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Reputation management is an important aspect of any business, and reviews can either make or break a business. With the rise of online travel agencies (OTAs), it has become increasingly important for businesses to stay on top of their reviews. As a matter of fact, research has shown that guests are more likely to trust properties with plenty of reviews than those with few or no reviews at all.
One of the most popular OTAs is Booking.com, which allows thousands of customers to leave reviews and form opinions about businesses on a daily basis. However, there is an element to consider other than just the amount of reviews: the rating. It comes as no surprise that negative reviews can greatly damage a business's status.
Normally, these reviews are accurate, and some of them can be impossible to delete on Booking.com. Still, there are cases when a review can be labeled as inappropriate or inaccurate. Thus, it is essential to understand how to take them down from Booking.com.
How do I see my reviews on Booking?
Booking.com made monitoring and managing their reviews easier for account owners. To do this, log in to Extranet and click “Guest Reviews.” This will automatically lead you to your review dashboard, where you can easily reply to reviews, check the booking information of the reviewer, and flag reviews that violate the Booking.com posting guidelines.
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Can Booking com reviews be deleted?
Before delving further into the process of removing reviews on Booking.com, it is important to remember that only verified users can leave feedback via this site, unlike Google and TripAdvisor. Suffice it to say that these hotel reviews are reliable because each user must have stayed at a certain property before being able to post a review on it. However, since a review is essentially an individual opinion, some content might not adhere to the necessary standards or be deemed irrelevant according to this website's rules and regulations.
As per Booking.com, there are only certain conditions in which a review can be removed:
- If the guest does not show up for a reservation and cancels a booking
- If it appears that the review may have been written with the goal of blackmailing you (requires written evidence)
- If the review is meant for another property
- If there is insufficient details about the guest’s experience
- If you cancel the guest’s booking because of invalid credit card
Like other OTAs, Booking.com endeavors to keep its site a safe public space. Thus, it also removes reviews that contain the following:
- Profanity, sexual references, hate speech, discriminatory remarks, threats, and offensive content
- Illegal activity
- Spam or fake content
- Impersonation
- Personal or private details that could put a person in danger, such as social security numbers, government ID numbers, etc.
- Irrelevant information
You also have the right to ask Booking.com to remove a review if you believe that it violates any of these guidelines. Keep in mind, however, that the score will be approved for publication.
To request the removal of a review, inform Booking.com via Inbox on your extranet with 'Guest Reviews' as the subject title. They'll be able to help guide you through the process.
Can I edit my review on Booking?
Business account owners can’t edit guest reviews. Aside from this, Booking.com doesn’t allow guests to automatically edit their reviews once posted. Guests who think they’ve made a mistake while reviewing and wish to edit their reviews must contact the website’s technical support team to request a new review link.
What else can you do to mitigate the impact of negative reviews?
Since one has no control over the negative reviews posted by the users, you have to opt for a viable solution. Sometimes an owner might disagree with the content of a review as it might be a little misleading or detrimental to a property’s reputation. There are some proactive approaches that can help to reduce the impact of negative reviews.
Contact the guest.
Reach out to the customer who wrote the negative review and, if appropriate, politely ask them to remove or update it - only that user has the power to change or delete their review. When engaging with customers, politely explain any faults in reviews, and look at these best practices when responding to online reviews in order to diffuse any negative emotions and gain the customer's trust. By contacting the guest and following this guideline, this shows that you value their feedback and are willing to do whatever is needed to improve their experience. If that is successful, your guests can edit their review. But here’s the tricky part: the process isn’t as fast as in other OTAs like TripAdvisor.
Guests who want to edit their reviews may get in touch with Booking.com either by telephone or logging into their account. If dialing, they would need to have their reservation number and PIN code ready. On the other hand, if they’re logging in, the review will be present on the account and an email can then be sent. A customer service agent from Booking.com can also help them further with the process. Afterwards, they will receive an email from Booking.com that will give them the chance to replace the old review with a new one.
Winning customers can help counteract negative reviews and, regardless of success, a proper and prompt response to their critical comment creates a positive impression on potential customers.
Follow-up offline with the guest.
Providing sincere follow-up to customers to address their concerns can have a good outcome. You could send them an apology email, invite them to come back and inform them of any issues you have resolved upon their request. If they are satisfied, ask them to edit or delete their review.
Respond to every review, even fake ones.
Responding individually to reviews demonstrates your commitment to customer service and establishes trust between you and your potential customers, as it shows that you can react appropriately to negative feedback.
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How do I respond to a bad review on Booking com?
Responding to bad reviews is the best way to mitigate their negative impact on your property listing. To do this, log in to your Extranet account and click “Guest Reviews.” You will be redirected to your review dashboard, where you can use filter reviews to find the review you wish to reply to. Once you select a review, a reply box will appear where you can post your response.
To learn more about how you can navigate the Guest Review dashboard, read our complete article about Booking.com optimization.
Respond to negative Booking.com effortlessly with MARA
Responding to negative Booking.com reviews can be a daunting task, but it doesn't have to be with our AI Review Assistant of MARA. This intuitive tool is designed to ease your Online Reputation Management process, making it more efficient, personalized, and time-saving. It offers the best and most personalized AI for responding to and analyzing your guest reviews.
Review Inbox:
One of the key features of this tool is the Review Inbox, which enables hoteliers to manage Booking.com reviews and other online reviews within a single platform. Your review inbox makes responding to reviews as simple as hitting "Generate reply" and clicking "Send". The Review Inbox connects to multiple review sources, including Google, Booking.com, and Tripadvisor, giving you a panoramic view of all your reviews. And you can even configure review response automation: Why not allowing MARA to automatically respond to simple reviews, like 5-star Google reviews with no text, ensuring you never miss a review? Daily notifications about new reviews keep you updated and in control.
Review Analytics:
While negative Booking.com reviews may impact your online reputation, you can extract authentic guest insights from them, enabling you to improve your offerings and services.
To help you understand and analyze the multitude of reviews, the Review Assistant also incorporates Review Analytics. This provides actionable, easy-to-understand insights that are tailored exclusively to your business. With MARA, you can quickly get the gist of all your reviews without needing to read each one. The analysis is so detailed that you can find out about specific issues like "water in the pool is too cold" or "lack of vegan breakfast option”. These insights help optimize guest experience without requiring you to be a data expert.
The most personal response AI:
Personalization is significantly essential when responding to negative reviews, as templates may exacerbate the situation.
Fortunately, MARA's AI isn't just about efficiency; it's about personalization too. The Brand Voice feature allows the AI to adapt to your tone, making sure your responses sound authentically you. Plus, with Smart Snippets, you can "teach" the AI how to respond to recurring praises or complaints. Your AI then incorporates this information into its responses, but always with different words, providing more personalized, relevant replies.
This review response assistant has quickly become a game-changer for over 2000 customers. Its promising capacity to elevate your overall rating, amplify response rates, glean insights from customer feedback and economize both time and money, is the reason behind its growing popularity.
Final Thought
Managing negative Booking.com reviews doesn't have to be daunting. With the right approach, including personalized and optimized responses, hoteliers can effectively resolve issues and maintain a positive online reputation. Our AI Review Assistant, MARA, offers a seamless solution, allowing you to streamline the process, personalize your responses, and derive valuable insights from reviews. Why hesitate? Try MARA for free today—it's quick to set up, requires no credit card, and can be fully operational in less than five minutes. Don't let negative reviews overshadow your business success—empower yourself with MARA and take control of your online reputation.
This content is a part of our hero series on “Booking.com Optimization: The Ultimate Guide for Hotel Managers".
Frequently Asked Questions:
Only guest accounts who booked and paid for stays through the platform can post a review. This includes no-shows or people who used their account to book a property for family or friends.
Reviews on Booking.com stays on a property listing for 36 months. After this, they’re automatically archived and would appear on the last page of reviews. Your overall score would also be recalculated without the archived scores.
Booking.com no longer allows anonymous posting. All reviews would now be left under a guest’s name, and property owners could see the guest reservation details. If some of your reviews are still anonymous, they were likely posted before the recent policy change.
Guests can post their reviews 3 months after their checkout. This will ensure that reviews would remain relevant for the listing while providing enough review time for customers.
Business account owners can’t automatically cancel a booking, but they can request a cancellation which the guests could approve. On the Reservation Page, click “Request Cancelation.” Booking will notify you once the guest has approved your request.
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