How Hotels Can Effectively Handle Negative Online Reviews

Many hotels are clueless about how to handle negative reviews from irate customers. Let’s face it – dealing with negative reviews is a problem which almost every hotel has to face sooner or later. With the popularity of so many review sites and social media, it has become very easy for people to leave a review of any hotel.

When people leave negative reviews it can have a bad impact on the hotel’s business because other people who read that review may decide not to stay at that particular hotel. So let us discuss some steps that hotels could take if any customer leaves a bad review about them.

1. Embrace and accept – Any hotel is likely to get positive as well as negative reviews. No need to get too upset or too worked up about it. Accept the negative along with the positive. At the same time, try to learn from them. Listen carefully to what your guests have to stay.

Is the negative remark really genuine? Is it really something that you should address and correct so that other guests at your hotel do not face similar problem? You should learn to take criticism constructively and use it to improve yourself.

2. Understand and analyze – Really analyze the negative reviews in detail and try to understand the guest’s real problems or issues. What upset the guests so much that they had to resort to leaving a negative remark about your hotel? What are the main concerns of the guests? What did your hotel staff did or did not do that may have caused the guests to feel bad? What could be done to remedy the situation and prevent a similar thing happening in future?

These are some hard questions which you need to look at. Don’t run away from them. Accept your shortcomings so that you can work out a plan to improve upon them.

3. Be polite and professional – Sometimes the negative comments may not be justified. You may feel that the guests have been unfair and over-demanding in certain cases. Even if that is so you need to be polite and professional. You need to handle the negative comments in a calm, professional manner.

Always reply to negative reviews and thank the guest for their valuable feedback. Don’t place blame on them. If the guest’s complain is genuine, don’t be afraid to accept responsibility for it and make amends wherever required. Validate a guest’s concerns and complains, do not try to negate them nor argue with them. It will create a bad impression about your hotel in the eyes of anyone who reads that review and your replies.