Hotels meet threat of bad reviews
By Julie Weed, New York Times
Pam and Larry Willis had recently purchased the Gables Wine Country Innin California’s Sonoma wine region four years ago when they received it: their first TripAdvisor threat.
“A guest pulled me aside and said he didn’t get the level of concierge service he expected and was going to write a negative review online if he didn’t get his money back,” Larry Willis said. “It was pretty bold.”
Willis told the guest he was sorry but the complaint did not warrant a refund. Ultimately, the guest took no action. But the episode put the Willises on guard.
The threat of a bad online review on TripAdvisor, Travelocity or other consumer-advisory sites has become an increasingly common form of guest leverage, lodging executives say.