Behind the Desk Reviews
How to respond to hotel reviews, with examples
GuestJourney editorial team, edited by Alon Shkuri
How to respond to hotel reviews comes down to five moves: thank the guest, name their actual point, say sorry without arguing, say what you are doing only if it is true, and sign with a real name, in the language of the review. You are writing for the next guest, who has not booked yet and is reading along.
Tuesday night, the last guest is in
Anna goes through the reviews of Hotel Kadeloft one more time, and there it is: two stars, from Tom, about Saturday. Twenty minutes waiting at the desk. She remembers exactly which Saturday. A cleaner had called in sick, the wedding party in room six wanted their keys early, and she was on her own.
So she types what everyone types at eleven on a Tuesday night.
Hotel Kadeloft, Anna and Tom are made up. What she types is below.
What Anna typed first
Dear Tom, we regret that you were dissatisfied. Saturday was an exceptionally busy day and our team did everything it could. Other guests are always very happy with our service. We hope to welcome you again in the future.
What she posted the next morning
Hi Tom, thanks for telling us. Waiting twenty minutes after a long drive is no way to start a stay, and I'm sorry. On Saturdays I'm sometimes alone at the desk until four; that's the reason, not an excuse. If you come back, send me a message beforehand and I'll have the key ready. Anna
Who are you writing this for?
Tom gets a notification: Google tells the writer when you reply. But Tom has gone, and he has already made up his mind. The people who read your reply after him are comparing Kadeloft with the hotel down the street, and a reply is where they see how you deal with a problem.
Google's own wording is modest: "Helpful and positive replies to reviews can show that you're responsive to your customers." We know of no serious evidence that replying moves you up in the results, so do it for the reader.
What replying does, according to research
Two researchers, Davide Proserpio and Georgios Zervas, looked at what happens when hotels start replying to reviews. Their paper estimates what that does to a hotel:
About 0.12 stars more, and about 12% more reviews.
They also saw hotels get fewer negative reviews, but longer ones. Their explanation: dissatisfied guests write fewer short, hard-to-defend complaints once they expect the hotel to read them closely. So you get fewer angry one-liners and more reviews with a real story in them. The paper is from 2017 and gives an average, so it is no promise for your hotel. It does point the same way as common sense.
The five moves, in one reply
Here is the shape, in a reply to a guest who gave three stars because of street noise. A few sentences are enough.
1Dear Laura, thank you for your stay and for the kind words about the room and our breakfast.2I am sorry the noise from the street kept you awake,3that is not the night we want for you.4Since then we have put the street-side rooms last in the order we hand out.5We hope to welcome you back. Anna
- Thank the guest, by name if there is one, and mention something from the review so everyone can see you read it.
- Name the actual point, in the guest's words. Don't write "your experience" when the review says "noise".
- Say sorry for what the guest went through, without explaining why it wasn't so bad.
- Say what you are doing, but only if it is true. If nothing has changed, leave this sentence out.
- End with a real name. In a difficult case, also invite the guest to email you directly.
A reply for every kind of review
| The review | What you do | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Five stars, three lines | Two sentences, with one thing from the review | "We're glad you enjoyed your stay" under every review |
| Only stars, no text | A short thanks, or skip it | Making up a reason for the stars |
| Three stars, half happy | Say what went well and what didn't | Only answering the compliment |
| One star, naming a member of staff | Reply without repeating the name | That colleague can't answer back here |
| About something you've since fixed | Say what changed, and when | Only if it really changed |
| A story that isn't true | Brief and calm, then report it | Accusing the guest, see below |
Examples for a small hotel
All names here are made up. Use the shape, not the sentences: guests recognise the same three lines under every review.
English, 5 stars
Thank you, Marieke. The view from the top floor is my favourite too, especially early in the morning. See you next time. Anna
English, 2 stars
Dear Mr Hill, thank you for your stay and for letting us know. I am sorry the shower ran cold on your second morning, that should not happen. The plumber has been since then. We hope to see you again. Anna
German, 3 stars
Sehr geehrter Herr Weber, vielen Dank für Ihren Aufenthalt und Ihre ehrliche Rückmeldung. Es tut mir leid, dass das Frühstück nicht so warm war, wie Sie es erwartet haben. Wir hoffen, Sie wieder bei uns begrüßen zu dürfen. Anna
French, 3 stars
Madame, merci pour votre séjour et pour votre message. Je suis désolée que la chambre vous ait paru trop petite pour deux valises. Nous espérons vous revoir bientôt. Anna
Dutch, 2 stars
Beste Sanne, dank je wel dat je dit laat weten. Vervelend dat de douche koud bleef op de tweede ochtend, dat hoort niet. De installateur is er inmiddels geweest. Hopelijk tot een volgende keer. Anna
English, 1 star, not true
Dear Ms Davis, we can't find your stay in our records, and I'd like to understand what happened. Please email me directly so we can look into it. Anna
Replying in another language
A German guest who writes in German reads your reply in German, and so does the next German traveller scrolling through your reviews. Keep names exactly as written, and check three things translation gets wrong: times and numbers, idioms that sound odd word for word, and apologies that came out stronger or weaker than you meant.
The quickest check is to translate your reply back into your own language and read whether it still says what you meant.
Four things never to write
- Anything about the guest's booking, room number or personal details. A public reply is public.
- An offer of money, a free night or a discount. If you want to make something good, do it privately.
- An argument about who was right. Even when you are right, the next guest only sees a hotel that argues.
- A template. Guests see the same lines under every review, and then none of them count.
May AI write this?
Two general managers said it on the podcast, and they don't quite agree.
“It's written by an AI tool, and then I check it, I change it, and I send it.”
“If I look at some answers from reviews, I can already see it's written by AI.”
Both from The Future of Hospitality, the podcast GuestJourney sponsors.
Both have a point, and we build one of those tools, so weigh this accordingly. A first draft from AI saves typing, especially in a language you don't speak. It goes wrong when nobody looks: then you get the same polite paragraph under every review, and readers see that. Check the details, change what doesn't sound like you, and keep reading until you trust what comes out.
When the review is not true
Sometimes a review describes a stay that never happened, or is plainly about another hotel. Answer calmly and briefly, for the readers, without accusing anyone. Then report it from your Business Profile and pick a reason. Google says evaluation usually takes several days, and the Reviews Management Tool shows where your report stands. If the review stays up, you can appeal once.
Google also says plainly that you should not report a review because you disagree with it, and that it stays out of conflicts between a business and a customer. Only reviews that break its policies are removed. A fair complaint you don't like stays, and your reply is what's left.
Your reply doesn't appear straight away
Google checks every reply against its content policies before it goes online. That usually takes up to 10 minutes, sometimes up to 30 days. If a reply doesn't pass, you are asked to edit it. So if your reply isn't there yet, don't post it twice.
If you're behind: thirty reviews without an answer
Start with the newest and work backwards. Anyone looking at your profile now reads the ones at the top; a reply to a review from two years ago barely helps that reader. First answer everything of three stars or fewer from the last six months, then the rest of the last few months. Two sessions of fifteen minutes will get you a long way.
After that, keep it small: a fixed moment in the week, on the same day. A review answered on Friday is fine. A review answered in three months is mostly for you.
What about Booking.com and Tripadvisor?
Google reviews are answered on Google, and the rest on their own sites, each with its own rules. Read how to respond on Tripadvisor and Booking.com. A good reply on any of them is part of getting more direct bookings, because it is what a guest reads just before choosing where to book.
Before you press Reply
- Is the name spelled the way the guest wrote it?
- Does it say anything about the booking, the room number or the guest's details?
- Is every promise in it something you will really do?
- Would you say this if Tom were standing at your desk?
- Would the next guest, reading this, still want to stay with you?
Sources
- Google Business Profile Help, Read and reply to reviews
- Google Business Profile Help, Report inappropriate reviews
- Proserpio and Zervas, Online Reputation Management, Marketing Science 36(5), 2017
- The Future of Hospitality, From crisis to success in hospitality
- The Future of Hospitality, Mövenpick's heartists approach to hospitality