Hostel responses to negative guest reviews

Never been really sure about this one - if you reply with the standard - "Thanks for your review, we're sorry you didn't have an enjoyable experience, we're working to remedy your complaint", it can sound insincere. I certainly wouldn't leave argumentative replies, it always makes you sound bad, even if you feel you're totally in the right. I think the only thing to do is to try and fix what they are complaining about, and if they are just leaving malicious reviews, then hope that if you're running the place well then their lone voice will be drowned out by the positive ones.

Tripadvisor is slightly more difficult, as there's no guarantee that the reviewer even stayed at you're place, it's much more open to abuse.

the worst, IMO, is when people complain about other guests; people snoring etc. theres bugger all we can do about that. the other kind taht annoys is... well, possibly one limited to hostels like ours.

we have a 38 bed dorm, and a bar open until 5am. we're a bit of a party place. so when guests book a few nights in a 38 bed dorm over a long weekend, and then complain about the lack of sleep, this really irks me. its a 38 BED DORM ON A LONG WEEKEND! how much sleep were you expecting?

[/rant]

it's a bit OT but this reminds me a negative review we recently received. It was explained more or less as follows:
"the hostel was really great [..] the staff is really nice and helpful expecially the italian guy (

Absolutely spot on, Aboriginal!

* (Klaus, do you think you could quote that review again from that hostel in Paris? Just for those people who had no chance to read over all the 7000+ posts already posted on this forum... :))

With pleasure!

April 18th, 200911:51 pmThree of us booked a four person room. Luckily, our randomly assigned roommate was clean, sweet and an interesting person. It was perfect.

Until the second day we were there. Someone stole her iPod out of her bag. Oops has a policy where you must leave the hotel for the majority of the afternoon so they can clean - no one is allowed in their rooms during this period. This is when the iPod went missing. The desk clerk told our roommate that WE - my friends and I - had probably stolen it but that they couldn't ask us to search our bags. Her jaw dropped when my friend and I happily agreed to let her go through all of our stuff - we had nothing to hide. She then tried to pass the blame onto my boyfriend, who had not yet arrived back from lunch. She didn't know that we had arrived together. Her face turned white when she realized that the three of us knew each other. After that was done, the manager realized her best excuse had just been debunked.

"Maybe someone snuck in the room during cleaning and took it". Well, if only cleaning people are allowed into the rooms during that time, couldn't it be one of them? She thought for a moment. "Impossible! Maybe someone climbed in through the window". We were on the 4th floor and didn't leave a window open. "A cleaning person might have". Then isn't it your responsibility if your employees left our room open to theft? "NO! NO NO!". it was at this point that she started insulting us in French to another one of her employees. Finally, she crafted her masterpiece lie - accusing the girl who had been robbed of ROBBING HERSELF. "Maybe you want people to pity you, no? Maybe you want us to give you money for something you still have?". The girl burst into tears. They refused to give her a refund for her stay; they refused to interview or bring out the person who had cleaned our room that day ("we trust our employees" was the reason). Conveniently, the property had gone missing during the girl's last day at the hotel, making it impossible for her to stick around for a solution without missing her flight.

The worst part was, this woman was the manager! If you like giving your money to mean people who have no qualms about ripping you off, this is the place. The day before we arrived, another girl had $500 worth of her travelers cheques stolen out of the safe behind the main counter. I have heard many stories from other travelers who are acquainted with Oops about the mysterious disappearance of property. For your own sake, avoid Oops at all costs.

Liked — Well-decorated rooms
Disliked — Horrible staff with sticky fingers, cramped, unwashed linens

- Anonymous

I truly wonder what it is with Paris. Most hostel owners seem to think they can get away with anything there. They probably can, but isn´t it so much nicer to work just a little bit harder and have happy guests in return? People don´t have outrageous expectations when they stay in a hostel, after all. Whenever I have to deal with a serious complaint, it totally ruins my day. I wouldn´t want to work in a bad hostel, regardless how much they pay.

I suggest to put up signs with huge bold letters at CDG: "Welcome to Paris, where tourists are prey".