Ouch! Three bad reviews in one morning

[Momma Smurf]

I requested they remove it. They refused. So I posted the reply today.
I don't like the one liner response because then their comments go unchecked.
Mort, I used your line about the personal chat and also your 'lovely seaside town' phrase. Good stuff. Thanks.
We do take these reviews personally. I guess that's part of the business..

I was never good at being picked on in school. I hated popularity stuff because I was never popular. (Neither was Gomez so what a pair we make!) So, yeah, this stuff hurts a lot. We've made improvements based on guest observations but the reviews that take a swipe at us personally are hard to handle. (Grumpy, not suited to innkeeping, rude, etc)
.

The truth is we are friendly in a professional way. The idea of becoming close, long term friends with any of our guests is just foreign to us. We are both introverts. We have a few very close friends and many friendly acquaintances.
We chat, but we don't usually want to visit. We've had a few spontaneous fun evenings with guests, but mostly, we value our privacy. We will never be those innkeepers that sit down at the breakfast table or go out with guests for dinner.
.

Ditto! Poppa and I must be your long lost twins.

 

[Morticia]

I requested they remove it. They refused. So I posted the reply today.
I don't like the one liner response because then their comments go unchecked.
Mort, I used your line about the personal chat and also your 'lovely seaside town' phrase. Good stuff. Thanks.
We do take these reviews personally. I guess that's part of the business..

I was never good at being picked on in school. I hated popularity stuff because I was never popular. (Neither was Gomez so what a pair we make!) So, yeah, this stuff hurts a lot. We've made improvements based on guest observations but the reviews that take a swipe at us personally are hard to handle. (Grumpy, not suited to innkeeping, rude, etc)
.

The truth is we are friendly in a professional way. The idea of becoming close, long term friends with any of our guests is just foreign to us. We are both introverts. We have a few very close friends and many friendly acquaintances.
We chat, but we don't usually want to visit. We've had a few spontaneous fun evenings with guests, but mostly, we value our privacy. We will never be those innkeepers that sit down at the breakfast table or go out with guests for dinner.
.

Never say never. We took over from a couple who we later learned thought they were going to be new best friends with the guests.
We're very private and introverted also. But we do have a couple of guests who we do go to lunch or dinner with and we've had guests invite us to stay with them when we're on vacation in their town. (Actual invites, at the time, not just a "hey, you know where we live, ha,ha" kind of invite.)
We limit our guest time to breakfast and check in and if we see the guests during the course of the work day. In the evenings we've also found ourselves sharing wine and sometimes serious conversation. But it's not something we look for.

 

[undersea]

I requested they remove it. They refused. So I posted the reply today.
I don't like the one liner response because then their comments go unchecked.
Mort, I used your line about the personal chat and also your 'lovely seaside town' phrase. Good stuff. Thanks.
We do take these reviews personally. I guess that's part of the business..

I was never good at being picked on in school. I hated popularity stuff because I was never popular. (Neither was Gomez so what a pair we make!) So, yeah, this stuff hurts a lot. We've made improvements based on guest observations but the reviews that take a swipe at us personally are hard to handle. (Grumpy, not suited to innkeeping, rude, etc)
.

I look at it as standard business procedures. Reviews are a form of feedback. And it often is more a misunderstanding than something wrong with the business owner.
You start your business based on a plan. You learn and grow. You respond to market forces.
Complaints are a valuable source of business improvement. If you can fix or tweak things for the better, great. But sometimes, it is just someone venting or a misunderstanding. In such cases, talking it personally is just a way to shorten your life. No biggie.

 

[Iris]

Wow, how do you spell 'unreasonable'?
Amazing how these people think things should be. How they DO NOT read all the info that's put in front of them, when browsing our websites.
She did a very bad thing by lowering your rating. Probably doesn't even realize how detrimental her words can be. But be careful how you answer that review.
((((warm innkeepers hugs)))) coming your way

 

[Lee2014]

Ouch! I am having sympathetic pains for you. So sorry to hear this. TA/Yelp/ETC should be making people sign in to write the reviews not read them!!! If their own name/Facebook/email was next to their review....!!!!

 

[Samster]

Bad reviews always cut to the quick.

Your response was just great and not defensive. Good job!

 

[Momma Smurf]

I see that it's up! Reads great. Glad you stuck to posting the lengthy more personal response. Bet you will soon be getting great feedback from guests who read it. So much better than the ubiquitous generic responses.

 

[TheBeachHouse]

I see that it's up! Reads great. Glad you stuck to posting the lengthy more personal response. Bet you will soon be getting great feedback from guests who read it. So much better than the ubiquitous generic responses..

I see that it's up! Reads great. Glad you stuck to posting the lengthy more personal response. Bet you will soon be getting great feedback from guests who read it. So much better than the ubiquitous generic responses.

happy that it finally posted. I had my say and he's a doody-head.