler who loves staying at B & B's. I found the host Tim to be quite short with us as our arrival time in the evening must have disrupted his schedule. Our accomodations were average at best, but to be fair, we had one of the lower priced rooms. The evening hot tub under the stars was a delight, there were robes in the room, but no slippers/sandals. Breakfasts were excellent, Emily was very pleasant and a great cook! There was a beautiful kiva in the entry room, would have made a much better impression had it been lit upon our arrival or for the chilly fall mornings...never saw it used! Having the office in the entry room was not the best impression either. We witnessed another couple getting reprimanded because they misunderstood the brief breakfast hours alotted and had arrived to the dining room at 9:30am (breakfast is from 8-9:30). Unless you give a B&B a five star rating on the breakfast alone, I would strongly reconsider another accomodation."
With so much of consumer driven reviews, anything that could reveal a customer's contribution to a situation is left out and really does force people to go on the defensive. That one is three and a half years old and just riddled with stuff crying out for response, but back then we were firmly in the "just let it get buried behind all the great ones" camp. I'm more and more convinced that many bad reviews are written strictly to punish a business for trying to uphold any semblance of policy or behavior considerations.
Issue one: They made it sound like some official travel writers for TA had given us the golden seal of approval and let them down. Most TA regular users probably read that comment as an insult to other average travelers who post most of the reviews, but who knows. Could also have been a case of unrealistic expectations and we now know it definitely was a case of filet mignon taste on a hamburger budget. This "seasoned" traveler joined TA the day she wrote the review and has since not contributed one reveiw, posting, etc. Like all the other reviewers of our place were neophyte travelers who had never stayed a night anywhere in their lives.
Issue two: These two were on a multi-week road trip and kept calling and changing their actual arrival date nearly every day for four days in a row. We never added any fees and couldn't re-open the room for the three days they didn't show up because they always left us in doubt. So in the height of the busiest month of the year here, we had a room open for three days before they finally decided to grace us with their presence.
No slack cut in the review for us being flexible on the arrival date musical chairs and them costing us money. We actually did turn away a caller who wanted a room for two of the three nights they jammed us on.
Issue three: Finally on the night of their grand arrival, when the red carpet should have been rolled out and the main fireplace ablaze in early October when its still 80 degrees during the day here, they called at 7pm to say they were "grabbing a quick dinner in Santa Fe and then coming to check in."
So I'm in the reception room every fifteen minutes from 9pm on and after trying their cell phone at 10:30 they won't answer. They finally arrive at just before 11 and have armloads of grocery bags with food. All the other guests had gone to bed already and I'm wanting to get these two in their room without a fuss. So what is stated as "evening" is actually almost 11pm and me being "quite short" with them is actually me trying to respect the quiet time of three other rooms full of sleeping guests. They got real snippy about being hungry and not being able to use the kitchen due to our health code regulations, so it was chips and salsa in their room.
The only thing "disrupting my schedule" was these two lying boneheads, who had blown our calendar in one room apart for three days at no cost to them. They arrived at least two and half hours after what one should expect from folks "grabbing some quick dinner and on their way".
Honestly, at that time of night, I have one thing on my schedule, a little Lettermen and some sleep.
Issue four: The fireplace. We don't even start offering fires in our guest room that has a fireplace until 10/15 at a minimum because it is still too warm here. Like I was gonna light a fire at 10:30pm after everybody else had gone to bed for two guests we still weren't 100% sure were going to honor the revised reservation. And the "office" is actually a desk, chair, all-in-one printer for boarding passes, reciepts, maps, restaurant menus, etc. When you walk in a hotel lobby, what do you see first? A counter and "office"
Issue five: The reprimanding of the late guests for breakfast. They didn't misunderstand, they slept in. The wife was in her final stages of chemo and needed all the sleep she could get. Actually, it was more like "Oh, let me make sure Emily can still serve you the full cooked breakfast"
We did get some vindication on that one, because that couple ended up posting the most beautiful review on TA and it got placed right after this louts review.
Yikes, I can't believe I'm reliving this one all over again. Long and short of it, trust your gut and we'd rather refuse service in the face of a couple big redflags and take our chances on a bad review these days then have our dignity and self-respect trampled on multiple times the way a few have done.
These two were rude, condescending to us and the other guests. Jerked us around multiple times even before arriving and after arriving including trying to then get out of their reservation after the first night because the woman really wanted to be downtown the whole time. Instead of just letting them go scott free, we made the mistake of telling them they'd be responsible for the full charges if they left.
That put them on an even bigger mission to poison the well, and this was the result of that moment of us not trusting our instincts due to inexperience. Its a mistake that hasn't and doesn't occur very often anymore.
.
Tim, you are definitely fixated on a couple of less than stellar reviews! Out of how many? Like JBJ says, let sleeping dogs lie. You probably have plenty of great reviews that will outweigh those. Breathe....just let it go :)
 
The date appears that you post the mgmt response. Don't reply to something three years later, let sleeping dogs lie.
I would love to have some spicy SW cooking! So who knows maybe that review is actually driving more bookings your way... Too late to comment on it anyway..
I wouldn't reply- it would likely make the dead come to life. I will say that the suggestion of choosing another recent review that mentions food and popping off a cheery note sounds like a possibility.
.
knkbnb said:
I wouldn't reply- it would likely make the dead come to life. I will say that the suggestion of choosing another recent review that mentions food and popping off a cheery note sounds like a possibility.
I agree with knkbnb. Next time you get a TA review that mentions your wonderful food, do a management response thanking them and then you can slip in the fact that you have multiple choices for your guests to choose from.
.
Again, thank you to everyone for the wise advice. I wasn't really seriously considering doing such an after the fact response, just throwing out some stuff to get feedback on.
Most of our reviews speak of the food and all the choices. Even the couple of bad ones we've recieved haven't been able to ignore that part of the experience, so its probably well covered ground to a reader.
The bigger point in all of this is this new feature on TA that allows one click access to any of your reviews without tons of scrolling back and forth.
Maybe its my cynical side, but I think gapers blocks at bad wrecks, our culture's morbid fascination with grisly murders, etc.. allude to the side of humans that seeks out both the good and the bad.
Just like many of us find the bad guest stories more interesting than the great ones, I can see a certain kind of traveler finding the one click ability to go look at a business's bad reviews as very entertaining.
 
Tim, I have always been one of those that said let the bad reviews get buried. But, given the new TA sorting and the fact that you KNOW that the review has cost you reservations much less the ones that you do not know about, I am leaning in another direction.
Yes, the review is old so a response now to THAT person directly is far past due but there is a way to take at least address the issue and reduce these concerns with new guests. You could make a response that tells about your menu choices, nothing more, nothing less. This could at least bring these viewers to then look at your website before yahing or naying your place. TA could reject it but I personally think it is worth a try.
This new sorting feature to TA is damaging to almost any property, time does make a difference - things can change significantly over a period of months, let a lone years. I have seen reviews of hotels that clearly went through a 'bad review period', did a renovation then rave reviews. I am afraid that with this sorting feature only the experienced TA viewer that will analyze this to the degree needed and will discard some really good places to stay due to this suffle..
Thanks, I really aprpeciate the thoughtfulness folks are putting into this. As far as that four dot review, some folks could read between the lines a little and see some quirkiness, but the only other remotely negative review we've received that went unresponded to is this three dot:
"My boyfriend and I stayed for 3 nights based on Trip Advisor's 5 star raving reviews. Well, I was disappointed being a seasoned traveler who loves staying at B & B's. I found the host Tim to be quite short with us as our arrival time in the evening must have disrupted his schedule. Our accomodations were average at best, but to be fair, we had one of the lower priced rooms. The evening hot tub under the stars was a delight, there were robes in the room, but no slippers/sandals. Breakfasts were excellent, Emily was very pleasant and a great cook! There was a beautiful kiva in the entry room, would have made a much better impression had it been lit upon our arrival or for the chilly fall mornings...never saw it used! Having the office in the entry room was not the best impression either. We witnessed another couple getting reprimanded because they misunderstood the brief breakfast hours alotted and had arrived to the dining room at 9:30am (breakfast is from 8-9:30). Unless you give a B&B a five star rating on the breakfast alone, I would strongly reconsider another accomodation."
With so much of consumer driven reviews, anything that could reveal a customer's contribution to a situation is left out and really does force people to go on the defensive. That one is three and a half years old and just riddled with stuff crying out for response, but back then we were firmly in the "just let it get buried behind all the great ones" camp. I'm more and more convinced that many bad reviews are written strictly to punish a business for trying to uphold any semblance of policy or behavior considerations.
Issue one: They made it sound like some official travel writers for TA had given us the golden seal of approval and let them down. Most TA regular users probably read that comment as an insult to other average travelers who post most of the reviews, but who knows. Could also have been a case of unrealistic expectations and we now know it definitely was a case of filet mignon taste on a hamburger budget. This "seasoned" traveler joined TA the day she wrote the review and has since not contributed one reveiw, posting, etc. Like all the other reviewers of our place were neophyte travelers who had never stayed a night anywhere in their lives.
Issue two: These two were on a multi-week road trip and kept calling and changing their actual arrival date nearly every day for four days in a row. We never added any fees and couldn't re-open the room for the three days they didn't show up because they always left us in doubt. So in the height of the busiest month of the year here, we had a room open for three days before they finally decided to grace us with their presence.
No slack cut in the review for us being flexible on the arrival date musical chairs and them costing us money. We actually did turn away a caller who wanted a room for two of the three nights they jammed us on.
Issue three: Finally on the night of their grand arrival, when the red carpet should have been rolled out and the main fireplace ablaze in early October when its still 80 degrees during the day here, they called at 7pm to say they were "grabbing a quick dinner in Santa Fe and then coming to check in."
So I'm in the reception room every fifteen minutes from 9pm on and after trying their cell phone at 10:30 they won't answer. They finally arrive at just before 11 and have armloads of grocery bags with food. All the other guests had gone to bed already and I'm wanting to get these two in their room without a fuss. So what is stated as "evening" is actually almost 11pm and me being "quite short" with them is actually me trying to respect the quiet time of three other rooms full of sleeping guests. They got real snippy about being hungry and not being able to use the kitchen due to our health code regulations, so it was chips and salsa in their room.
The only thing "disrupting my schedule" was these two lying boneheads, who had blown our calendar in one room apart for three days at no cost to them. They arrived at least two and half hours after what one should expect from folks "grabbing some quick dinner and on their way".
Honestly, at that time of night, I have one thing on my schedule, a little Lettermen and some sleep.
Issue four: The fireplace. We don't even start offering fires in our guest room that has a fireplace until 10/15 at a minimum because it is still too warm here. Like I was gonna light a fire at 10:30pm after everybody else had gone to bed for two guests we still weren't 100% sure were going to honor the revised reservation. And the "office" is actually a desk, chair, all-in-one printer for boarding passes, reciepts, maps, restaurant menus, etc. When you walk in a hotel lobby, what do you see first? A counter and "office"
Issue five: The reprimanding of the late guests for breakfast. They didn't misunderstand, they slept in. The wife was in her final stages of chemo and needed all the sleep she could get. Actually, it was more like "Oh, let me make sure Emily can still serve you the full cooked breakfast"
We did get some vindication on that one, because that couple ended up posting the most beautiful review on TA and it got placed right after this louts review.
Yikes, I can't believe I'm reliving this one all over again. Long and short of it, trust your gut and we'd rather refuse service in the face of a couple big redflags and take our chances on a bad review these days then have our dignity and self-respect trampled on multiple times the way a few have done.
These two were rude, condescending to us and the other guests. Jerked us around multiple times even before arriving and after arriving including trying to then get out of their reservation after the first night because the woman really wanted to be downtown the whole time. Instead of just letting them go scott free, we made the mistake of telling them they'd be responsible for the full charges if they left.
That put them on an even bigger mission to poison the well, and this was the result of that moment of us not trusting our instincts due to inexperience. Its a mistake that hasn't and doesn't occur very often anymore.
.
Tim, you are definitely fixated on a couple of less than stellar reviews! Out of how many? Like JBJ says, let sleeping dogs lie. You probably have plenty of great reviews that will outweigh those. Breathe....just let it go :)
.
I know, just bored.
This is the slowest its been in five years, so too much time on my hands to dwell on things.
The upside is that we haven't gotten a negative anything in two years if you count the seven months it took our last one to chew on his angst from the time of his stay and then post his fictional novel.
Most people would be jumping for joy to have only 3 bad things out of 60 total said about them in any context.
 
The date appears that you post the mgmt response. Don't reply to something three years later, let sleeping dogs lie.
I would love to have some spicy SW cooking! So who knows maybe that review is actually driving more bookings your way... Too late to comment on it anyway..
I wouldn't reply- it would likely make the dead come to life. I will say that the suggestion of choosing another recent review that mentions food and popping off a cheery note sounds like a possibility.
.
knkbnb said:
I wouldn't reply- it would likely make the dead come to life. I will say that the suggestion of choosing another recent review that mentions food and popping off a cheery note sounds like a possibility.
I agree with knkbnb. Next time you get a TA review that mentions your wonderful food, do a management response thanking them and then you can slip in the fact that you have multiple choices for your guests to choose from.
.
Again, thank you to everyone for the wise advice. I wasn't really seriously considering doing such an after the fact response, just throwing out some stuff to get feedback on.
Most of our reviews speak of the food and all the choices. Even the couple of bad ones we've recieved haven't been able to ignore that part of the experience, so its probably well covered ground to a reader.
The bigger point in all of this is this new feature on TA that allows one click access to any of your reviews without tons of scrolling back and forth.
Maybe its my cynical side, but I think gapers blocks at bad wrecks, our culture's morbid fascination with grisly murders, etc.. allude to the side of humans that seeks out both the good and the bad.
Just like many of us find the bad guest stories more interesting than the great ones, I can see a certain kind of traveler finding the one click ability to go look at a business's bad reviews as very entertaining.
.
Tim_Toad_HLB said:
Just like many of us find the bad guest stories more interesting than the great ones, I can see a certain kind of traveler finding the one click ability to go look at a business's bad reviews as very entertaining.
Before TA added the chart, I just scrolled looking for the bad reviews if a place had fewer than 5 stars. Why? Because good reviews are pretty much all of a piece...'loved the breakfast, room, innkeepers'...the bad reviews explain what they didn't like in gory detail. That said, I rarely use TA when I travel. But when I do, I want to know what bad thing guests found because I am EXPECTING the place to be good.
I used the TA reviews to cancel a hotel stay where more than one guest stated they had been awakened by police looking for 'someone' in the middle of the night. I stayed at the place across the street which had stellar reviews and it was fine. (This one had absolutely no mgmt responses to any of the bad reviews and there were many.)
Another place had a string of wonderful 'loved everything' reviews and interspersed were 2 guests who did not like it at all. I figured they were grousers and the 'loved everything' people were at least closer to the mark. Nope. The grousers had it right. We were treated exactly the same way they were and we walked in expecting to be treated nicely (based on reviews) and have a wonderful breakfast with the charming hosts. Should have gone with my gut after talking to the owners to make the rez. This place still only has those 2 bad reviews and 10's more glowing tributes to the hosts. Maybe my friends & I and the other folks just caught them at a bad time?
What I'm saying is I read the bad reviews to see if those would be things that would bother me, too.
 
The date appears that you post the mgmt response. Don't reply to something three years later, let sleeping dogs lie.
I would love to have some spicy SW cooking! So who knows maybe that review is actually driving more bookings your way... Too late to comment on it anyway..
I wouldn't reply- it would likely make the dead come to life. I will say that the suggestion of choosing another recent review that mentions food and popping off a cheery note sounds like a possibility.
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knkbnb said:
I wouldn't reply- it would likely make the dead come to life. I will say that the suggestion of choosing another recent review that mentions food and popping off a cheery note sounds like a possibility.
I agree with knkbnb. Next time you get a TA review that mentions your wonderful food, do a management response thanking them and then you can slip in the fact that you have multiple choices for your guests to choose from.
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Again, thank you to everyone for the wise advice. I wasn't really seriously considering doing such an after the fact response, just throwing out some stuff to get feedback on.
Most of our reviews speak of the food and all the choices. Even the couple of bad ones we've recieved haven't been able to ignore that part of the experience, so its probably well covered ground to a reader.
The bigger point in all of this is this new feature on TA that allows one click access to any of your reviews without tons of scrolling back and forth.
Maybe its my cynical side, but I think gapers blocks at bad wrecks, our culture's morbid fascination with grisly murders, etc.. allude to the side of humans that seeks out both the good and the bad.
Just like many of us find the bad guest stories more interesting than the great ones, I can see a certain kind of traveler finding the one click ability to go look at a business's bad reviews as very entertaining.
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I am not quite sure what to think about the new feature. I suppose if I was scanning I would appreciate it.
We may have morphed a bit, but I think I am agreeing with someone that it is more important to respond to reviews than ever before. Volumes of good reviews usually blunt the impact I think- and hope
 
I just had a thought as I am about to go and review a couple places in the VA Beach area - when I first started looking for a specific restaurant before our trip that someone had mentioned to us, I noticed reviewers responding to other reviewers on TA. They used it like a forum. I have not seen that on B&B reviews, but on restaurants and things to do I have.
One would comment the place is way too loud and another would give their review and also say "in reply to so and so...we found it to be quiet and serene" Just as an example.
So to use the term manipulating the reviews here - perhaps the restaurant manipulated them or perhaps it was just a reviewer replying to another.
I don't usually read the reviews before I post mine, but maybe others do?
 
Also, there were two restaurants near each other along this dock and I was wondering what the protocol is for referring to the other in a review?
Example: Ample space and seating unlike the other restaurant (which I will name)? One was cramped and they packed as many in as they could, a lady had her arm across the back of MY chair and she was sitting at another table. Oi! It put us off. The other restaurant was not like this at all.
 
PS I am reviewing and they are asking for the URL to tell others about this restaurant. This must be a new feature! And asking for the phone # I will do this for the GOOD places, not the bad ones.
 
Also, there were two restaurants near each other along this dock and I was wondering what the protocol is for referring to the other in a review?
Example: Ample space and seating unlike the other restaurant (which I will name)? One was cramped and they packed as many in as they could, a lady had her arm across the back of MY chair and she was sitting at another table. Oi! It put us off. The other restaurant was not like this at all..
JunieBJones (JBJ) said:
Also, there were two restaurants near each other along this dock and I was wondering what the protocol is for referring to the other in a review?
Example: Ample space and seating unlike the other restaurant (which I will name)? One was cramped and they packed as many in as they could, a lady had her arm across the back of MY chair and she was sitting at another table. Oi! It put us off. The other restaurant was not like this at all.
I don't think they want cross-referencing in the reviews. Such as, 'We were seated at the Crab Shack for 45 minutes and noticed the patrons at the Crab Net restaurant next door got their meals before we did.'
So, you need 2 different reviews for each different place but no cross referencing. There was one I read where the reviewers thought they were AT the other restaurant because the outdoor tables were SO close together. They realized they were at the wrong place after they ordered.
I would definitely put in that someone at the next table had her arm across your chair because the tables were packed so close together. (Then I wouldn't add how impossibly rude that woman was! Who does that???)
 
Well I guess I will see if I get pulled up on it, I went ahead and did it, mentioned fresh catch at both places, one crammed together no room to breath, saw the other place on the dock and went there and preferred it. etc I thought it was fair enough since they are nearly side by side.
 
3 years is too late
3 months isn't
If you have tons of good and a few bad, then oh well. It's a pain, but not much you can do.
People aren't stupid... if they care enough to read then they know what they are looking for. They can tell if someone has an ax to grind or a legitimate complaint. (Sometimes the longer the post, the less legitimate!)
No slippers in the room? Who has slippers in their rooms? Only big chain hotels, not B&B's.
They sound like pampered prima donnas to me...
=)
Kk.
 
3 years is too late
3 months isn't
If you have tons of good and a few bad, then oh well. It's a pain, but not much you can do.
People aren't stupid... if they care enough to read then they know what they are looking for. They can tell if someone has an ax to grind or a legitimate complaint. (Sometimes the longer the post, the less legitimate!)
No slippers in the room? Who has slippers in their rooms? Only big chain hotels, not B&B's.
They sound like pampered prima donnas to me...
=)
Kk..
I recently DID get slippers for my rooms w/shared. They were cheap. I had hoped they would be washable nut no. The good thing is they were cheap enough I really do not care. I decided the private bath did not need them - WRONG! I had 2 separate bookings that came down in robes and bare feet - from the room with the private bath.
 
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