How to respond to positive and negative reviews of your vacation rental

Before choosing their vacation rental, travelers usually thoroughly review the opinions left by those who have already been to the apartment or house that interests them. They want to know what other users have to say, but they also like to know firsthand the owner's opinion regarding the comments received. Hence the importance of responding to positive and also negative reviews.

Keys to getting more reviews of your vacation rental

It is proven that accommodations with more reviews get more bookings. So it is essential to get customers who have already been to the property to make their opinion public.

Offer a good experience

A dissatisfied guest will not hesitate to leave a rating on Booking or any other website where they can express their opinion about the accommodation. The good thing is that a satisfied guest will also want to record their experience.

Therefore, the best thing you can do to get more reviews, and for them to be positive, is to guarantee your guests the best possible experience. This implies keeping the property well-maintained, clean and with all kinds of amenities, but also offering good customer service.

The easier we make it for the guest, the happier they will be. For example, by installing the smart lock system that we have at your disposal from Raixer. Thanks to this technology, the client can access the house as soon as they arrive, without having to wait for someone to hand over the keys. And they can leave calmly, without having to be concerned about handing over the set of keys.

Ask for their opinion

Responding to reviews on Google will be more common for you if you try to ask your guests to leave their opinion on specialized channels.

When they leave, you can send them a message thanking them for their visit and taking advantage of that moment to ask them to leave their opinion. You can also send them an email a few days after their visit and offer them a small discount for future accommodations in exchange for leaving a review.

How to respond to positive and negative reviews

When responding to reviews on Google, you should always do so, regardless of whether they are positive or negative. This will show guests that you take their opinion into account.

Positive Reviews

It will be enough with a simple thank you message to the guest. However, don't create a standard message and use it always as a response, try that each of your answers is personalized.

Negative Reviews

If you offer accommodation on Booking or another platform and you receive negative comments, responding to them is always more complicated. What we advise is that you be polite at all times.

Start by thanking the commenter and providing some explanation about the criticism. For example: “Thank you very much for your visit and for your review Pablo. We take note of your comments and will work to solve the deficiencies of the apartment as soon as possible. We hope to see you again to check the improvements made firsthand”.

When you receive negative reviews, it's not just about responding, you have a wealth of useful information at your disposal to know what your guests don't like and be able to improve it.

Responding to positive and negative reviews will help you get closer to your guests and better understand what they want when they arrive at a tourist accommodation. So don't hesitate to always respond and take advantage of the feedback that comes to you through the reviews.