How to Manage Hotel Reviews: 10 Examples + Best Practices

70.9% of travelers say online reputation influences their choice of accommodation, and negative reviews can easily drive away up to 30 customers.

Furthermore, leveraging online reviews on hotel websites or social media activities provides the perfect social proof to attract more guests and increase booking rates.

To help you understand the importance of online reviews, we outline a few hotel review examples with lessons learned and best practices when using a review management tool to collect, respond to, and manage hotel reviews effectively.

Why are online reviews for hotels important?

Leveraging your hotel reviews helps you with your online reputation, drives more bookings, and also creates an environment of constant improvements.

• Enhanced online visibility and SEO – according to a recent SEMrush study of 5,624 businesses, the top three pages in search results belong to businesses with an average star rating above 4 and those with a high quantity of reviews;
• Identifying areas for improvement from actionable feedback – direct feedback from customers will help you figure out how to improve your business, which in turn helps you create better experiences and a “space” that people will love to come back to again and again;
• Increased trust and booking likelihood – 95% of customers check product reviews whenever they are shopping online. This means that more and more people are relying on other people’s opinions whenever they are making decisions;
• Improved customer service with direct guest communication – reviews provide a direct line of communication with guests. The ability to instantly respond to feedback, solve issues, and thank customers will help you improve your customer service and experiences;
• Competitive differentiation -higher rankings can be an extraordinary competitive advantage that will help you stand out from the competition;

As you can see, by getting as many 5-star reviews as you can, you will establish yourself as a leader in your industry, which will definitely keep your rooms full.

10 hotel review examples and lessons learned

As you are probably aware, hotel managers must understand and respond to customer reviews, as they are opportunities to improve service and enhance guest satisfaction. This is especially true with Google reviews as businesses can’t delete Google reviews, so addressing them is at out most importance for maintaining positive online reputaiton.

To help you with that, here are 10 real-life reviews and the lessons learned:

• Lesson 1: Continue improving on an already excellent service
• Lesson 2: Improve the property’s amenities and facilities
• Lesson 3: Renovations and sound isolation is needed
• Lesson 4: Maintain exceptional hotel room cleanliness at all times
• Lesson 5: Offer freshly made food in your breakfast buffet
• Lesson 6: Makeover and amenities are needed
• Lesson 7: Offer impeccable service and think about all the details
• Lesson 8: Improve the guest welcoming experience
• Lesson 9: Hire responsible staff that refrains from illegal activities
• Lesson 10: Make sure your hotel rooms can accommodate large families

Lesson 1: Continue improving on an already excellent service

Lesson learned: This positive review tells you that the Radisson Hotel in Hyderabad is doing an amazing job, and they only need to continue improving their exceptional service.

Lesson 2: Improve the property’s amenities and facilities

Lesson learned: This review of a deluxe double studio in Malaga, Spain, is a positive 9/10 one. However, there’s feedback that tells the manager to improve the amenities and facilities, such as the small windows, the lack of a dishwasher, and the lack of kitchen items.

Lesson 3: Renovations and sound isolation is needed

Lesson learned: This review for a guesthouse in Galway, Ireland, is quite reprimanding since it talks about the bad state of the property and signals the manager that massive renovations are needed. Plus, it talks about an uncomfortable noise coming from the street.

Lesson 4: Maintain exceptional hotel room cleanliness at all times

Lesson learned: This very positive hotel review for a twin room with a garden view has nothing bad to say about the service since the management ensured optimal cleanliness and comfort. Plus, the added cherry on top was the free mini-bar drinks. So, the manager only has to work on maintaining this level of service and building on it to make it better.

Lesson 5: Offer freshly made food in your breakfast buffet

Lesson learned: While this review has good things to say about the same hotel as above, it still highlights one thing that needs improving: the food selection of the breakfast buffet. The reviewer says that it would be nice if there was fresh food and hot plates as well.

Lesson 6: Makeover and amenities are needed

Lesson learned: This guest reviewed the central location of the Britannia International Hotel to share an experience that was worth the money but with a few recommendations. For instance, he suggests that room renovations and fixing the air conditioning are needed.

Lesson 7: Offer impeccable service and think about all the details

Lesson learned: While the guest describes a great hotel located right where they needed it, there are certain things the location can improve in regards to the car service to and from the hotel, such as the distance guests have to walk on foot and the lack of porter service.

Lesson 8: Improve the guest welcoming experience

Lesson learned: This especially scalding review for a hotel in Milan, Italy, has a lot to teach. For example, the receptionist didn’t let the guests in even after confirming the booking. Plus, they missed their dinner and were at risk of losing their rooms. So, hotel managers must ensure they hire polite and attentive staff that do everything they can to help guests.

Lesson 9: Hire responsible staff that refrains from illegal activities

Lesson learned: This very bad Google review for a Parisian hotel paints the staff as criminals since the guest reported that someone stole 300 euros off his wife’s credit card. In such cases, hotel managers must immediately investigate and discipline or fire the party responsible.

Lesson 10: Make sure your hotel rooms can accommodate large families

Lesson learned: The experience this family had at this hotel showcases the need to prepare accommodations for larger families who have paid for family rooms. The amenities in such rooms must also be of a high standard to ensure optimal comfort.

---

From understanding the importance of cleanliness to recognizing the value of extraordinary customer service and friendly staff, these review examples can serve as a practical guide for what to expect, offer valuable insights, and help you improve your service.

Best review management practices for hotels

Let’s explore some tried-and-true methods that hotel managers can use to keep their operations running smoothly, their reviews positive, and their guests happy.

Create profiles on top 5 websites to collect hotel reviews

When potential guests are looking to book hotels, chances are they’ll do a detailed online search and visit hotel booking sites.

They will read other people’s opinions on review platforms like Tripadvisor, which reveals that 80% of their consumers look for reviews before finalizing a booking.

Here are the top five websites to build listings and encourage guests to leave reviews:

1. Booking.com – offers the largest selection of hotels, homes, apartments, and rentals. Although it’s a booking platform, Booking.com includes a section with extensive guest reviews. This feature is of great value to customers looking to book hotels worldwide. List on Booking here;
2. Tripadvisor – besides offering hotel reviews, TripAdvisor is a platform for reviewing restaurants, attractions, and things to do. Plus, it offers forms and travel guides. List on Tripadvisor here;
3. Google Maps – to start getting Google reviews and star ratings for your hotel, you will need a Google Business Profile. That way, potential guests can find your hotel on Google Maps, and you can also navigate satisfied guests to start adding reviews to your listing. List on Tripadvisor here;
4. Yelp – is another platform to utilize and collect Yelp reviews from people searching locally for restaurants or places to stay. List on Yelp here;
5. Airbnb – is becoming a platform not only for private accommodations but also for hotels that want to attract more sophisticated guests who are looking for exceptional reviews and service. Airbnb reviews are very useful to make a decision and great hotels can really standout if they satisfy most of the modern travel needs. List on Airbnb here.

Get more hotel reviews across all important platforms

The best method to boost your hotel business is to get more Google reviews or feedback on other important review platforms, like Tripadvisor and Yelp. Here are a few such methods to generate hotel reviews to improve your hotel’s online presence and credibility:

• Ask for reviews in person – the simplest way to get more reviews is to ask for them when your guests check out of the hotel. Try to do that in person, and make sure you mention that their feedback is super valuable to you and your business growth;
• Use QR codes everywhere – on top of asking them in person you can also create a unique QR and place it prominently all around the hotel, such as in the rooms and the restaurant. This will be a quick and effective “shortcut” for customers who want to leave a review;
• Send emails after a stay -stay in touch with your guests after their vacation ends, and send them an email explaining why and how they should leave a review.
• Embed reviews form or a badge on website – this way you can create an internal database and collect reviews on your own website.

Identify areas for improvement in your hotel reviews

Gathering reviews is not the only thing you have to do, as analyzing the feedback to improve your service and guests’ satisfaction is equally important.

• Categorization of feedback—manually divide collected reviews into various categories such as service, amenities, location, and cleanliness. This way, you’ll identify the aspects of your business in which you excel and those that you have to improve;
• Regular review audits—scheduling audits monthly or once every three or four months is another great way to uncover valuable insights. Going through the collected reviews helps you keep track of any changes and trends in guest feedback;
• Use a review management tool—using a tool can help you manage and analyze your hotel reviews is a very efficient method of finding areas for improvement. Such tools typically allow you to export all your reviews for in-depth analysis, and filter them reviews by dates, source, search reviews by keywords, names, star rating, etc.

However, once you discover what needs fixing, you must prioritize the most urgent problems, make the necessary changes as soon as possible, and monitor future feedback.

Utilize a hotel review management platform

One of the smartest business decisions you could make for your hospitality business is subscribing to a complete review management platform like EmbedSocial.

Once you do that, you can complete all your review-related tasks from a single platform, including generating, managing, and displaying your reviews on your website.

EmedSocial is an AI reviews management software and an all-in-one solution for your online reputation, as it comes with everything you need:

• Official API integrations with all major social media networks
• Various review collection channels, including email, SMS, and forms
• Eye-catching embeddable widgets to showcase your feedback
• AI-powered enhancements to summarize and respond to reviews
• Custom CSS functionality to design your own unique widgets
• Easy-to-understand embeddable widget codes for any website
• A unique feature to embed Google reviews with photos from your hotel

This is not all! There are many more robust features and new ones coming in monthly that you can access once you sign up for EmbedSocial, and you can always check it out before committing as it comes with a 7-day free trial with access to every functionality!

Best responses for positive and negative reviews of hotels

According to a study, 88% of consumers say they are highly likely to use a business that responds to all positive and negative reviews. However, before checking out responses that you could re-use, here’s a short list of do’s and don’ts of responding to reviews:

Do’s:

• Personalize your reply—use the reviewer’s name and details when responding;
• Express gratitude—thank customers for leaving any sort of feedback;
• Encourage future stays—encourage future stays regardless of the experience, which expresses confidence in your hospitality and expertise;
• Address issues immediately—complaints and problems should be addressed quickly, and you must offer explanations and/or solutions to the problems.

Don’ts:

• Delay responding—according to a study, more than 50% of customers expect a business owner/manager to respond to reviews in no more than three days;
• Ignore negative reviews—a red flag in your customers’ eyes is ignoring negative feedback, since addressing feedback is the best way to improve your offering;
• Avoid generic responses—whatever you do, don’t respond to all reviews with the same response, and ensure you customize and personalize your response.

Now that you’re aware of how to write your responses, here are some response templates for both positive and negative hotel reviews:

Templates for responding to positive hotel reviews

When responding to positive reviews for your hotel, you should emphasize that you are grateful for the feedback and that you’ll keep on delivering quality service:

#1 Response to an overall positive experience:

Dear [Name],

Thank you very much, we are pleased to know that your stay was so satisfactory.

We work with a lot of passion to make it happen. We would be very happy to see you again.

Best regards,

[Manager’s Name/ Your Name]

#2 Response to a positive experience with the hotel’s great location:

Dear [Name],

Thank you very much for taking the time to share your opinion about your recent visit to our hotel [Name of Hotel]

It is a real pleasure to know that your experience was satisfactory. We’re delighted to hear that you found our hotel to be a great central place to stay for a couple of nights and that you appreciated our perfect city centre location and great value for money.

We look forward to welcoming you again very soon.

Best regards

[Manager’s Name/ Your Name]

#3 Response to a positive experience regarding food options:

Dear [Name],

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with us.

We are very pleased to read that your stay here was so pleasant. It is very important for us to understand what people who come with us are looking for.

We are glad to see that you found the dinner at [Name of Hotel], our restaurant, to be excellent.

Again, thank you for your review and we look forward to welcoming you again in the future.

Yours sincerely,

[Manager’s Name/ Your Name]

#4 Response to a positive experience regarding staff and service:

Dear [Name],

Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences with us.

I am very happy to know that our staff made your stay enjoyable. We look forward to seeing you soon

[Manager’s Name/ Your Name]

#5 Response to a positive experience regarding value for money and expectations:

Dear [Name],

Thank you for your feedback!

We aim to provide our guests with a comfortable and convenient experience, and we’re glad to have met your expectations.

If you have any further comments or if there’s anything else we can assist you with, please feel free to let us know.

We hope to have the opportunity to welcome you back for another enjoyable stay in the future!

Kind regards,

[Manager’s Name/ Your Name]

Templates for responding to negative hotel reviews

On the other hand, when responding to negative reviews, you should be more tactful with your responses, show remorse, and promise that you’ll fix things:

#1 Response to negative reviews about comfort and bed quality:

Dear [Name],

Thank you so much for choosing our hotel and sharing your comments with us!

We are delighted to know that you enjoyed your stay.

Regarding the bed, we usually recommend to inform us as soon as possible so we can find the best solution to make your stay with us as pleasant as possible.

Again, thank you for your review and we look forward to welcoming you again in the future.

Yours sincerely,

[Manager’s Name/ Your Name]

#2 Response to negative reviews about food selection:

Dear [Name],

We are sorry that your experience at our hotel was not satisfactory.

We appreciate your comments and will take them into account to improve our services in the future.

Our goal is to provide a positive experience to all our guests, and we regret that we did not meet your expectations on this occasion.

We hope to have the opportunity to welcome you again in the future and demonstrate our commitment to excellence in service.

Yours sincerely,

[Manager’s Name/ Your Name]

#3 Response to negative reviews about bad service:

Hello [Name],

Thank you very much for your comment.

I am very sorry that you felt that the staff was not friendly. I attended to you personally at the time you asked us to return the last night and we agreed to return it even though the cancellation policy said otherwise.

I am very sorry that you were not comfortable in our hotel. We try to work daily so that customers leave satisfied.

Cheers,

[Manager’s Name/ Your Name]

#4 Response to negative reviews about the loud environment:

Hello [Name],

Thank you very much for your comment.

We are sorry that you have run into other noisy guests at the hotel. We try to maintain order and rest, but sometimes this type of situation occurs.

We hope that you will choose us again on your next visit to the city.

Cheers,

[Manager’s Name/ Your Name]

#5 Response to negative reviews about odor:

Hey [Name],

We’re glad to hear that you found our location ideal and appreciated the convenience of the main attractions without noise.

However, we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience you experienced with the room’s odor, bed comfort, and air conditioning regulations.

Your feedback is valuable to us as it helps us identify areas for improvement. We will take steps to address these issues and ensure that future stays are more comfortable.

Thank you for sharing your experience, and we hope to have the opportunity to welcome you again for an improved experience.

Best regards,

[Manager’s Name/ Your Name]

Key takeaways

At the end of the day, by leveraging their online reviews, hotels gain an invaluable feedback channel to improve their offering and, in turn, boost their online reputation.

So if you are looking to both enhance your guests’ experience and succeed in a very competitive niche, you should get as much feedback as you can from all your guests. After all, 92% of consumers trust recommendations from other people the most.

Hopefully, the best practices and the examples we provided will help you get the most out of your online reviews and offer the best customer experience!

Remember: you should welcome both positive and negative reviews—the former tells you what you’re doing great, and the latter comes with great learning opportunities!

FAQs on hotel review examples

What are examples of positive feedback for hotels?

Here’s some positive hotel feedback that says keep doing what you are doing:

• “The hotel staff are incredibly friendly and efficient.”
• “The room amenities were nicely done, spacious, and rooms were very comfortable.”
• “The sleep quality was excellent, and the mattresses felt like sleeping at home.”
• “The restaurant’s food was tasty and freshly made, and there were various options.”
• “The hotel offered a very pleasant stay at a convenient location.”
• “The hotel was within walking distance of all popular landmarks.”
• “The hotel left us pleasantly surprised and wanting for more.”
• “The hotel’s front desk staff was very receptive and gave us a large room.”

Where can you find real hotel reviews?

Real hotel reviews can be found on general review platforms like Google and those specializing in the hospitality business like Tripadvisor and Booking.com.

How do you write a good hotel review example for outstanding service?

Here’s one brief yet effective positive review example for excellent service:

“Exceptional room service that went above and beyond – [Hotel Name] is a must-visit destination when going to [Place]. If you are looking for a pleasant stay, friendly and welcoming staff, and a feeling of home, come here! You will not regret it!”