Okay, I just heard from Virtual Tourist. They are operating as Yelp used to in the old days, until Yelp realized they would not get very far operating only from one side and now allow responses. In a nutshell, they don't allow me to respond as they say it is "advertising for my hotel" (I guess she didn't really read my email as I'm a two room B&B).
She suggested I send others to review me to bury the bad review. Oh yeah, I'm going to help them get better positioning? Do their advertising for them? Thank goodness this website is not a popular one.
Here is her response to my request to answer the bad review who never stayed here:
"Thanks for writing to us to express your concerns with our site.
I understand from your email that you would like to respond to this review to express your side of the story on our site. In maintaining our reputation as a travel website for real people to share real experiences with the world, we do not permit people to join as or speak on behalf of businesses, such as a hotel, because it is considered advertising. Businesses who wish to advertise on our site do so by purchasing banners, links, etc. and it would be unfair to welcome other businesses to advertise in any manner, whether it be in the forums, in tips, or even being present as a member. Aside from that, welcoming a business to join would mislead the rest of the membership who joined on the basis that they wouldn’t be subjected to advertising from other members throughout the site.
I do have a recommendation for you, as many other hotel owners have approached us and found success in an alternative method. Rather than responding to the review yourself, it is better to ask your more satisfied guests to post positive reviews of their experiences. The general direction to follow is to assume that the more positive reviews you receive on our site, the better your potential guests will feel about booking with your hotel and the single bad review that you mention below will grow smaller in terms of the credibility it receives, which will in turn cause potential guests to realize that this one bad review is not a good representation of your hotel. The best approach is always to overcome with great customer service, which is what I’m sure your hotel exhibits every day.
Again, thank you for writing and we wish you the best of luck.
Hoping to help,
DanielDiNicola
VT Staff
I told her I was not about to promote her website in any way, thank you.
RIki.