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[JBloggs]

Also you might want to think about setting up a Google Alert for your bed and breakfast name - this means if the review pops up anywhere on anything on the internet you will be alerted and can deal with it straight away..

Interestingly enough, not a single one of my reviews ever shows up in a Google alert. I have to be signed up for the individual review site's email.
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Interestingly enough, not a single one of my reviews ever shows up in a Google alert. I have to be signed up for the individual review site's email.

Yes I was going to concur on that, they don't show up in google alerts, but if you have signed into TA for mgmt stuff, then you should get an email from TA.

 

[Generic]

Also you might want to think about setting up a Google Alert for your bed and breakfast name - this means if the review pops up anywhere on anything on the internet you will be alerted and can deal with it straight away..

Interestingly enough, not a single one of my reviews ever shows up in a Google alert. I have to be signed up for the individual review site's email.
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Interestingly enough, not a single one of my reviews ever shows up in a Google alert. I have to be signed up for the individual review site's email.

Yes I was going to concur on that, they don't show up in google alerts, but if you have signed into TA for mgmt stuff, then you should get an email from TA.
.

Actually, TA's own alerts only seem to work for the language in which you have signed up for them. Get a review in a foreign language and it doesn't seem to send out the alert.

 

[gillumhouse]

Welcome! We all have a guest at some time or other who cannot be please no matter what you do. You could roll out a red carpet, have a personal maid on duty, her own personal waiter, done a made-to-order 6 course breakfast and she would have wanted an 8 course, and you still would not have pleased her. He FORGOT their anniversary - how could he! It is as if he forgot HER! Nothing you could do.

 

[Copperhead]

Welcome!!!
Lots of good advice here. Just know that most of our guests are great, just a few we wish we could toss out with the dirty bath water. Be glad her stay was short and if you are lucky you will never see her again, unfortunately that poor husband is doomed for a life sentence.
Hope your weekend is full with the best guests ever!

 

[user 26]

isn't this forum awesome?
We had a last minute booking, a guy forgot his anniversary and wanted to treat his wife.
boom! that is possibly why she was so terribly unhappy.
and if she is ALWAYS unhappy, he probably wants to forget he ever married her.
absolutely, when (if) a negative review comes, forge on past your hurt, turn it around to a sales pitch by addressing the positives as suggested here and try not to feel bad.
i know it hurts.
WELCOME!!

 

[Anon Inn]

Welcome aboard!
Did the guest know you were new? Perhaps she was going out of her way to make you feel badly figuring you would give her the room for free because you didn't know any better.
The review...write the review you would like to give...damn bitch...and then write the review you want the world to see the next day. Sit on it. Ask your other innkeeping friends to review it for nastiness that you don't want to come across to everyone else.
Take the high road. Say you offered to replace the remote immediately and you were turned down. Take the opportunity to let readers know of the wonderful breakfasts you DO offer without commenting on what she said about 6 course. (My fat fanny, no one does that.) Also mention the tea. You don't have to apologize for not having every stinkin' thing a guest wants. Mention you have ice for the bottled water if the water isn't cold enough. Or say you've moved it into a guest fridge for everyone..

Thanks so much for the welcome, and the advice is good. I will take the high road for sure-no sense in adding fuel to the fire or becoming petty. I've started getting acquainted with some local b and b owners, so I will ask their advice before sending my reply off into the eternal internet stratisphere...
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Camberley will be around later on to tell you to use the mgmt response to tout all the good stuff on offer. It's good advice. 'Our 3-course, classic (fill in your area/food type here) breakfast generally consists of...' Make the readers' mouth water. If TA wants to use our inn names to push their agenda, turn about is fair play. Use TA to crow about the good stuff you offer.
In the meantime, if you have other TA reviews that are all good, now is the time to start writing mgmt responses to those thanking the guests for taking the time to write, nice to have met you, blah blah. Rather than just responding to only the bad stuff.
It will make it easier to write a response to a bad review if there is already a track record for how you respond in general.
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And here I am! (1) Lesson 1 - DO NOT LET THE CRAZY OUT ON THE INTERNET!
(2) - I am sorry you didn't like our breakfast of XYZ - perhapse HGT or PQX would have suited you better and as a trained chef I am happy to produce special dishes or for our guests with Dietary requirements we can do PQX gets you round any breakfast stuff.
(3)
Also if you had let us know prior to arrival that you required tomato juice which is not something we have in stock normally we would of course purchased some in for you, but at XYZ time in the evening we unfortunately were not able to leave our other guests to purchase this item.
I would however not address every single point in her review ie if she writes everything you have said, as it makes you as an innkeeper look overly fussy - just pick out the main points which will actually matter to future guests - ie air con didn't work in the height of summer is one thing - you didn't have tomato juice (and how many people drink this exactly?) is not a majour hoo harr.
Also be aware that you are not writing the response for her - she is completely irrelevant - it is your future customers who read this that matter and everything you write is to be a marketing opportunity to them. Never attack the customer directly ie gosh you were a right fussy cow and we were glad when you went - will not go down well.
If you can do your best to make it obvious she was very demanding in a way that is "read between the lines"
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Never attack the customer directly ie gosh you were a right fussy cow and we were glad when you went - will not go down well. If you can do your best to make it obvious she was very demanding in a way that is "read between the lines"

No, no, she SHOULD say that! Everyone would laugh right out loud and agree with it! I will be saying that to myself whenever it is necessary...right fussy cow. Not in a response because I haven't attempted humor before so it wouldn't go over well.
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I love all the really practical advice- and the humour! It is how I approach life, so I appreciate it very much. It is so true that we accommodate all kinds of diets and requests, with notice. The high tea I did the day before had a lactose intolerant person-now that is a challenge to make pastries and sandwiches which are usually loaded with butter and cream-but they were all really happy with the result- and by the way that is the one meal I make with very little notice, like tell me at breakfast and you can have it for lunch. I try to focus on all the great people we have met, this was just so over the top, I didn't really know how to feel about it. Thanks so much to everyone, you all have lightened my day and I am now ready to meet my next group of great guests, including our first repeats!
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Welcome to the forum! Sounds like you may be in that smallish city with the Lithia water. The breakfast you described sounds lovely. I hope we're able to stay with you the next we get enough time to enjoy some Shakespeare, indoors or out. This forum is incredibly valuable. It has saved us from many mistakes and miss-steps!

 

[Highlands John]

isn't this forum awesome?
We had a last minute booking, a guy forgot his anniversary and wanted to treat his wife.
boom! that is possibly why she was so terribly unhappy.
and if she is ALWAYS unhappy, he probably wants to forget he ever married her.
absolutely, when (if) a negative review comes, forge on past your hurt, turn it around to a sales pitch by addressing the positives as suggested here and try not to feel bad.
i know it hurts.
WELCOME!!

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As I often say to dh when we have miserable guests........"If they're like that when they're on holiday, what are they like the rest of the year??????".

 

[Aussie Innkeeper]

Welcome!! I'm also a 40-something mom living the innkeeper dream. E-mail me sometime.
I think this woman stayed with me last month! In 5 years, she's the only one to write a snotty review that was completely false. Maybe you'll get lucky like I did - this woman's review was SO over the top (as compared to my 125 others) that no potential guest with half a brain cell in their head would believe any of it. Turns out, she was pi$$ed because SHE burned her rayon dress by ironing it with the setting too high and she expected me to compensate her for it. I did not offer. Of course, this didn't show up in the review.
The advice here is great!! When you write the response to that review, you MUST take the high road and turn her nastiness into a positive push for your place. Anyone (well, anyone that you want to stay with you) will be able to see that it's clearly she who is being a total PITA. She probably just uses T/A as a place to vent her complaints and rarely will offer anything constructive or usable to the next potential guest.

 

[Samster]

:welcome:
The good news is that this guest may never write a review at all. The other good news is that if they do, you will have the chance to respond to it and list all the wonderful things that you had to offer this guest and other guests that might come to stay with you. So, take heart!
A negative review can be crushing...this business is soooooooooo personal. We invite people into our homes and break our backs trying to provide the best possible stay for them.
Sounds like you are working to provide a lot of great experiences for your guests. Remember that most guests are wonderful and the others are probably ticked off at someone else or the world in general.
Hang in there!!

 

[Madeleine]

Just heard this from a guest I was chatting with- we read the reviews but the thing we really read are the responses. We stayed at a place the other day that had a really bad review about how mean the staff was and how unaccommodating. Then we read the response that explained the guest showed up drunk at 2 AM and the police had to be called because they were so obnoxious to the staff and other guests were being woken up.
He said it was the response that made the difference to them.

 

[JBloggs]

Just heard this from a guest I was chatting with- we read the reviews but the thing we really read are the responses. We stayed at a place the other day that had a really bad review about how mean the staff was and how unaccommodating. Then we read the response that explained the guest showed up drunk at 2 AM and the police had to be called because they were so obnoxious to the staff and other guests were being woken up.
He said it was the response that made the difference to them..

Just heard this from a guest I was chatting with- we read the reviews but the thing we really read are the responses. We stayed at a place the other day that had a really bad review about how mean the staff was and how unaccommodating. Then we read the response that explained the guest showed up drunk at 2 AM and the police had to be called because they were so obnoxious to the staff and other guests were being woken up.
He said it was the response that made the difference to them.

AMEN!
And for those who think NEVER responding to great reviews is a good idea, I disagree. It shows the inn is there, concerned with all guests, and grateful for those nice reviews. It is an oppty to show you are a real person, family owned small business vs a corporation!

 

[Hillbilly]

Welcome! Most likely they will not post! The ones that post are the ones that never complain or say anything. They almost enjoy the chance to talk bad about something because it makes them feel powerful. If they say anything and you fix there issues it takes there ammo away!

 

[birdwatcher]

Welcome! Guests come in all sizes, manners and some like most said will never be made happy-if she threatens with a TA bad review just answer it in good form and let it go-she is probably one of those guests that think they ate "above" everyone-goodluck and this site is the best ever for anything, you want advise? you want to vent? tell someone a good idea? THIS IS THE PLACE!
and remember -they come and the go and some you dont have take back-that couple is on the DNR list.