Responding to Reviews on Hostelbookers
Hostel Reviews, Booking Engines, and Directories
Hostels can now respond to online reviews on Hostelbookers. You may have received the following email from HB recently regarding this new feature:
Dear Hostel,
Over the past few months we have been working on improving the HostelBookers website. Today we are pleased to announce that properties now have the ability to reply to reviews.
Properties replies will be held in our database until we have collected a significant amount of feedback. HB will be able to publish all comments between the end of March/mid April.
To reply to a customer review, open the comment and simply submit your reply.
Of course we will aim to publish all your feedback. With this in mind we’d appreciate it if you could observe the following:
- No Swearing
- No Hostility
- Avoid being offensive
- Avoid being racist
- Conflicts of interest to HB
If we decide not to submit your reply (the status will be NOT APPROVED) you will be able to do it again following the guideline.
Please note that only one reply per review will be accepted and it has to be written in the review language.
See an example below of a good quality response
Property's Reply / Addressing a negative comment
Thanks for your review. We haven't been informed that you would arrive at that early. By the time you arrived, the room was not available as the previous guest from last night has not yet checked out. (Our check out time is before 1200 noon.) We also asked you to leave luggage/take a shower or go out first. And once the guest checked out, we urgently cleaned the room to let you in. Me, as the owner of the hostel has stated this point clearly and politely to you on the spot.Should you need more info on this matter don’t hesitate to contact me.
Warm regards
See this thread for a discussion about how to respond to reviews in a positive way.
- Comments
13 years
Hi! Great intent, HB... but when do you believe you will begin to POST responses from hostel managers/owners?
I struggle with the logic underpinning your decision to enable your processes to collect and harvest responses to reviews, from business owners, yet choosing to 'sit' on them until, in your words..."(HB has) collected a significant amount of feedback". Why? And what makes for a 'significant' amount of feedback? After all, HB has allowed guests to post property reviews written by guests for at least four years, so why delay in permitting owners/managers to have their responses to those reviews posted onto HB?
(And I cannot help but wonder... if Hostelworld allows us to post reviews to responses (as they have done for as long as I can recall), what REALLY is it that's retarding HB's systems, such that we are not able to post responses...)
Cheers
Tony
13 years
What Tony said is true,hostel owners' responses have been pending for very long time.Thier helpdesk is dull without human touch and useless with no assigned contact person.
Hostelbookers team should be more helpful and professional to speeed up for reviewing process and post them as soon as possible.Wish they will care more about their hostel partners and improvement of service.
13 years
my 2 cents......
I'm not a fan of the "dislike" option, Mainly because it works to draw negativity to the reviews. If something was bad enough, guest (as in the past) would mention it in the over all review.
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