Our tips for guest reviews
Reviews are a crucial part of the success of all our places. Positive, honest, independent reviews bring a place to life for prospective guests, encourage trust and secure bookings. With it being mandatory by law to display negative reviews, it’s important to respond to these quickly, openly and fairly. In the event that you receive negative feedback, we’ll be speaking to you and adding a response on site.
Here are some tips to help you gather and display glowing reviews, limit negative feedback and make your page as strong as possible.
Encouraging reviews
Jump on it
We recommend emailing your guests no more than a few days after they’ve left, with the direct link to your page’s review area. To find this, go to your page then scroll down to ‘Reviews’ and click ‘Leave a Review’. Copy the URL from that page, which will take guests to where they can leave a review.
We read every piece of feedback before publishing it on the website, so it may take a day or two before a new one appears. We’ll email you when a new review is on your page, but if you receive some bad feedback, we’ll be in touch to discuss it and let you know when it’s going to be visible and we’ll be able to add a response on site. Remember, anyone can leave a review – not just those guests who may have originally found you via Sawday’s.
Reviews from other sources
If you have lovely comments in your visitor book or elsewhere which you’d like to feature on your Sawday’s page, you can ask for the guest’s permission to include their review. Simply email your guest with the full text of the comment you’d like to use and a request to publish it. If they agree, forward the reply to us and we’ll add the review to your page. To make the review as strong as possible, you could also ask for permission to include their first name, month of stay, hometown and a rating out of 5.
Limiting negative feedback
Establish contact
Many guest issues can be resolved during a stay, but guests are often reluctant to contact owners with problems, despite being more than happy to complain about them afterwards! Resolving an issue while the guests are at your place makes it far less likely that they will leave a negative review, so do your best to establish friendly contact. If you don’t meet guests during check in, asking them to send a quick message to let you know they’ve arrived can be a good way to break the ice.
Keeping your page and reviews accurate
A frequent source of negative reviews is discrepancies between a place’s listing and the reality that the guests find on arrival. If you list, for example, kitchen items or basic supplies, then guests will expect to find them and be disappointed if they don’t. Similarly, a review might mention that you picked a guest up from the station, or left a welcome hamper, but if you no longer offer these services or products, let us know and we’ll edit your page to avoid disappointing future guests.
Directions and first impressions
A good first impression starts people off in a positive mood and makes a negative review far less likely. Cleanliness is an important part of getting off on the right foot, but signage and directions are often underrated as a factor. Make sure people can easily find your place and gain access (if you don’t welcome guests in person) in any weather and at any time of day. Saying “turn when you see the farm gate” is all well and good until a guest is arriving on a dark winter’s night.