Just for fun...change things up again

[Joey Camb]

I get reviewed from TA, Booking.com and Laterooms. Both booking.com and laterooms send them an automatic email on departure to their home email saying click on this link to leave a review and they generate a large number of reviews (2-3 a week minimum) they seem to do it in a simpler way also eg categires to mark out of 6 (clean, value for money, etc) and then a small box for comment it makes it easy for people to leave a quick review where as TA you have to make a special effort to go to the site and be bothered.

 

[One Day]

I get reviewed from TA, Booking.com and Laterooms. Both booking.com and laterooms send them an automatic email on departure to their home email saying click on this link to leave a review and they generate a large number of reviews (2-3 a week minimum) they seem to do it in a simpler way also eg categires to mark out of 6 (clean, value for money, etc) and then a small box for comment it makes it easy for people to leave a quick review where as TA you have to make a special effort to go to the site and be bothered..

Yeah......well..........an envelope and a $.44 stamp certainly is reasonable enough to solicite a favorable review......
Unethical..........
Makes me wonder what other shady things they do, have done, or will do.

 

[EmptyNest]

I asked once from an innkeeper that has 200+ and wins awards from them and is now nearly in foreclosure...and I was called a shark or something. Basically told to rack off.
I truly wanted to know why those guests traveling to small town USA to a small B&B would post so many more reviews than anyone else we have ever known.
For some reason the question was considered wrong and how dare we think it is not all on the up and up and we all got the backlash.

Of all the guests who bring up TA on their own and tell me they found us there and will be sure to write a lovely review the very minute they step in their door...never do. So yes, there is something more to it. I don't care what anyone says, solicit all the reviews you want, it is harder to get them, unless there is a twist to this equation somewhere.
DISCLAIMER - I am speaking of Inns here in the USA. Not overseas, things are different there, I realize this, I can only speak for this country and how things operate here. Our UK guests are the most willing to read reviews and write them. They rely on TA and others while making their travel plans. The 200+ was from an "other" website, not TA. So perhaps the "other" website allows the use of the one pc to write the reviews, unlike TA who more diligently monitors that IP..

oh my...can I guess who that was? My good buddies have just for some reason been put on the TA site and watch list as the #2 Romantic Inn in the US. They don't tout that..never have..they don't have a clue as to why they were put in that category..but hey..they will take it. Their website has been hit like crazy the past week...solidly.... from TA...they are loving it!!!
And...they NEVER solicit a review from their guests and over 400 have put in reviews to date. For them, it has become their cash cow.

 

[Morticia]

I asked once from an innkeeper that has 200+ and wins awards from them and is now nearly in foreclosure...and I was called a shark or something. Basically told to rack off.
I truly wanted to know why those guests traveling to small town USA to a small B&B would post so many more reviews than anyone else we have ever known.
For some reason the question was considered wrong and how dare we think it is not all on the up and up and we all got the backlash.

Of all the guests who bring up TA on their own and tell me they found us there and will be sure to write a lovely review the very minute they step in their door...never do. So yes, there is something more to it. I don't care what anyone says, solicit all the reviews you want, it is harder to get them, unless there is a twist to this equation somewhere.
DISCLAIMER - I am speaking of Inns here in the USA. Not overseas, things are different there, I realize this, I can only speak for this country and how things operate here. Our UK guests are the most willing to read reviews and write them. They rely on TA and others while making their travel plans. The 200+ was from an "other" website, not TA. So perhaps the "other" website allows the use of the one pc to write the reviews, unlike TA who more diligently monitors that IP..

oh my...can I guess who that was? My good buddies have just for some reason been put on the TA site and watch list as the #2 Romantic Inn in the US. They don't tout that..never have..they don't have a clue as to why they were put in that category..but hey..they will take it. Their website has been hit like crazy the past week...solidly.... from TA...they are loving it!!!
And...they NEVER solicit a review from their guests and over 400 have put in reviews to date. For them, it has become their cash cow.
.

But they used to...they had a link right on their site that asked guests to leave a review. It's great that they are being chosen for the honors. It's more than likely a formula that TA uses to see which places get selected as 'romantic' by the largest percentage of reviewers.

 

[EmptyNest]

I asked once from an innkeeper that has 200+ and wins awards from them and is now nearly in foreclosure...and I was called a shark or something. Basically told to rack off.
I truly wanted to know why those guests traveling to small town USA to a small B&B would post so many more reviews than anyone else we have ever known.
For some reason the question was considered wrong and how dare we think it is not all on the up and up and we all got the backlash.

Of all the guests who bring up TA on their own and tell me they found us there and will be sure to write a lovely review the very minute they step in their door...never do. So yes, there is something more to it. I don't care what anyone says, solicit all the reviews you want, it is harder to get them, unless there is a twist to this equation somewhere.
DISCLAIMER - I am speaking of Inns here in the USA. Not overseas, things are different there, I realize this, I can only speak for this country and how things operate here. Our UK guests are the most willing to read reviews and write them. They rely on TA and others while making their travel plans. The 200+ was from an "other" website, not TA. So perhaps the "other" website allows the use of the one pc to write the reviews, unlike TA who more diligently monitors that IP..

oh my...can I guess who that was? My good buddies have just for some reason been put on the TA site and watch list as the #2 Romantic Inn in the US. They don't tout that..never have..they don't have a clue as to why they were put in that category..but hey..they will take it. Their website has been hit like crazy the past week...solidly.... from TA...they are loving it!!!
And...they NEVER solicit a review from their guests and over 400 have put in reviews to date. For them, it has become their cash cow.
.

But they used to...they had a link right on their site that asked guests to leave a review. It's great that they are being chosen for the honors. It's more than likely a formula that TA uses to see which places get selected as 'romantic' by the largest percentage of reviewers.
.

Sorry, I meant they never asked personally. If people click on the link from their web site...I see that as a little different. That anyone can use...they don't really solicit reviews like I know some innkeepers do.

 

[Highlands John]

I asked once from an innkeeper that has 200+ and wins awards from them and is now nearly in foreclosure...and I was called a shark or something. Basically told to rack off.
I truly wanted to know why those guests traveling to small town USA to a small B&B would post so many more reviews than anyone else we have ever known.
For some reason the question was considered wrong and how dare we think it is not all on the up and up and we all got the backlash.

Of all the guests who bring up TA on their own and tell me they found us there and will be sure to write a lovely review the very minute they step in their door...never do. So yes, there is something more to it. I don't care what anyone says, solicit all the reviews you want, it is harder to get them, unless there is a twist to this equation somewhere.
DISCLAIMER - I am speaking of Inns here in the USA. Not overseas, things are different there, I realize this, I can only speak for this country and how things operate here. Our UK guests are the most willing to read reviews and write them. They rely on TA and others while making their travel plans. The 200+ was from an "other" website, not TA. So perhaps the "other" website allows the use of the one pc to write the reviews, unlike TA who more diligently monitors that IP..

oh my...can I guess who that was? My good buddies have just for some reason been put on the TA site and watch list as the #2 Romantic Inn in the US. They don't tout that..never have..they don't have a clue as to why they were put in that category..but hey..they will take it. Their website has been hit like crazy the past week...solidly.... from TA...they are loving it!!!
And...they NEVER solicit a review from their guests and over 400 have put in reviews to date. For them, it has become their cash cow.
.

One of my issues with TA is that in the UK to officially be a B&B you can only take up to 6 guests and your property is classed as a private residence (your home), more than 6 and you become a business and a commercial property (with all the extra legal issues that entails).

We're a B&B with 3 rooms, but on the TA B&B listings there a numerous "Guest Houses" with up to 12 rooms calling themselves B&Bs. Legally they are a guest house, but ok, they can call themselves what they like, depending on the facilities they offer, but on TA we have no chance of getting anywhere near as many reviews as us becuase on an average day they have 2 to 3 times as many guests as us.
Having said that, I think there are several factors used in the calculation of ratings of which number of reviews is one.
For those of you that say even though you email people they still don't review, when are you emailing? When I get home from holiday my mail box can have up to 500 emails in it. I group them into 3, the urgent ones I action immediately, the rubbish I delete and all the rest all sit in my Inbox for weeks waiting for me to get around to actioning, until I'm sick of seeing them and then most get deleted. I suspect that for most guests review request emails fall into the last category.
So, on the morning people check out I write them a review request email, I personalise it so if for example I know they're going to xxx after leaving us I'll put "we hope you enjoyed your stay in xxx", so it doesn't look as though I'm just sending the same thing out to everyone. Then I put the date several days after I know they'll get home on the subject line and save it to my "Drafts" folder. Then all I have to do is every few days check my drafts folder and any that have reached their alloted date I remove the date from the subject line and send. I try to avoid Mondays for the same reason as above, and also try to send during the morning so I catch people in the office.

 

[Highlands John]

OK........so perhaps others are "paying" guests for reviews..........how are they doing this?...........what compensation?.

OK........so perhaps others are "paying" guests for reviews..........how are they doing this?...........what compensation?

Reduced rates on their next visit, gifties, free dinner, etc. Or flat out cash.
.

yeah..........they would have to post the review before checking out...no?
I wouldn't give a guest a discount for a future stay....telling them....btw.....here's a discount certificate for a future stay.....but, you have to give us a great review when you get back home.................if they don't.........what do you do? ..........not honor the certificate?
Pay them cash...........sure.........here's $20......when you get back home, post a great review of us..........
Problem I see with giving guests anything for a review...........how the heck do you trust them to do it when they get back home?
I'd be more inclined to think they are pushing the issue during their stay......to me that would be like telemarketing......I don't appreciate the push
.

yeah..........they would have to post the review before checking out...no?
I wouldn't give a guest a discount for a future stay....telling them....btw.....here's a discount certificate for a future stay.....but, you have to give us a great review when you get back home.................if they don't.........what do you do? ..........not honor the certificate?
Pay them cash...........sure.........here's $20......when you get back home, post a great review of us..........
Problem I see with giving guests anything for a review...........how the heck do you trust them to do it when they get back home?
I'd be more inclined to think they are pushing the issue during their stay......to me that would be like telemarketing......I don't appreciate the push

Not necessarily would they need to provide the gift BEFORE the guest checks out! There is something called mail, or if the gift is a special discount on their next stay, that would be awarded at the time of booking.
I do recall a thread or 2 - here and on other forums regarding B&B's setting up a computer for guest use - having a link to review sites available there. There are problems with doing this as the sites do frown on many reviews with the same IP address being used.
.

A hotel near us was asking guests to leave a review on their PC in the hotel and got taken off TA because so many reviews came from the same IP address and TA took it to mean they were submitting their own reviews. (Never any suggestion they were offering incentives).
We had a guest submit a review on our PC here (because he asked me to show him how to do it), but it never appeared (I suspect for the same reason).

 

[Morticia]

I asked once from an innkeeper that has 200+ and wins awards from them and is now nearly in foreclosure...and I was called a shark or something. Basically told to rack off.
I truly wanted to know why those guests traveling to small town USA to a small B&B would post so many more reviews than anyone else we have ever known.
For some reason the question was considered wrong and how dare we think it is not all on the up and up and we all got the backlash.

Of all the guests who bring up TA on their own and tell me they found us there and will be sure to write a lovely review the very minute they step in their door...never do. So yes, there is something more to it. I don't care what anyone says, solicit all the reviews you want, it is harder to get them, unless there is a twist to this equation somewhere.
DISCLAIMER - I am speaking of Inns here in the USA. Not overseas, things are different there, I realize this, I can only speak for this country and how things operate here. Our UK guests are the most willing to read reviews and write them. They rely on TA and others while making their travel plans. The 200+ was from an "other" website, not TA. So perhaps the "other" website allows the use of the one pc to write the reviews, unlike TA who more diligently monitors that IP..

oh my...can I guess who that was? My good buddies have just for some reason been put on the TA site and watch list as the #2 Romantic Inn in the US. They don't tout that..never have..they don't have a clue as to why they were put in that category..but hey..they will take it. Their website has been hit like crazy the past week...solidly.... from TA...they are loving it!!!
And...they NEVER solicit a review from their guests and over 400 have put in reviews to date. For them, it has become their cash cow.
.

One of my issues with TA is that in the UK to officially be a B&B you can only take up to 6 guests and your property is classed as a private residence (your home), more than 6 and you become a business and a commercial property (with all the extra legal issues that entails).

We're a B&B with 3 rooms, but on the TA B&B listings there a numerous "Guest Houses" with up to 12 rooms calling themselves B&Bs. Legally they are a guest house, but ok, they can call themselves what they like, depending on the facilities they offer, but on TA we have no chance of getting anywhere near as many reviews as us becuase on an average day they have 2 to 3 times as many guests as us.
Having said that, I think there are several factors used in the calculation of ratings of which number of reviews is one.
For those of you that say even though you email people they still don't review, when are you emailing? When I get home from holiday my mail box can have up to 500 emails in it. I group them into 3, the urgent ones I action immediately, the rubbish I delete and all the rest all sit in my Inbox for weeks waiting for me to get around to actioning, until I'm sick of seeing them and then most get deleted. I suspect that for most guests review request emails fall into the last category.
So, on the morning people check out I write them a review request email, I personalise it so if for example I know they're going to xxx after leaving us I'll put "we hope you enjoyed your stay in xxx", so it doesn't look as though I'm just sending the same thing out to everyone. Then I put the date several days after I know they'll get home on the subject line and save it to my "Drafts" folder. Then all I have to do is every few days check my drafts folder and any that have reached their alloted date I remove the date from the subject line and send. I try to avoid Mondays for the same reason as above, and also try to send during the morning so I catch people in the office.
.

Usually a week to 10 days after they left us. Because I'm so slow, not because I thought about it!

 

[Joey Camb]

We ask guests not to use our Wi -fi to do reviews as we know they won't show up people don't realise and do a review but it never appears for that reason. My neighbour in jest said we should all pop round to each others places and use the wi-fi to do our own reviews LOL

 

[gillumhouse]

I asked once from an innkeeper that has 200+ and wins awards from them and is now nearly in foreclosure...and I was called a shark or something. Basically told to rack off.
I truly wanted to know why those guests traveling to small town USA to a small B&B would post so many more reviews than anyone else we have ever known.
For some reason the question was considered wrong and how dare we think it is not all on the up and up and we all got the backlash.

Of all the guests who bring up TA on their own and tell me they found us there and will be sure to write a lovely review the very minute they step in their door...never do. So yes, there is something more to it. I don't care what anyone says, solicit all the reviews you want, it is harder to get them, unless there is a twist to this equation somewhere.
DISCLAIMER - I am speaking of Inns here in the USA. Not overseas, things are different there, I realize this, I can only speak for this country and how things operate here. Our UK guests are the most willing to read reviews and write them. They rely on TA and others while making their travel plans. The 200+ was from an "other" website, not TA. So perhaps the "other" website allows the use of the one pc to write the reviews, unlike TA who more diligently monitors that IP..

oh my...can I guess who that was? My good buddies have just for some reason been put on the TA site and watch list as the #2 Romantic Inn in the US. They don't tout that..never have..they don't have a clue as to why they were put in that category..but hey..they will take it. Their website has been hit like crazy the past week...solidly.... from TA...they are loving it!!!
And...they NEVER solicit a review from their guests and over 400 have put in reviews to date. For them, it has become their cash cow.
.

One of my issues with TA is that in the UK to officially be a B&B you can only take up to 6 guests and your property is classed as a private residence (your home), more than 6 and you become a business and a commercial property (with all the extra legal issues that entails).

We're a B&B with 3 rooms, but on the TA B&B listings there a numerous "Guest Houses" with up to 12 rooms calling themselves B&Bs. Legally they are a guest house, but ok, they can call themselves what they like, depending on the facilities they offer, but on TA we have no chance of getting anywhere near as many reviews as us becuase on an average day they have 2 to 3 times as many guests as us.
Having said that, I think there are several factors used in the calculation of ratings of which number of reviews is one.
For those of you that say even though you email people they still don't review, when are you emailing? When I get home from holiday my mail box can have up to 500 emails in it. I group them into 3, the urgent ones I action immediately, the rubbish I delete and all the rest all sit in my Inbox for weeks waiting for me to get around to actioning, until I'm sick of seeing them and then most get deleted. I suspect that for most guests review request emails fall into the last category.
So, on the morning people check out I write them a review request email, I personalise it so if for example I know they're going to xxx after leaving us I'll put "we hope you enjoyed your stay in xxx", so it doesn't look as though I'm just sending the same thing out to everyone. Then I put the date several days after I know they'll get home on the subject line and save it to my "Drafts" folder. Then all I have to do is every few days check my drafts folder and any that have reached their alloted date I remove the date from the subject line and send. I try to avoid Mondays for the same reason as above, and also try to send during the morning so I catch people in the office.
.

I can personalize the thank you letter to be e-mailed to the guest AND set the date it is to be sent. I did not used to include a link to TA but I do now. For my horse guests I also include the link to one of my horse directories. The e-mail is sent about 3 to 4 days after departure. I recently got reviews from 2 of my horse people - glowing I might add!

 

[EmptyNest]

I asked once from an innkeeper that has 200+ and wins awards from them and is now nearly in foreclosure...and I was called a shark or something. Basically told to rack off.
I truly wanted to know why those guests traveling to small town USA to a small B&B would post so many more reviews than anyone else we have ever known.
For some reason the question was considered wrong and how dare we think it is not all on the up and up and we all got the backlash.

Of all the guests who bring up TA on their own and tell me they found us there and will be sure to write a lovely review the very minute they step in their door...never do. So yes, there is something more to it. I don't care what anyone says, solicit all the reviews you want, it is harder to get them, unless there is a twist to this equation somewhere.
DISCLAIMER - I am speaking of Inns here in the USA. Not overseas, things are different there, I realize this, I can only speak for this country and how things operate here. Our UK guests are the most willing to read reviews and write them. They rely on TA and others while making their travel plans. The 200+ was from an "other" website, not TA. So perhaps the "other" website allows the use of the one pc to write the reviews, unlike TA who more diligently monitors that IP..

oh my...can I guess who that was? My good buddies have just for some reason been put on the TA site and watch list as the #2 Romantic Inn in the US. They don't tout that..never have..they don't have a clue as to why they were put in that category..but hey..they will take it. Their website has been hit like crazy the past week...solidly.... from TA...they are loving it!!!
And...they NEVER solicit a review from their guests and over 400 have put in reviews to date. For them, it has become their cash cow.
.

But they used to...they had a link right on their site that asked guests to leave a review. It's great that they are being chosen for the honors. It's more than likely a formula that TA uses to see which places get selected as 'romantic' by the largest percentage of reviewers.
.

Sorry, I meant they never asked personally. If people click on the link from their web site...I see that as a little different. That anyone can use...they don't really solicit reviews like I know some innkeepers do.
.

I did a quick look at my friend's GA stats yesterday. Visit to their site was up 70% as a result of whatever TA sent out calling them #2 Romantic Inn in the US. You could see the dramatic change the week the article was posted. Amazing. Almost 4,000 new page views to their home page from TA for the last week. So you know folks are using it and reading it. We can't ignore that.

 

[Morticia]

I asked once from an innkeeper that has 200+ and wins awards from them and is now nearly in foreclosure...and I was called a shark or something. Basically told to rack off.
I truly wanted to know why those guests traveling to small town USA to a small B&B would post so many more reviews than anyone else we have ever known.
For some reason the question was considered wrong and how dare we think it is not all on the up and up and we all got the backlash.

Of all the guests who bring up TA on their own and tell me they found us there and will be sure to write a lovely review the very minute they step in their door...never do. So yes, there is something more to it. I don't care what anyone says, solicit all the reviews you want, it is harder to get them, unless there is a twist to this equation somewhere.
DISCLAIMER - I am speaking of Inns here in the USA. Not overseas, things are different there, I realize this, I can only speak for this country and how things operate here. Our UK guests are the most willing to read reviews and write them. They rely on TA and others while making their travel plans. The 200+ was from an "other" website, not TA. So perhaps the "other" website allows the use of the one pc to write the reviews, unlike TA who more diligently monitors that IP..

oh my...can I guess who that was? My good buddies have just for some reason been put on the TA site and watch list as the #2 Romantic Inn in the US. They don't tout that..never have..they don't have a clue as to why they were put in that category..but hey..they will take it. Their website has been hit like crazy the past week...solidly.... from TA...they are loving it!!!
And...they NEVER solicit a review from their guests and over 400 have put in reviews to date. For them, it has become their cash cow.
.

But they used to...they had a link right on their site that asked guests to leave a review. It's great that they are being chosen for the honors. It's more than likely a formula that TA uses to see which places get selected as 'romantic' by the largest percentage of reviewers.
.

Sorry, I meant they never asked personally. If people click on the link from their web site...I see that as a little different. That anyone can use...they don't really solicit reviews like I know some innkeepers do.
.

I did a quick look at my friend's GA stats yesterday. Visit to their site was up 70% as a result of whatever TA sent out calling them #2 Romantic Inn in the US. You could see the dramatic change the week the article was posted. Amazing. Almost 4,000 new page views to their home page from TA for the last week. So you know folks are using it and reading it. We can't ignore that.
.

I would definitely think it's a really excellent selling point to get listed as any of the review sites' 'best of'. And everytime TA sends out an email like that, they'll see another surge.