Replying to a bad review in Hostelworld

For example might I get away with "I am sorry that the customers said nothing at any time during their stay to indicate their dissatisfaction" ?

Again would it be considered sarcastic to reply that (vis a vis one of their complaints) it was not our fault that they were the only guests in the house (not 100% correct either) . They chose to stay on for 3 days when they could have moved on if it was so difficult for them.

I don’t think HW would have a reason to moderate either of those responses. They don’t want you swearing, using hateful language, saying anything that could personally identify the reviewer, or making references to drugs or sex in any way it seems. (Or saying anything that HW might perceive as hurtful to their reputation, of course!)

If you haven’t seen it already, here is a thread about responding to negative reviews.

Lastly could we query (with Hostelworld) the rating they gave us? One of the criteria was Value for Money.Can their evaluation be accepted when they were so far out in their account of what they actually paid ?(they would be due a refund of 120 euros if they had actually been charged what they said in their review!)

You can certainly try. If you have a good relationship with your Buddy, then you might get somewhere. Ultimately the guest is HW’s first priority, not the hostel. A guest can pretty much say anything about you that they want. If there are factual errors (like the price) that can be verified by HW, then they might remove that part of the comment.

If your Buddy can’t help, then your response gives you the chance to correct or fill in any missing information from the comment that might explain the situation better. This could include the actual price if it’s relevant to another traveler, information about the atmosphere if there was no one else in the hostel, a request to inform the staff if something is not right so you can fix it right away instead of finding out about it in an online review, or an explanation of the steps that have already been taken to correct whatever situation caused the guest’s concern.

Consider what the next traveler is going to think when they read the review while they decide whether or not to book your hostel. As long as you think about the impression you want to make on them, then your response will probably be just fine.