Reviews are everywhere. For where you eat, shop, ride and of course stay! They are essential to check out the real deal on a hotel before you book. We look at why you should read reviews, what to look for and the ONE thing you want to see in a bad hotel review to make sure your stay is fuss free with no hidden surprises.
Why should you check reviews?
A place might look fantastic on the pictures, look new and clean, but you turn up and the accommodation is dirty, the area is a awful and the staff is rude. It’s happened to me and I’m sure it’s happened to many of you too.
That’s why hotel reviews are so valuable. They can give you real insights from travellers that have tried and tested a place before you go and stay. It’s as close as you can get from a recommendation from a friend!
Since sites like Tripadvisor.com and online travel agents plugged in reviews directly on booking sites, reviews are everywhere! But where do you start without having to read hundreds of them? Read on for some tips! And to find out what is the ONE thing you want to see in a bad review.
What do you look for in a hotel review?
Look for reviews that are thorough, factual and to the point. You want to mainly read reviews that focus on the highlights of the location, the cleanliness, amenities & how the staff deals with the guests. Always filter reviews by the most recent. By reading the first 10-20 reviews, this is where you will see patterns and if there have been recent management changes.
If there are photos that guests have left, check these out too! Compare them to the images loaded by the accommodation provider itself and see if they are indeed realistic of what the rooms and spaces looks like.
How many good reviews is enough?
Look for the overall percentage of positive reviews and average score for each review. If the highest score is 5 for example, you would be generally looking for the majority of the reviews with a score of 4 and above for a good standard. Filter by recent reviews to check whether they are consistently good. It doesn’t matter if a place is budget or luxury. Cleanliness & friendly customer service are extremely important to make it a comfortable stay, no matter what is your budget!
New Accommodation or Hotels recently opened
Even if a hotel is new & recently opened and they don’t have many reviews – what is there to read is a good indication on how the accommodation is doing so far.
In hotels for example, dealing with reviews is generally the responsibility of a particular person. Especially once a new place has opened, getting good reviews is an important strategy to ensure return customers and to bring in new ones!
If there are mainly bad reviews when a place has just opened, even though the place might be brand new, it’s not a good sign! It might mean that the management has still not worked out all their processes and things are getting missed such as cleanliness standards & staff training.
Negative reviews and the ONE thing you want to see in a bad hotel review
Why people leave negative reviews
It’s extremely difficult to find a hotel that has no negative reviews. Peoples expectations are different. Staff change. All it takes is for someone to have an off day and they will leave a bad review.
Something extremely small might have caused a guest a huge bother (I’ve read all sorts) or, in more malicious cases, people also leave reviews out of spite when they don’t get their way.
Sometimes, people also just like to write a negative review as it’s just easier to complain online rather than in person. Once the guests have left, there is very little that the hotel/accommodation provider can do to redeem themself. Read on to find out what is the one thing that you want to see in a bad review.
What to look for in a negative review
Bad reviews are not a bad thing though. In most cases if they are genuine – they are excellent opportunities for management of a hotel or accommodation providers to gain very valuable feedback in what can be improved and what can be done to make future guests stays seamless.
My advice is, take the bad reviews with a grain of salt. Look for consistent issues that are reoccurring across multiple bad reviews – if they are mentioned several times then perhaps it is an actual issue. A once off negative review on something that has not been mentioned by other reviews recently, or a highly emotionally charged review is unlikely something to be wary about.
The one thing that you want to see in a bad review is this though: A management response!
The one thing that you want to see in a bad review: The ideal management response
What you are looking for is a genuine, professional response where management shows:
- That they APOLOGIZE! They are sorry about the issue that has been brough to their attention
- What actions have been taken to solve the issue/s
- Management might also advise guests to contact them directly, so that the issue can be rectified offline
- Thank guests for leaving the review and writing that they wish to see them again!
A management response is SO important! It not only shows that the management cares about the guests but also that they are open to feedback to improve things moving forward. So even if there are some bad reviews, if you see responses by the management that is a great sign!
On the other hand, not seeing a response to a bad review, or unprofessional responses by management, just shows that there is little care in what guests think. Issues raised are taken personally or totally dismissed rather that as an opportunity to improve the guest experience for next time.
Hope you are now equipped with some useful information for the next stay that you book!
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I hope you enjoyed this article! You can read more about handy hotel tips in my other post: 5 Mistakes to avoid when booking accommodation
Want to read reviews from thousand of accommodation providers? Check out Tripadvisor.com
Looking for some great hotel deals? Check out Expedia or Booking.com.
To compare and book flights head over to Skyscanner.
Want to read more about helpful travel tips? Check out more of my posts!
