Handling a bad review

Reply, keep it short and keep it calm. Your reply is not really for the person who complained, it is for the hundred people who will read it while deciding whether to book.

What a good reply does

• Thanks them for saying something
• Acknowledges the specific problem without arguing the detail
• Says what you are doing about it
• Offers to sort it out privately

What a bad reply does

Argues, explains at length why they are wrong or implies they are lying. Even when you are entirely right, the argument itself is what readers remember.

Take it offline quickly

Invite them to contact you directly. Nothing useful gets resolved in public, and a long public thread makes a small problem look enormous.

One bad review is not a disaster

A business with nothing but five stars looks curated. One honest three-star review with a decent reply from the owner often makes the rest more believable.

When it is not a real customer

Genuinely fake reviews can be reported to the platform. Do that rather than fighting it in the replies, and keep the public response neutral in the meantime.

Common questions

Should I reply to every review?

Reply to the critical ones always. Replying to the good ones occasionally is plenty.

How quickly should I reply?

Within a day or two. A reply weeks later reads as though nobody was paying attention.

Can I get a review removed?

Only the platform can remove one, and only if it breaches their rules. Disagreeing with it is not enough.