You "Get" for Reviews Again

[JBanczak]

One thing we've heard works really well is that some innkeepers are attaching them with a paperclip to their checkout folios/receipts. Another thing that works well is that innkeepers using RezOvation can schedule an automatic email to go out any time after check-out (1,2, 3, X days after) that includes a link to reviews. I agree that handing them out at breakfast is a little rough, but I was just at an inn with my wife, and they handed them to everyone after checkout and just simply said "thanks for staying with us. I'm sure you've seen how important online reviews are - if you have a minute, here is an easy way to do one for our property. Just fill it out and drop in mail." They did this to the two couples checking-out in front of us, and both couples completely understood and said they would fill them out (although I didn't find out if they did or not).
Either way it boils down to this... If your guests would react or think like this every time you gave them a review to fill out... "Oh sure - I'd love to. I love this inn and I understand how important it is. Sure I have 2 minutes to do it - no problem - thanks for asking..." Then it would seem everyone would want to hand them out all the time! I'll call this person the happy guest.
If the reaction was "no way I'm wasting my time filling out that card for this lousy inn - how dare you ask me to do anything for you at all. Just because of this I am never coming back..." then I'm guessing no one would ever hand these out. This person is the grumpy guest.
So what do you think it will be for your guests? I think 95% of guests are going to be closer to the happy guest than the grumpy guest. Ideally you can spot the two and don't bother ole' grumpy with the cards. Even if you do bother ole' grumpy - is that really the kind of person you want back? Maybe it isn't such a big deal to bother them in the first place? Ultimately for each review you get... you can probably expect to get additional customers... if you get 10 reviews - maybe you get an extra 2-3 rez/month... so if, in the rare instance you do upset a customer enough that they will not come back - you know you probably have that many more quality customers as a result.
It also isn't the type of thing where you need to do this forever. I've told innkeepers to make it a goal to get up to 10 reviews as quickly as they can, then make sure you get 1 review/month - that's it. Twelve months from now you'll have over 20 reviews, and you will keep getting them to be more and more current... Seems like a pretty easy threshold.
As far as extended family members, as long as they are payin guests, there is nothing against the rules on this, nor would any website be able to police it. My advice to them would be to be honest - that consumers can often see through glowing/flowery reviews that may appear to good to be true... honestly is certainly the best policy!.

One thing we've heard works really well is that some innkeepers are attaching them with a paperclip to their checkout folios/receipts. Another thing that works well is that innkeepers using RezOvation can schedule an automatic email to go out any time after check-out (1,2, 3, X days after) that includes a link to reviews. I agree that handing them out at breakfast is a little rough, but I was just at an inn with my wife, and they handed them to everyone after checkout and just simply said "thanks for staying with us. I'm sure you've seen how important online reviews are - if you have a minute, here is an easy way to do one for our property. Just fill it out and drop in mail." They did this to the two couples checking-out in front of us, and both couples completely understood and said they would fill them out (although I didn't find out if they did or not).
Either way it boils down to this... If your guests would react or think like this every time you gave them a review to fill out... "Oh sure - I'd love to. I love this inn and I understand how important it is. Sure I have 2 minutes to do it - no problem - thanks for asking..." Then it would seem everyone would want to hand them out all the time! I'll call this person the happy guest.
If the reaction was "no way I'm wasting my time filling out that card for this lousy inn - how dare you ask me to do anything for you at all. Just because of this I am never coming back..." then I'm guessing no one would ever hand these out. This person is the grumpy guest.
So what do you think it will be for your guests? I think 95% of guests are going to be closer to the happy guest than the grumpy guest. Ideally you can spot the two and don't bother ole' grumpy with the cards. Even if you do bother ole' grumpy - is that really the kind of person you want back? Maybe it isn't such a big deal to bother them in the first place? Ultimately for each review you get... you can probably expect to get additional customers... if you get 10 reviews - maybe you get an extra 2-3 rez/month... so if, in the rare instance you do upset a customer enough that they will not come back - you know you probably have that many more quality customers as a result.
It also isn't the type of thing where you need to do this forever. I've told innkeepers to make it a goal to get up to 10 reviews as quickly as they can, then make sure you get 1 review/month - that's it. Twelve months from now you'll have over 20 reviews, and you will keep getting them to be more and more current... Seems like a pretty easy threshold.
As far as extended family members, as long as they are payin guests, there is nothing against the rules on this, nor would any website be able to police it. My advice to them would be to be honest - that consumers can often see through glowing/flowery reviews that may appear to good to be true... honestly is certainly the best policy!

I have done this with TA reviews (asked guests to give us a review in my 'thanks for staying' email). The % so far this year is about 2% of guests have done the review when asked. More like 5% have emailed back and said they had a lovely time but that they don't do reviews online. Anything that requires giving an email address they will not participate in. So, that leaves something along the lines of 93% of guests who never responded in any way at all. I could try handing the review cards directly to them with their credit card receipt and send them to bandb.com instead. It might be a bit tricky as most of them just grab their receipt right as they sign it and don't wait for me to offer it to them. (It's a tough crowd around here...)
I think you may misunderstand the review mentality...if I handed the card to someone who had a lousy time, they'd take it gladly and figure out how to cram 'War and Peace' onto that card just to tell everyone how lousy the place is.

Of course you don't know my family, but believe me, they don't gush. I wouldn't get flowery praise from them on a bet (or the chance to win a GC!) Thanks for letting me know it's ok for them to review.
.

You're probably right on the review mentality... I think identify the happy guests is the way to go since they would be more likely to do you the "favor" of leaving a review. Funny - but Phocuswright (largest online travel research firm) just released a big study from a survey. I forget the numbers - but the majority of travelers today rate reviews as more important than photos or maps even! Yet the majority don't want to write one!!! We have a lot of freeloading guests out there I guess!

 

[Morticia]

One thing we've heard works really well is that some innkeepers are attaching them with a paperclip to their checkout folios/receipts. Another thing that works well is that innkeepers using RezOvation can schedule an automatic email to go out any time after check-out (1,2, 3, X days after) that includes a link to reviews. I agree that handing them out at breakfast is a little rough, but I was just at an inn with my wife, and they handed them to everyone after checkout and just simply said "thanks for staying with us. I'm sure you've seen how important online reviews are - if you have a minute, here is an easy way to do one for our property. Just fill it out and drop in mail." They did this to the two couples checking-out in front of us, and both couples completely understood and said they would fill them out (although I didn't find out if they did or not).
Either way it boils down to this... If your guests would react or think like this every time you gave them a review to fill out... "Oh sure - I'd love to. I love this inn and I understand how important it is. Sure I have 2 minutes to do it - no problem - thanks for asking..." Then it would seem everyone would want to hand them out all the time! I'll call this person the happy guest.
If the reaction was "no way I'm wasting my time filling out that card for this lousy inn - how dare you ask me to do anything for you at all. Just because of this I am never coming back..." then I'm guessing no one would ever hand these out. This person is the grumpy guest.
So what do you think it will be for your guests? I think 95% of guests are going to be closer to the happy guest than the grumpy guest. Ideally you can spot the two and don't bother ole' grumpy with the cards. Even if you do bother ole' grumpy - is that really the kind of person you want back? Maybe it isn't such a big deal to bother them in the first place? Ultimately for each review you get... you can probably expect to get additional customers... if you get 10 reviews - maybe you get an extra 2-3 rez/month... so if, in the rare instance you do upset a customer enough that they will not come back - you know you probably have that many more quality customers as a result.
It also isn't the type of thing where you need to do this forever. I've told innkeepers to make it a goal to get up to 10 reviews as quickly as they can, then make sure you get 1 review/month - that's it. Twelve months from now you'll have over 20 reviews, and you will keep getting them to be more and more current... Seems like a pretty easy threshold.
As far as extended family members, as long as they are payin guests, there is nothing against the rules on this, nor would any website be able to police it. My advice to them would be to be honest - that consumers can often see through glowing/flowery reviews that may appear to good to be true... honestly is certainly the best policy!.

One thing we've heard works really well is that some innkeepers are attaching them with a paperclip to their checkout folios/receipts. Another thing that works well is that innkeepers using RezOvation can schedule an automatic email to go out any time after check-out (1,2, 3, X days after) that includes a link to reviews. I agree that handing them out at breakfast is a little rough, but I was just at an inn with my wife, and they handed them to everyone after checkout and just simply said "thanks for staying with us. I'm sure you've seen how important online reviews are - if you have a minute, here is an easy way to do one for our property. Just fill it out and drop in mail." They did this to the two couples checking-out in front of us, and both couples completely understood and said they would fill them out (although I didn't find out if they did or not).
Either way it boils down to this... If your guests would react or think like this every time you gave them a review to fill out... "Oh sure - I'd love to. I love this inn and I understand how important it is. Sure I have 2 minutes to do it - no problem - thanks for asking..." Then it would seem everyone would want to hand them out all the time! I'll call this person the happy guest.
If the reaction was "no way I'm wasting my time filling out that card for this lousy inn - how dare you ask me to do anything for you at all. Just because of this I am never coming back..." then I'm guessing no one would ever hand these out. This person is the grumpy guest.
So what do you think it will be for your guests? I think 95% of guests are going to be closer to the happy guest than the grumpy guest. Ideally you can spot the two and don't bother ole' grumpy with the cards. Even if you do bother ole' grumpy - is that really the kind of person you want back? Maybe it isn't such a big deal to bother them in the first place? Ultimately for each review you get... you can probably expect to get additional customers... if you get 10 reviews - maybe you get an extra 2-3 rez/month... so if, in the rare instance you do upset a customer enough that they will not come back - you know you probably have that many more quality customers as a result.
It also isn't the type of thing where you need to do this forever. I've told innkeepers to make it a goal to get up to 10 reviews as quickly as they can, then make sure you get 1 review/month - that's it. Twelve months from now you'll have over 20 reviews, and you will keep getting them to be more and more current... Seems like a pretty easy threshold.
As far as extended family members, as long as they are payin guests, there is nothing against the rules on this, nor would any website be able to police it. My advice to them would be to be honest - that consumers can often see through glowing/flowery reviews that may appear to good to be true... honestly is certainly the best policy!

I have done this with TA reviews (asked guests to give us a review in my 'thanks for staying' email). The % so far this year is about 2% of guests have done the review when asked. More like 5% have emailed back and said they had a lovely time but that they don't do reviews online. Anything that requires giving an email address they will not participate in. So, that leaves something along the lines of 93% of guests who never responded in any way at all. I could try handing the review cards directly to them with their credit card receipt and send them to bandb.com instead. It might be a bit tricky as most of them just grab their receipt right as they sign it and don't wait for me to offer it to them. (It's a tough crowd around here...)
I think you may misunderstand the review mentality...if I handed the card to someone who had a lousy time, they'd take it gladly and figure out how to cram 'War and Peace' onto that card just to tell everyone how lousy the place is.

Of course you don't know my family, but believe me, they don't gush. I wouldn't get flowery praise from them on a bet (or the chance to win a GC!) Thanks for letting me know it's ok for them to review.
.

You're probably right on the review mentality... I think identify the happy guests is the way to go since they would be more likely to do you the "favor" of leaving a review. Funny - but Phocuswright (largest online travel research firm) just released a big study from a survey. I forget the numbers - but the majority of travelers today rate reviews as more important than photos or maps even! Yet the majority don't want to write one!!! We have a lot of freeloading guests out there I guess!
.

You're probably right on the review mentality... I think identify the happy guests is the way to go since they would be more likely to do you the "favor" of leaving a review. Funny - but Phocuswright (largest online travel research firm) just released a big study from a survey. I forget the numbers - but the majority of travelers today rate reviews as more important than photos or maps even! Yet the majority don't want to write one!!! We have a lot of freeloading guests out there I guess!

Absolutely. I would say that lately a large percent of guests do mention online reviews as what swayed them to call. And I make a note of that in their rez. Then I send the thank you and wait. Nope. The ones who mention using the reviews don't write them. And they do mention specific reviews. "I liked where the reviewer said...." or, "I'm looking forward to those cookies." (Great. Pressure's on now!)

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

The issue is they do not want to SIGN UP for anything and get spam. I had a couple guests EMAIL and say we got to the end and then it asked for our email address and we just couldn't do it.
!!! Dang it. So there are those...unfortunately. I wish EVERYONE would just get a spare yahoo account and get it over with! I explain they are for verification, but I can't push it on them.

 

[EmptyNest]

The issue is they do not want to SIGN UP for anything and get spam. I had a couple guests EMAIL and say we got to the end and then it asked for our email address and we just couldn't do it.
!!! Dang it. So there are those...unfortunately. I wish EVERYONE would just get a spare yahoo account and get it over with! I explain they are for verification, but I can't push it on them..

Yeah i have a embarqmail junk address for anyone that asks for an email address. This way I never get it. I also have my old innkeeper address which I use but goes nowhere

 

[Copperhead]

The problem using an extra yahoo or whatever email address is that they must at least check it for the verification emails that TA and the others do. If all they do is give it out and then once in a while go out and just delete, there reviews will never get posted.
I was reading a forum on TA regarding reviews never being posted. There seem to be a good many that do not, for one reason or another. TA's replies state that they are behind on posting to the site. They check for verification of email and they review the review for 'fraud' - one employee even stated if the review was too good they would consider it fraud, there were several other reasons given.
TA is getting out of control. They are now 'recommending' hotels & B&B's. See my other post on this.

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

The problem using an extra yahoo or whatever email address is that they must at least check it for the verification emails that TA and the others do. If all they do is give it out and then once in a while go out and just delete, there reviews will never get posted.
I was reading a forum on TA regarding reviews never being posted. There seem to be a good many that do not, for one reason or another. TA's replies state that they are behind on posting to the site. They check for verification of email and they review the review for 'fraud' - one employee even stated if the review was too good they would consider it fraud, there were several other reasons given.
TA is getting out of control. They are now 'recommending' hotels & B&B's. See my other post on this..

The problem using an extra yahoo or whatever email address is that they must at least check it for the verification emails that TA and the others do. If all they do is give it out and then once in a while go out and just delete, there reviews will never get posted.
I was reading a forum on TA regarding reviews never being posted. There seem to be a good many that do not, for one reason or another. TA's replies state that they are behind on posting to the site. They check for verification of email and they review the review for 'fraud' - one employee even stated if the review was too good they would consider it fraud, there were several other reasons given.
TA is getting out of control. They are now 'recommending' hotels & B&B's. See my other post on this.

If you post a review then obv you have to go to that email acct to verify.

 

[user 26]

The problem using an extra yahoo or whatever email address is that they must at least check it for the verification emails that TA and the others do. If all they do is give it out and then once in a while go out and just delete, there reviews will never get posted.
I was reading a forum on TA regarding reviews never being posted. There seem to be a good many that do not, for one reason or another. TA's replies state that they are behind on posting to the site. They check for verification of email and they review the review for 'fraud' - one employee even stated if the review was too good they would consider it fraud, there were several other reasons given.
TA is getting out of control. They are now 'recommending' hotels & B&B's. See my other post on this..

The problem using an extra yahoo or whatever email address is that they must at least check it for the verification emails that TA and the others do. If all they do is give it out and then once in a while go out and just delete, there reviews will never get posted.
I was reading a forum on TA regarding reviews never being posted. There seem to be a good many that do not, for one reason or another. TA's replies state that they are behind on posting to the site. They check for verification of email and they review the review for 'fraud' - one employee even stated if the review was too good they would consider it fraud, there were several other reasons given.
TA is getting out of control. They are now 'recommending' hotels & B&B's. See my other post on this.

If you post a review then obv you have to go to that email acct to verify.
.

well, to me, the review cards look like the inserts in magazines that i throw away.
many of my guests are not taking them, they are leaving them behind or just dropping them in the trash.

 

[JBanczak]

The problem using an extra yahoo or whatever email address is that they must at least check it for the verification emails that TA and the others do. If all they do is give it out and then once in a while go out and just delete, there reviews will never get posted.
I was reading a forum on TA regarding reviews never being posted. There seem to be a good many that do not, for one reason or another. TA's replies state that they are behind on posting to the site. They check for verification of email and they review the review for 'fraud' - one employee even stated if the review was too good they would consider it fraud, there were several other reasons given.
TA is getting out of control. They are now 'recommending' hotels & B&B's. See my other post on this..

The problem using an extra yahoo or whatever email address is that they must at least check it for the verification emails that TA and the others do. If all they do is give it out and then once in a while go out and just delete, there reviews will never get posted.
I was reading a forum on TA regarding reviews never being posted. There seem to be a good many that do not, for one reason or another. TA's replies state that they are behind on posting to the site. They check for verification of email and they review the review for 'fraud' - one employee even stated if the review was too good they would consider it fraud, there were several other reasons given.
TA is getting out of control. They are now 'recommending' hotels & B&B's. See my other post on this.

If you post a review then obv you have to go to that email acct to verify.
.

well, to me, the review cards look like the inserts in magazines that i throw away.
many of my guests are not taking them, they are leaving them behind or just dropping them in the trash.
.

Hmm...
I wonder if there would be a better format to put them in? We did them on postcards so we could afford to pay for production and postage... they were already expensive, but going larger puts them in a different class on postage both outbound and inbound, and they are borderline unaffordable.
One idea we had was to create a nice looking full-color 8-11 PDF for innkeepers. We could even create one for every inn - with the name of the inn already on it, etc. Innkeepers could print them whenever they wanted, hand them out to guests and collect them - then just mail them back to us after you get 5-10 or so, keeping costs to a minimum. That way we solve the problem of them looking like magazine inserts, we give more room to write on them as well.
With regard to collecting email addresses - I would love to drop that requirement. I am in the same camp - hate giving mine out. We do it for obvious fraud reasons, but there could be a way that we could drop it... We could make it "optional" for a guest to enter it... but if they didn't enter it, we would reserve the right to request a receipt for proof of stay from either the guest OR the innkeeper... so we could validate them that way.
Thoughts on these?

 

[EmptyNest]

The problem using an extra yahoo or whatever email address is that they must at least check it for the verification emails that TA and the others do. If all they do is give it out and then once in a while go out and just delete, there reviews will never get posted.
I was reading a forum on TA regarding reviews never being posted. There seem to be a good many that do not, for one reason or another. TA's replies state that they are behind on posting to the site. They check for verification of email and they review the review for 'fraud' - one employee even stated if the review was too good they would consider it fraud, there were several other reasons given.
TA is getting out of control. They are now 'recommending' hotels & B&B's. See my other post on this..

The problem using an extra yahoo or whatever email address is that they must at least check it for the verification emails that TA and the others do. If all they do is give it out and then once in a while go out and just delete, there reviews will never get posted.
I was reading a forum on TA regarding reviews never being posted. There seem to be a good many that do not, for one reason or another. TA's replies state that they are behind on posting to the site. They check for verification of email and they review the review for 'fraud' - one employee even stated if the review was too good they would consider it fraud, there were several other reasons given.
TA is getting out of control. They are now 'recommending' hotels & B&B's. See my other post on this.

If you post a review then obv you have to go to that email acct to verify.
.

well, to me, the review cards look like the inserts in magazines that i throw away.
many of my guests are not taking them, they are leaving them behind or just dropping them in the trash.
.

Hmm...
I wonder if there would be a better format to put them in? We did them on postcards so we could afford to pay for production and postage... they were already expensive, but going larger puts them in a different class on postage both outbound and inbound, and they are borderline unaffordable.
One idea we had was to create a nice looking full-color 8-11 PDF for innkeepers. We could even create one for every inn - with the name of the inn already on it, etc. Innkeepers could print them whenever they wanted, hand them out to guests and collect them - then just mail them back to us after you get 5-10 or so, keeping costs to a minimum. That way we solve the problem of them looking like magazine inserts, we give more room to write on them as well.
With regard to collecting email addresses - I would love to drop that requirement. I am in the same camp - hate giving mine out. We do it for obvious fraud reasons, but there could be a way that we could drop it... We could make it "optional" for a guest to enter it... but if they didn't enter it, we would reserve the right to request a receipt for proof of stay from either the guest OR the innkeeper... so we could validate them that way.
Thoughts on these?
.

Oh yeah a full color 8. 11 pdf...sorry...that is a lot of ink to use for printing...who needs that big of a form??? I doubt most innkeepers would print them off. I wouldn't waste my ink on it sorry.

 

[swirt]

The problem using an extra yahoo or whatever email address is that they must at least check it for the verification emails that TA and the others do. If all they do is give it out and then once in a while go out and just delete, there reviews will never get posted.
I was reading a forum on TA regarding reviews never being posted. There seem to be a good many that do not, for one reason or another. TA's replies state that they are behind on posting to the site. They check for verification of email and they review the review for 'fraud' - one employee even stated if the review was too good they would consider it fraud, there were several other reasons given.
TA is getting out of control. They are now 'recommending' hotels & B&B's. See my other post on this..

The problem using an extra yahoo or whatever email address is that they must at least check it for the verification emails that TA and the others do. If all they do is give it out and then once in a while go out and just delete, there reviews will never get posted.
I was reading a forum on TA regarding reviews never being posted. There seem to be a good many that do not, for one reason or another. TA's replies state that they are behind on posting to the site. They check for verification of email and they review the review for 'fraud' - one employee even stated if the review was too good they would consider it fraud, there were several other reasons given.
TA is getting out of control. They are now 'recommending' hotels & B&B's. See my other post on this.

If you post a review then obv you have to go to that email acct to verify.
.

well, to me, the review cards look like the inserts in magazines that i throw away.
many of my guests are not taking them, they are leaving them behind or just dropping them in the trash.
.

Hmm...
I wonder if there would be a better format to put them in? We did them on postcards so we could afford to pay for production and postage... they were already expensive, but going larger puts them in a different class on postage both outbound and inbound, and they are borderline unaffordable.
One idea we had was to create a nice looking full-color 8-11 PDF for innkeepers. We could even create one for every inn - with the name of the inn already on it, etc. Innkeepers could print them whenever they wanted, hand them out to guests and collect them - then just mail them back to us after you get 5-10 or so, keeping costs to a minimum. That way we solve the problem of them looking like magazine inserts, we give more room to write on them as well.
With regard to collecting email addresses - I would love to drop that requirement. I am in the same camp - hate giving mine out. We do it for obvious fraud reasons, but there could be a way that we could drop it... We could make it "optional" for a guest to enter it... but if they didn't enter it, we would reserve the right to request a receipt for proof of stay from either the guest OR the innkeeper... so we could validate them that way.
Thoughts on these?
.

One idea we had was to create a nice looking full-color 8-11 PDF for innkeepers. We could even create one for every inn - with the name of the inn already on it, etc. Innkeepers could print them whenever they wanted, hand them out to guests and collect them - then just mail them back to us after you get 5-10 or so, keeping costs to a minimum. That way we solve the problem of them looking like magazine inserts, we give more room to write on them as well.

I think this sounds like a good idea. Innkeepers could print them up on the fly complete with all the details of the inn pre-populated. Since you have all that stuff in the Database it could even pop a small photo of the inn on there. It would be cool if it was a mailer where they just fold it and tape it and drop it in the mailbox, but then the innkeeper would need to know how to print duplex. Actually there is a way to print it an fold it so it would all be on only one side of the page, would require two pieces of tape, but I am not sure if the post office still accepts that method.

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

The problem using an extra yahoo or whatever email address is that they must at least check it for the verification emails that TA and the others do. If all they do is give it out and then once in a while go out and just delete, there reviews will never get posted.
I was reading a forum on TA regarding reviews never being posted. There seem to be a good many that do not, for one reason or another. TA's replies state that they are behind on posting to the site. They check for verification of email and they review the review for 'fraud' - one employee even stated if the review was too good they would consider it fraud, there were several other reasons given.
TA is getting out of control. They are now 'recommending' hotels & B&B's. See my other post on this..

The problem using an extra yahoo or whatever email address is that they must at least check it for the verification emails that TA and the others do. If all they do is give it out and then once in a while go out and just delete, there reviews will never get posted.
I was reading a forum on TA regarding reviews never being posted. There seem to be a good many that do not, for one reason or another. TA's replies state that they are behind on posting to the site. They check for verification of email and they review the review for 'fraud' - one employee even stated if the review was too good they would consider it fraud, there were several other reasons given.
TA is getting out of control. They are now 'recommending' hotels & B&B's. See my other post on this.

If you post a review then obv you have to go to that email acct to verify.
.

well, to me, the review cards look like the inserts in magazines that i throw away.
many of my guests are not taking them, they are leaving them behind or just dropping them in the trash.
.

Hmm...
I wonder if there would be a better format to put them in? We did them on postcards so we could afford to pay for production and postage... they were already expensive, but going larger puts them in a different class on postage both outbound and inbound, and they are borderline unaffordable.
One idea we had was to create a nice looking full-color 8-11 PDF for innkeepers. We could even create one for every inn - with the name of the inn already on it, etc. Innkeepers could print them whenever they wanted, hand them out to guests and collect them - then just mail them back to us after you get 5-10 or so, keeping costs to a minimum. That way we solve the problem of them looking like magazine inserts, we give more room to write on them as well.
With regard to collecting email addresses - I would love to drop that requirement. I am in the same camp - hate giving mine out. We do it for obvious fraud reasons, but there could be a way that we could drop it... We could make it "optional" for a guest to enter it... but if they didn't enter it, we would reserve the right to request a receipt for proof of stay from either the guest OR the innkeeper... so we could validate them that way.
Thoughts on these?
.

With regard to collecting email addresses - I would love to drop that requirement. I am in the same camp - hate giving mine out. We do it for obvious fraud reasons, but there could be a way that we could drop it... We could make it "optional" for a guest to enter it... but if they didn't enter it, we would reserve the right to request a receipt for proof of stay from either the guest OR the innkeeper... so we could validate them that way.
Thoughts on these?

Verifying STAY is a good idea anyway. I know you would do that if it were a negative review. Not per the guest, but per the innkeeper, but then you know that wouldn't happen either. I think those who want reviews WOULD DO IT.

 

[JBanczak]

The problem using an extra yahoo or whatever email address is that they must at least check it for the verification emails that TA and the others do. If all they do is give it out and then once in a while go out and just delete, there reviews will never get posted.
I was reading a forum on TA regarding reviews never being posted. There seem to be a good many that do not, for one reason or another. TA's replies state that they are behind on posting to the site. They check for verification of email and they review the review for 'fraud' - one employee even stated if the review was too good they would consider it fraud, there were several other reasons given.
TA is getting out of control. They are now 'recommending' hotels & B&B's. See my other post on this..

The problem using an extra yahoo or whatever email address is that they must at least check it for the verification emails that TA and the others do. If all they do is give it out and then once in a while go out and just delete, there reviews will never get posted.
I was reading a forum on TA regarding reviews never being posted. There seem to be a good many that do not, for one reason or another. TA's replies state that they are behind on posting to the site. They check for verification of email and they review the review for 'fraud' - one employee even stated if the review was too good they would consider it fraud, there were several other reasons given.
TA is getting out of control. They are now 'recommending' hotels & B&B's. See my other post on this.

If you post a review then obv you have to go to that email acct to verify.
.

well, to me, the review cards look like the inserts in magazines that i throw away.
many of my guests are not taking them, they are leaving them behind or just dropping them in the trash.
.

Hmm...
I wonder if there would be a better format to put them in? We did them on postcards so we could afford to pay for production and postage... they were already expensive, but going larger puts them in a different class on postage both outbound and inbound, and they are borderline unaffordable.
One idea we had was to create a nice looking full-color 8-11 PDF for innkeepers. We could even create one for every inn - with the name of the inn already on it, etc. Innkeepers could print them whenever they wanted, hand them out to guests and collect them - then just mail them back to us after you get 5-10 or so, keeping costs to a minimum. That way we solve the problem of them looking like magazine inserts, we give more room to write on them as well.
With regard to collecting email addresses - I would love to drop that requirement. I am in the same camp - hate giving mine out. We do it for obvious fraud reasons, but there could be a way that we could drop it... We could make it "optional" for a guest to enter it... but if they didn't enter it, we would reserve the right to request a receipt for proof of stay from either the guest OR the innkeeper... so we could validate them that way.
Thoughts on these?
.

With regard to collecting email addresses - I would love to drop that requirement. I am in the same camp - hate giving mine out. We do it for obvious fraud reasons, but there could be a way that we could drop it... We could make it "optional" for a guest to enter it... but if they didn't enter it, we would reserve the right to request a receipt for proof of stay from either the guest OR the innkeeper... so we could validate them that way.
Thoughts on these?

Verifying STAY is a good idea anyway. I know you would do that if it were a negative review. Not per the guest, but per the innkeeper, but then you know that wouldn't happen either. I think those who want reviews WOULD DO IT.
.

Ooohh.. I like the idea that swirt had... it would take some doing, but we could make each form with a photo of each inn I believe. I need to check on it, but I think we designed an automated tool for custom GC's that might work this way. I think duplexing would be tough, but I believe the tri-fold method with tape would work. We could even send out a sticker to use instead of tape... So the innkeeper could print it, pre-fold or crease it at least, put the sticker in the right place - give it to guest and guest could drop in the mail - we'd pay for postage. Or the innkeeper could just collect them and send them in.
As far as printing full-color or not, if we were going to do this via pdf, we could make a few versions. One that is B/W, one that is full-page no/fold innkeeper mails in, and one that is tri-fold/stick with tape/consumer sends in.
As far as printing them out on your own, color always looks nicer, and it should cost less than $1 or so/copy. My HP printer says landed print cost of .50/copy, but there are online printers that do copies for under .20/color copy as well as places like kinkos now are pretty cheap. Sure - it will be a small expense, but for $20-50 you would be pretty flush with copies of these, then we could have the B/W to economize.
As far as verifying stay - we reserve the right to do that on any review and have done it for plenty of positive and negative reviews alike. If we didn't require email - then we would just need to take it one step further so we avoid cheaters. Although if someone wants to cheat - there is not much anyone can do about. Unethical people are going to find a way around a system no matter what we do.

 

[swirt]

The problem using an extra yahoo or whatever email address is that they must at least check it for the verification emails that TA and the others do. If all they do is give it out and then once in a while go out and just delete, there reviews will never get posted.
I was reading a forum on TA regarding reviews never being posted. There seem to be a good many that do not, for one reason or another. TA's replies state that they are behind on posting to the site. They check for verification of email and they review the review for 'fraud' - one employee even stated if the review was too good they would consider it fraud, there were several other reasons given.
TA is getting out of control. They are now 'recommending' hotels & B&B's. See my other post on this..

The problem using an extra yahoo or whatever email address is that they must at least check it for the verification emails that TA and the others do. If all they do is give it out and then once in a while go out and just delete, there reviews will never get posted.
I was reading a forum on TA regarding reviews never being posted. There seem to be a good many that do not, for one reason or another. TA's replies state that they are behind on posting to the site. They check for verification of email and they review the review for 'fraud' - one employee even stated if the review was too good they would consider it fraud, there were several other reasons given.
TA is getting out of control. They are now 'recommending' hotels & B&B's. See my other post on this.

If you post a review then obv you have to go to that email acct to verify.
.

well, to me, the review cards look like the inserts in magazines that i throw away.
many of my guests are not taking them, they are leaving them behind or just dropping them in the trash.
.

Hmm...
I wonder if there would be a better format to put them in? We did them on postcards so we could afford to pay for production and postage... they were already expensive, but going larger puts them in a different class on postage both outbound and inbound, and they are borderline unaffordable.
One idea we had was to create a nice looking full-color 8-11 PDF for innkeepers. We could even create one for every inn - with the name of the inn already on it, etc. Innkeepers could print them whenever they wanted, hand them out to guests and collect them - then just mail them back to us after you get 5-10 or so, keeping costs to a minimum. That way we solve the problem of them looking like magazine inserts, we give more room to write on them as well.
With regard to collecting email addresses - I would love to drop that requirement. I am in the same camp - hate giving mine out. We do it for obvious fraud reasons, but there could be a way that we could drop it... We could make it "optional" for a guest to enter it... but if they didn't enter it, we would reserve the right to request a receipt for proof of stay from either the guest OR the innkeeper... so we could validate them that way.
Thoughts on these?
.

With regard to collecting email addresses - I would love to drop that requirement. I am in the same camp - hate giving mine out. We do it for obvious fraud reasons, but there could be a way that we could drop it... We could make it "optional" for a guest to enter it... but if they didn't enter it, we would reserve the right to request a receipt for proof of stay from either the guest OR the innkeeper... so we could validate them that way.
Thoughts on these?

Verifying STAY is a good idea anyway. I know you would do that if it were a negative review. Not per the guest, but per the innkeeper, but then you know that wouldn't happen either. I think those who want reviews WOULD DO IT.
.

Ooohh.. I like the idea that swirt had... it would take some doing, but we could make each form with a photo of each inn I believe. I need to check on it, but I think we designed an automated tool for custom GC's that might work this way. I think duplexing would be tough, but I believe the tri-fold method with tape would work. We could even send out a sticker to use instead of tape... So the innkeeper could print it, pre-fold or crease it at least, put the sticker in the right place - give it to guest and guest could drop in the mail - we'd pay for postage. Or the innkeeper could just collect them and send them in.
As far as printing full-color or not, if we were going to do this via pdf, we could make a few versions. One that is B/W, one that is full-page no/fold innkeeper mails in, and one that is tri-fold/stick with tape/consumer sends in.
As far as printing them out on your own, color always looks nicer, and it should cost less than $1 or so/copy. My HP printer says landed print cost of .50/copy, but there are online printers that do copies for under .20/color copy as well as places like kinkos now are pretty cheap. Sure - it will be a small expense, but for $20-50 you would be pretty flush with copies of these, then we could have the B/W to economize.
As far as verifying stay - we reserve the right to do that on any review and have done it for plenty of positive and negative reviews alike. If we didn't require email - then we would just need to take it one step further so we avoid cheaters. Although if someone wants to cheat - there is not much anyone can do about. Unethical people are going to find a way around a system no matter what we do.
.

The biggest problem I would think would be paying all these people to transcribe what was written. I'd hate to see you have to raise your rates just to pay an army of typists.
It seems to me it would be more cost effective (leading to lower membership prices) to make the online entry easier. Here's a few separate ideas.

1. To reduce the need for verification, make it so that the link an innkeeper sends to guests in their thank you email includes a unique identifier for the inn so that the only way the reviewer would have that link would be because the innkeeper sent it to them....means they most likely must have stayed (not 100% guarantee but closer) If they submit a review using that link, they don't have to leave an email address....but log the ip address to help spot fraud.
2. Take your site to the next level of catering to travelers (more like a travel community..you are almost there with the "My reservations") Make it so travelers can create an account. Then they can flag B&B's that the might want to go to while planning the trip. All so they can log back in later and find each of the ones that caught their eye so they can review them with a significant other before making a final decision. If travelers feel like it is a sense of community they are more likely to put in reviews, which would be easier to spot patterns, like identical ip addresses with multiple accounts and single reviews on each account. It would make it easier for inn-goers to spot the travel deals for the areas of their interest ( a perk to creating an account). Unify the forum with the rest of it so it becomes more of a connected B&B goer community. Then people can easily enter reviews by logging in and not feeling like they are attaching an email address to a review (because it is already attached to the account) The other benefit to the account/community is that it would give you a lot more data to mine...not so much for individual travelers but for large scale trends.

 

[EmptyNest]

The problem using an extra yahoo or whatever email address is that they must at least check it for the verification emails that TA and the others do. If all they do is give it out and then once in a while go out and just delete, there reviews will never get posted.
I was reading a forum on TA regarding reviews never being posted. There seem to be a good many that do not, for one reason or another. TA's replies state that they are behind on posting to the site. They check for verification of email and they review the review for 'fraud' - one employee even stated if the review was too good they would consider it fraud, there were several other reasons given.
TA is getting out of control. They are now 'recommending' hotels & B&B's. See my other post on this..

The problem using an extra yahoo or whatever email address is that they must at least check it for the verification emails that TA and the others do. If all they do is give it out and then once in a while go out and just delete, there reviews will never get posted.
I was reading a forum on TA regarding reviews never being posted. There seem to be a good many that do not, for one reason or another. TA's replies state that they are behind on posting to the site. They check for verification of email and they review the review for 'fraud' - one employee even stated if the review was too good they would consider it fraud, there were several other reasons given.
TA is getting out of control. They are now 'recommending' hotels & B&B's. See my other post on this.

If you post a review then obv you have to go to that email acct to verify.
.

well, to me, the review cards look like the inserts in magazines that i throw away.
many of my guests are not taking them, they are leaving them behind or just dropping them in the trash.
.

Hmm...
I wonder if there would be a better format to put them in? We did them on postcards so we could afford to pay for production and postage... they were already expensive, but going larger puts them in a different class on postage both outbound and inbound, and they are borderline unaffordable.
One idea we had was to create a nice looking full-color 8-11 PDF for innkeepers. We could even create one for every inn - with the name of the inn already on it, etc. Innkeepers could print them whenever they wanted, hand them out to guests and collect them - then just mail them back to us after you get 5-10 or so, keeping costs to a minimum. That way we solve the problem of them looking like magazine inserts, we give more room to write on them as well.
With regard to collecting email addresses - I would love to drop that requirement. I am in the same camp - hate giving mine out. We do it for obvious fraud reasons, but there could be a way that we could drop it... We could make it "optional" for a guest to enter it... but if they didn't enter it, we would reserve the right to request a receipt for proof of stay from either the guest OR the innkeeper... so we could validate them that way.
Thoughts on these?
.

With regard to collecting email addresses - I would love to drop that requirement. I am in the same camp - hate giving mine out. We do it for obvious fraud reasons, but there could be a way that we could drop it... We could make it "optional" for a guest to enter it... but if they didn't enter it, we would reserve the right to request a receipt for proof of stay from either the guest OR the innkeeper... so we could validate them that way.
Thoughts on these?

Verifying STAY is a good idea anyway. I know you would do that if it were a negative review. Not per the guest, but per the innkeeper, but then you know that wouldn't happen either. I think those who want reviews WOULD DO IT.
.

Ooohh.. I like the idea that swirt had... it would take some doing, but we could make each form with a photo of each inn I believe. I need to check on it, but I think we designed an automated tool for custom GC's that might work this way. I think duplexing would be tough, but I believe the tri-fold method with tape would work. We could even send out a sticker to use instead of tape... So the innkeeper could print it, pre-fold or crease it at least, put the sticker in the right place - give it to guest and guest could drop in the mail - we'd pay for postage. Or the innkeeper could just collect them and send them in.
As far as printing full-color or not, if we were going to do this via pdf, we could make a few versions. One that is B/W, one that is full-page no/fold innkeeper mails in, and one that is tri-fold/stick with tape/consumer sends in.
As far as printing them out on your own, color always looks nicer, and it should cost less than $1 or so/copy. My HP printer says landed print cost of .50/copy, but there are online printers that do copies for under .20/color copy as well as places like kinkos now are pretty cheap. Sure - it will be a small expense, but for $20-50 you would be pretty flush with copies of these, then we could have the B/W to economize.
As far as verifying stay - we reserve the right to do that on any review and have done it for plenty of positive and negative reviews alike. If we didn't require email - then we would just need to take it one step further so we avoid cheaters. Although if someone wants to cheat - there is not much anyone can do about. Unethical people are going to find a way around a system no matter what we do.
.

The biggest problem I would think would be paying all these people to transcribe what was written. I'd hate to see you have to raise your rates just to pay an army of typists.
It seems to me it would be more cost effective (leading to lower membership prices) to make the online entry easier. Here's a few separate ideas.

1. To reduce the need for verification, make it so that the link an innkeeper sends to guests in their thank you email includes a unique identifier for the inn so that the only way the reviewer would have that link would be because the innkeeper sent it to them....means they most likely must have stayed (not 100% guarantee but closer) If they submit a review using that link, they don't have to leave an email address....but log the ip address to help spot fraud.
2. Take your site to the next level of catering to travelers (more like a travel community..you are almost there with the "My reservations") Make it so travelers can create an account. Then they can flag B&B's that the might want to go to while planning the trip. All so they can log back in later and find each of the ones that caught their eye so they can review them with a significant other before making a final decision. If travelers feel like it is a sense of community they are more likely to put in reviews, which would be easier to spot patterns, like identical ip addresses with multiple accounts and single reviews on each account. It would make it easier for inn-goers to spot the travel deals for the areas of their interest ( a perk to creating an account). Unify the forum with the rest of it so it becomes more of a connected B&B goer community. Then people can easily enter reviews by logging in and not feeling like they are attaching an email address to a review (because it is already attached to the account) The other benefit to the account/community is that it would give you a lot more data to mine...not so much for individual travelers but for large scale trends.

.

I hadn't even thought of that...of course..how are the handwritten reviews going to make it online...Yep..someone has to type it in!!! Forget that!!! I like your ideas.

 

[Morticia]

The problem using an extra yahoo or whatever email address is that they must at least check it for the verification emails that TA and the others do. If all they do is give it out and then once in a while go out and just delete, there reviews will never get posted.
I was reading a forum on TA regarding reviews never being posted. There seem to be a good many that do not, for one reason or another. TA's replies state that they are behind on posting to the site. They check for verification of email and they review the review for 'fraud' - one employee even stated if the review was too good they would consider it fraud, there were several other reasons given.
TA is getting out of control. They are now 'recommending' hotels & B&B's. See my other post on this..

The problem using an extra yahoo or whatever email address is that they must at least check it for the verification emails that TA and the others do. If all they do is give it out and then once in a while go out and just delete, there reviews will never get posted.
I was reading a forum on TA regarding reviews never being posted. There seem to be a good many that do not, for one reason or another. TA's replies state that they are behind on posting to the site. They check for verification of email and they review the review for 'fraud' - one employee even stated if the review was too good they would consider it fraud, there were several other reasons given.
TA is getting out of control. They are now 'recommending' hotels & B&B's. See my other post on this.

If you post a review then obv you have to go to that email acct to verify.
.

well, to me, the review cards look like the inserts in magazines that i throw away.
many of my guests are not taking them, they are leaving them behind or just dropping them in the trash.
.

Hmm...
I wonder if there would be a better format to put them in? We did them on postcards so we could afford to pay for production and postage... they were already expensive, but going larger puts them in a different class on postage both outbound and inbound, and they are borderline unaffordable.
One idea we had was to create a nice looking full-color 8-11 PDF for innkeepers. We could even create one for every inn - with the name of the inn already on it, etc. Innkeepers could print them whenever they wanted, hand them out to guests and collect them - then just mail them back to us after you get 5-10 or so, keeping costs to a minimum. That way we solve the problem of them looking like magazine inserts, we give more room to write on them as well.
With regard to collecting email addresses - I would love to drop that requirement. I am in the same camp - hate giving mine out. We do it for obvious fraud reasons, but there could be a way that we could drop it... We could make it "optional" for a guest to enter it... but if they didn't enter it, we would reserve the right to request a receipt for proof of stay from either the guest OR the innkeeper... so we could validate them that way.
Thoughts on these?
.

With regard to collecting email addresses - I would love to drop that requirement. I am in the same camp - hate giving mine out. We do it for obvious fraud reasons, but there could be a way that we could drop it... We could make it "optional" for a guest to enter it... but if they didn't enter it, we would reserve the right to request a receipt for proof of stay from either the guest OR the innkeeper... so we could validate them that way.
Thoughts on these?

Verifying STAY is a good idea anyway. I know you would do that if it were a negative review. Not per the guest, but per the innkeeper, but then you know that wouldn't happen either. I think those who want reviews WOULD DO IT.
.

Ooohh.. I like the idea that swirt had... it would take some doing, but we could make each form with a photo of each inn I believe. I need to check on it, but I think we designed an automated tool for custom GC's that might work this way. I think duplexing would be tough, but I believe the tri-fold method with tape would work. We could even send out a sticker to use instead of tape... So the innkeeper could print it, pre-fold or crease it at least, put the sticker in the right place - give it to guest and guest could drop in the mail - we'd pay for postage. Or the innkeeper could just collect them and send them in.
As far as printing full-color or not, if we were going to do this via pdf, we could make a few versions. One that is B/W, one that is full-page no/fold innkeeper mails in, and one that is tri-fold/stick with tape/consumer sends in.
As far as printing them out on your own, color always looks nicer, and it should cost less than $1 or so/copy. My HP printer says landed print cost of .50/copy, but there are online printers that do copies for under .20/color copy as well as places like kinkos now are pretty cheap. Sure - it will be a small expense, but for $20-50 you would be pretty flush with copies of these, then we could have the B/W to economize.
As far as verifying stay - we reserve the right to do that on any review and have done it for plenty of positive and negative reviews alike. If we didn't require email - then we would just need to take it one step further so we avoid cheaters. Although if someone wants to cheat - there is not much anyone can do about. Unethical people are going to find a way around a system no matter what we do.
.

The biggest problem I would think would be paying all these people to transcribe what was written. I'd hate to see you have to raise your rates just to pay an army of typists.
It seems to me it would be more cost effective (leading to lower membership prices) to make the online entry easier. Here's a few separate ideas.

1. To reduce the need for verification, make it so that the link an innkeeper sends to guests in their thank you email includes a unique identifier for the inn so that the only way the reviewer would have that link would be because the innkeeper sent it to them....means they most likely must have stayed (not 100% guarantee but closer) If they submit a review using that link, they don't have to leave an email address....but log the ip address to help spot fraud.
2. Take your site to the next level of catering to travelers (more like a travel community..you are almost there with the "My reservations") Make it so travelers can create an account. Then they can flag B&B's that the might want to go to while planning the trip. All so they can log back in later and find each of the ones that caught their eye so they can review them with a significant other before making a final decision. If travelers feel like it is a sense of community they are more likely to put in reviews, which would be easier to spot patterns, like identical ip addresses with multiple accounts and single reviews on each account. It would make it easier for inn-goers to spot the travel deals for the areas of their interest ( a perk to creating an account). Unify the forum with the rest of it so it becomes more of a connected B&B goer community. Then people can easily enter reviews by logging in and not feeling like they are attaching an email address to a review (because it is already attached to the account) The other benefit to the account/community is that it would give you a lot more data to mine...not so much for individual travelers but for large scale trends.

.

The biggest problem I would think would be paying all these people to transcribe what was written. I'd hate to see you have to raise your rates just to pay an army of typists.
It seems to me it would be more cost effective (leading to lower membership prices) to make the online entry easier. Here's a few separate ideas.

1. To reduce the need for verification, make it so that the link an innkeeper sends to guests in their thank you email includes a unique identifier for the inn so that the only way the reviewer would have that link would be because the innkeeper sent it to them....means they most likely must have stayed (not 100% guarantee but closer) If they submit a review using that link, they don't have to leave an email address....but log the ip address to help spot fraud.
2. Take your site to the next level of catering to travelers (more like a travel community..you are almost there with the "My reservations") Make it so travelers can create an account. Then they can flag B&B's that the might want to go to while planning the trip. All so they can log back in later and find each of the ones that caught their eye so they can review them with a significant other before making a final decision. If travelers feel like it is a sense of community they are more likely to put in reviews, which would be easier to spot patterns, like identical ip addresses with multiple accounts and single reviews on each account. It would make it easier for inn-goers to spot the travel deals for the areas of their interest ( a perk to creating an account). Unify the forum with the rest of it so it becomes more of a connected B&B goer community. Then people can easily enter reviews by logging in and not feeling like they are attaching an email address to a review (because it is already attached to the account) The other benefit to the account/community is that it would give you a lot more data to mine...not so much for individual travelers but for large scale trends.

Those are well-thought out ideas. I would email the link to my guests (as long as this is not something where I have to access my account, fire up an email, add email addresses, etc) to do the reviews if it saved them from having to enter their own email address. If I had the code in my own thank you email, then I'd be good to go. Remove it if they are repeats who have already reviewed or repeats I don't want to bother with the request.
And, you address bandb's concerns with how to make this a more centralized location for guests and innkeepers alike. Innkeepers will be more ready to list if they see there is a real community growing up around the site. Maybe rates would go down because more users would be on there, leading to more inns signing up. And if the ads are still there, maybe they could go away because of all the new users.

 

[GeorgiaGirl]

Well I just got home and found 2 seperate emails from the "Membership Consultant" of bedandbreakfast.com asking me to send proof of 2 different stays. Says it has to be a copy of my receipt with the dates shown. I don't mind doing it, but it will take time for me to find 1, scan it and email it to her. The other stay I do not have a receipt, Innkeeper did not give me one and wasn't there during our checkout. So now, does that mean that my review I submitted for the Inn where I don't have a receipt not get posted?? What a pain in the bu..!

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

Well I just got home and found 2 seperate emails from the "Membership Consultant" of bedandbreakfast.com asking me to send proof of 2 different stays. Says it has to be a copy of my receipt with the dates shown. I don't mind doing it, but it will take time for me to find 1, scan it and email it to her. The other stay I do not have a receipt, Innkeeper did not give me one and wasn't there during our checkout. So now, does that mean that my review I submitted for the Inn where I don't have a receipt not get posted?? What a pain in the bu..!.

Well I just got home and found 2 seperate emails from the "Membership Consultant" of bedandbreakfast.com asking me to send proof of 2 different stays. Says it has to be a copy of my receipt with the dates shown. I don't mind doing it, but it will take time for me to find 1, scan it and email it to her. The other stay I do not have a receipt, Innkeeper did not give me one and wasn't there during our checkout. So now, does that mean that my review I submitted for the Inn where I don't have a receipt not get posted?? What a pain in the bu..!

If you don't mind my asking, were they negative reviews? I have not had anyone mention being asked for proof yet, unless the inn owner has a problem with the review. Just curious.

 

[GeorgiaGirl]

Well I just got home and found 2 seperate emails from the "Membership Consultant" of bedandbreakfast.com asking me to send proof of 2 different stays. Says it has to be a copy of my receipt with the dates shown. I don't mind doing it, but it will take time for me to find 1, scan it and email it to her. The other stay I do not have a receipt, Innkeeper did not give me one and wasn't there during our checkout. So now, does that mean that my review I submitted for the Inn where I don't have a receipt not get posted?? What a pain in the bu..!.

Well I just got home and found 2 seperate emails from the "Membership Consultant" of bedandbreakfast.com asking me to send proof of 2 different stays. Says it has to be a copy of my receipt with the dates shown. I don't mind doing it, but it will take time for me to find 1, scan it and email it to her. The other stay I do not have a receipt, Innkeeper did not give me one and wasn't there during our checkout. So now, does that mean that my review I submitted for the Inn where I don't have a receipt not get posted?? What a pain in the bu..!

If you don't mind my asking, were they negative reviews? I have not had anyone mention being asked for proof yet, unless the inn owner has a problem with the review. Just curious.
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YEP, they were the 2 Inns that were filthy from top to bottom! I also had TA ask me to verify 2 times for review I left that were Positive. They didn't ask for copies of anything, just wanted me to verify that I posted them.

 

[swirt]

Well I just got home and found 2 seperate emails from the "Membership Consultant" of bedandbreakfast.com asking me to send proof of 2 different stays. Says it has to be a copy of my receipt with the dates shown. I don't mind doing it, but it will take time for me to find 1, scan it and email it to her. The other stay I do not have a receipt, Innkeeper did not give me one and wasn't there during our checkout. So now, does that mean that my review I submitted for the Inn where I don't have a receipt not get posted?? What a pain in the bu..!.

Have I mentioned that I really enjoy having your perspective here on this forum? Thank you for taking the time to post here and share your point of view as an inngoer. And for putting up with reading between our whinefests

 

[Copperhead]

The problem using an extra yahoo or whatever email address is that they must at least check it for the verification emails that TA and the others do. If all they do is give it out and then once in a while go out and just delete, there reviews will never get posted.
I was reading a forum on TA regarding reviews never being posted. There seem to be a good many that do not, for one reason or another. TA's replies state that they are behind on posting to the site. They check for verification of email and they review the review for 'fraud' - one employee even stated if the review was too good they would consider it fraud, there were several other reasons given.
TA is getting out of control. They are now 'recommending' hotels & B&B's. See my other post on this..

The problem using an extra yahoo or whatever email address is that they must at least check it for the verification emails that TA and the others do. If all they do is give it out and then once in a while go out and just delete, there reviews will never get posted.
I was reading a forum on TA regarding reviews never being posted. There seem to be a good many that do not, for one reason or another. TA's replies state that they are behind on posting to the site. They check for verification of email and they review the review for 'fraud' - one employee even stated if the review was too good they would consider it fraud, there were several other reasons given.
TA is getting out of control. They are now 'recommending' hotels & B&B's. See my other post on this.

If you post a review then obv you have to go to that email acct to verify.
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well, to me, the review cards look like the inserts in magazines that i throw away.
many of my guests are not taking them, they are leaving them behind or just dropping them in the trash.
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Hmm...
I wonder if there would be a better format to put them in? We did them on postcards so we could afford to pay for production and postage... they were already expensive, but going larger puts them in a different class on postage both outbound and inbound, and they are borderline unaffordable.
One idea we had was to create a nice looking full-color 8-11 PDF for innkeepers. We could even create one for every inn - with the name of the inn already on it, etc. Innkeepers could print them whenever they wanted, hand them out to guests and collect them - then just mail them back to us after you get 5-10 or so, keeping costs to a minimum. That way we solve the problem of them looking like magazine inserts, we give more room to write on them as well.
With regard to collecting email addresses - I would love to drop that requirement. I am in the same camp - hate giving mine out. We do it for obvious fraud reasons, but there could be a way that we could drop it... We could make it "optional" for a guest to enter it... but if they didn't enter it, we would reserve the right to request a receipt for proof of stay from either the guest OR the innkeeper... so we could validate them that way.
Thoughts on these?
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With regard to collecting email addresses - I would love to drop that requirement. I am in the same camp - hate giving mine out. We do it for obvious fraud reasons, but there could be a way that we could drop it... We could make it "optional" for a guest to enter it... but if they didn't enter it, we would reserve the right to request a receipt for proof of stay from either the guest OR the innkeeper... so we could validate them that way.
Thoughts on these?

Verifying STAY is a good idea anyway. I know you would do that if it were a negative review. Not per the guest, but per the innkeeper, but then you know that wouldn't happen either. I think those who want reviews WOULD DO IT.
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Ooohh.. I like the idea that swirt had... it would take some doing, but we could make each form with a photo of each inn I believe. I need to check on it, but I think we designed an automated tool for custom GC's that might work this way. I think duplexing would be tough, but I believe the tri-fold method with tape would work. We could even send out a sticker to use instead of tape... So the innkeeper could print it, pre-fold or crease it at least, put the sticker in the right place - give it to guest and guest could drop in the mail - we'd pay for postage. Or the innkeeper could just collect them and send them in.
As far as printing full-color or not, if we were going to do this via pdf, we could make a few versions. One that is B/W, one that is full-page no/fold innkeeper mails in, and one that is tri-fold/stick with tape/consumer sends in.
As far as printing them out on your own, color always looks nicer, and it should cost less than $1 or so/copy. My HP printer says landed print cost of .50/copy, but there are online printers that do copies for under .20/color copy as well as places like kinkos now are pretty cheap. Sure - it will be a small expense, but for $20-50 you would be pretty flush with copies of these, then we could have the B/W to economize.
As far as verifying stay - we reserve the right to do that on any review and have done it for plenty of positive and negative reviews alike. If we didn't require email - then we would just need to take it one step further so we avoid cheaters. Although if someone wants to cheat - there is not much anyone can do about. Unethical people are going to find a way around a system no matter what we do.
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The biggest problem I would think would be paying all these people to transcribe what was written. I'd hate to see you have to raise your rates just to pay an army of typists.
It seems to me it would be more cost effective (leading to lower membership prices) to make the online entry easier. Here's a few separate ideas.

1. To reduce the need for verification, make it so that the link an innkeeper sends to guests in their thank you email includes a unique identifier for the inn so that the only way the reviewer would have that link would be because the innkeeper sent it to them....means they most likely must have stayed (not 100% guarantee but closer) If they submit a review using that link, they don't have to leave an email address....but log the ip address to help spot fraud.
2. Take your site to the next level of catering to travelers (more like a travel community..you are almost there with the "My reservations") Make it so travelers can create an account. Then they can flag B&B's that the might want to go to while planning the trip. All so they can log back in later and find each of the ones that caught their eye so they can review them with a significant other before making a final decision. If travelers feel like it is a sense of community they are more likely to put in reviews, which would be easier to spot patterns, like identical ip addresses with multiple accounts and single reviews on each account. It would make it easier for inn-goers to spot the travel deals for the areas of their interest ( a perk to creating an account). Unify the forum with the rest of it so it becomes more of a connected B&B goer community. Then people can easily enter reviews by logging in and not feeling like they are attaching an email address to a review (because it is already attached to the account) The other benefit to the account/community is that it would give you a lot more data to mine...not so much for individual travelers but for large scale trends.

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The biggest problem I would think would be paying all these people to transcribe what was written. I'd hate to see you have to raise your rates just to pay an army of typists.
It seems to me it would be more cost effective (leading to lower membership prices) to make the online entry easier. Here's a few separate ideas.

1. To reduce the need for verification, make it so that the link an innkeeper sends to guests in their thank you email includes a unique identifier for the inn so that the only way the reviewer would have that link would be because the innkeeper sent it to them....means they most likely must have stayed (not 100% guarantee but closer) If they submit a review using that link, they don't have to leave an email address....but log the ip address to help spot fraud.
2. Take your site to the next level of catering to travelers (more like a travel community..you are almost there with the "My reservations") Make it so travelers can create an account. Then they can flag B&B's that the might want to go to while planning the trip. All so they can log back in later and find each of the ones that caught their eye so they can review them with a significant other before making a final decision. If travelers feel like it is a sense of community they are more likely to put in reviews, which would be easier to spot patterns, like identical ip addresses with multiple accounts and single reviews on each account. It would make it easier for inn-goers to spot the travel deals for the areas of their interest ( a perk to creating an account). Unify the forum with the rest of it so it becomes more of a connected B&B goer community. Then people can easily enter reviews by logging in and not feeling like they are attaching an email address to a review (because it is already attached to the account) The other benefit to the account/community is that it would give you a lot more data to mine...not so much for individual travelers but for large scale trends.

Those are well-thought out ideas. I would email the link to my guests (as long as this is not something where I have to access my account, fire up an email, add email addresses, etc) to do the reviews if it saved them from having to enter their own email address. If I had the code in my own thank you email, then I'd be good to go. Remove it if they are repeats who have already reviewed or repeats I don't want to bother with the request.
And, you address bandb's concerns with how to make this a more centralized location for guests and innkeepers alike. Innkeepers will be more ready to list if they see there is a real community growing up around the site. Maybe rates would go down because more users would be on there, leading to more inns signing up. And if the ads are still there, maybe they could go away because of all the new users.
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Swirt, some VERY good ideas you have there. John are you reading this? Hope so!