It goes without saying that receiving negative reviews and feedback from guests who have stayed in your homestay or holiday home, is quite disheartening. Due to the nature of the internet, if a customer who has had a bad experience puts up a bad review on Tripadvisor or Tripvillas, it serves as a permanent bad remark for all travelers to look at and judge you in the future. For future guests, these reviews and feedback from previous guests play a very vital role and you may feel that you are being severely criticized or penalized for small transgressions.
However, by being proactive, you as the owner of the property can turn these negatives into positives. While travelers give importance to reviews/ feedback on your property, they give even more importance to how you respond to them.
Firstly, it is very important that you keep monitoring websites such as Tripadvisor, Tripvillas, VRBO, HolidayIQ etc. for reviews of your property. If required bookmark your property pages there and keep visiting them weekly. A good professional website will also intimate you whenever there is a review.
Here is what you should do when your homestay/ holiday home receives a negative review:
1. Respond to it. It is important that you don’t ignore negative guest reviews.
2. Read the review carefully and understand their complaint.
3. Think of ideas which will resolve the problem.
4. Take action. Take necessary steps to resolve the issue and improve your guest services.
5. Lastly, once you have made the changes and improvements don’t forget to respond to the reviewer.
While responding, always remember to thank the reviewer for bringing up the issue. Convey to them that their comments were indeed helpful in improving the overall property and its services. Moreover, assure the reviewer that the issue has been resolved. If the issue is in the process of being resolved, let them know that and also apprise them when it’s resolved. If the issue is regarding interior décor, it is a great idea to give images or links to images to show that the issue stands resolved. Apologize if you feel the issue is genuine and express your desire to host them again in your accommodation. You can even go a step further by offering a special deal on their next stay.
By responding to negative reviews, you can not only improve your services, but also can show your customers that you care. By acknowledging and addressing a review, a disgruntled guest can often be converted into a loyal customer.
Lastly, encourage your happy customers to also put up their reviews so as to portray an accurate picture of your property. Talk to all customers and ask them for their feedback and keep upgrading the property.
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