To hate trip advisor

[Passthebubbly]

I need to vent. I own a small hospitality business family run that we have put our heart and sole into for 11 years. We have won a ton of awards and do our absolute best to show people an amazing time. We appreciate every single customer.

Our feedback has always been so good but since reopening from last lockdown what has happened to people? Just got a 1 star review as woman didn’t like her soup and the toilet was too small and there was god forbid a cobweb. Didn’t think to say at the time so we could change her meal just wait till behind a keyboard and leave a 1review. 2review yesterday because we don’t serve a full menu all night - we don’t have a bloody chef right now. My husband worked 78hours last week in that kitchen. Am so sick of watching what we have built and what we work our backsides off now in due to staff shortages be tarnished by keyboard warriors. Rant over just raging anyone can go on and leave 1* reviews for thing we can’t change like size of toilets in a listed building. So unfair.

This thread has inspired me to take a look at some local places on TripAdvisor. My favourite so far is the 2 star review of a local lake complaining that they saw a dog off the lead. I'm not entirely sure that the lake could have done anything about that!

One star reviews are often ridiculous - someone who kicked off and was put right or very small, pedantic gripes. I’d only take notice if they dominated.

Well I am fortunate to not get many 7 in 12 years 3 of which are from employees I let go. I guess that’s why I take it to heart when we do get them for something that could so easily be resolved at the time

The worst are the one where they say "terrible pub, I arrived for Sunday lunch without a reservation and they said they didn't have any tables, yet I could see an empty table that could accommodate us - 1 star"

So you fucked up, didn't book, they were busy and you didn't even eat the food.

Everyone thinks there a critic theses days. I often see people write "if I had to find one negative, it would be the car park, or the view, or the chair" or some other bullshit, No you don't have to find a negative.

@fruitbrewhaha yeah we got one during the period of covid when we had to have 2 meter social distancing, it meant we were full inside and out at 28 people. We got a bad review from someone as we couldn’t “fit them in”. This was just when we reopened after lockdown 1. When we were at capacity there was nothing we could do. Totally deserved that poor review 🤯

I don't think these are malicious reviews. What people value and look for differs and both were disappointed and expressed that in a review. They were honest about what disappointed them and readers can decide if they care about those things or not. Reviews don't have to align with the owner's view of their product or service - customers often see things differently and review accordingly. The fact that you can't change the toilet doesn't mean she didn't find it too small. The fact you say there aren't other cobwebs doesn't mean she couldn't be bothered by the cobwebs she did see. Respond with a polite explanation.

When I read reviews, I look at the 1 and 2 star and usually they are personal preference related issues. Valid for that person but not applicable to me. When I see snarky owner responses - that puts me off more than the review. You have to accept that people see things differently. There wouldn't be much point to reviews if they all had to be approved by the owner / seller before posting.

I look at 5 star reviews too but also take those with a grain of salt. I find the 3s and 4s are usually the most honest and closest to what the place is really like.

I work in a fast food restaurant and I work damn hard-I’m also from Yorkshire so have a strong accent even tho I live in the midlands now

Complaints I’ve had over the last 6 years

I couldn’t understand a word she said
I ordered a cheeseburger and it came with cheese
I ordered a bacon/sausage McMuffin and it came with bacon/sausage-I’m a vegi
She wasn’t at work Thursday-I really like chatting to her but she wasn’t in when I came in
She’s very Yorkshire
I can’t talk to her as she’s from Yorkshire and I’m from landcaster-it’s the war of the roses you see
I saw her walking through town the other day with a young lad (my son) and they stopped outside the pub (we where waiting for the bus) it’s disgusting that she was going to get pissed up on her day off
I can’t believe she’s not single (I’m not married but do live with my partner) I wanted to ask her out (the gent in question is about 90)
She removed her mask so I could lip read-it’s disgusting that she stepped back and removed her mask so I could understand her
She refused to give me her address/phone number
I had Big Mac sauce on my Big Mac-they should have read my mind when I thought ‘I don’t want Big Mac sauce’ instead of me removing it when I ordered it
My fries where too hot
I ordered my food,fucked off to do some shopping and came back 5 hours later and they’d binned my food-they should have known I was going shopping and saved it for me
I came in pissed up,tripped over the wet floor sign and now I’m going to sue as I didn’t see the massive,bright yellow sign telling me to be careful
I stubbed my toe on the table
My table was too clean-so was my seat
I ordered a plain McFlurry-I got a plain McFlurry so where are my smartie pieces?
The McFlurrys are too vanilla tasting
My milkshake is too strong
She’s too friendly-she said hello to me when I walked in
I ordered coke,I got a coke but I’d changed my mind and wanted Fanta-so I drank my coke,took it back and demanded a Fanta

The staff didn’t rush to serve me-I waited a full 20 seconds before I was served-the staff where busy dealing with a young girl having a fit in the corner-I had to demand they come to serve me
I waited 32 and a half seconds for my coffee
I pissed in and around the sink and got arsey when the staff had to clean up after me
I shat all over the loo seat and moaned about the staff using bleach and rubber gloves to clean it up-I don’t like the smell of bleach
We where throwing a pagan ceremony in the toilets,with about 30 people,and got funny when told there was a field over the road that would be much more suitable
There was a fly outside on a boiling hot summers day and it might come in and sit on my food

All these are 100% true
@Passthebubbly
sure we can be friends!
I’ll help you laugh a bad review off-some people are batshit crazy
I deal with it all daily

Just make sure you respond - like a lot of people I do filter to bad reviews and the response from the hotel. Some of them are batshit and people will ignore them! We recently went to a 5 star resort in Mauritius which was amazing. Someone had put a 3 star review as the bacon at breakfast wasn’t crispy and it was a bit windy at the beach. Nutters

I am as positive as possible on Tripadvisor reviews, but I will sometimes bring things up there in preference to at the establishment because I don't want to cause an atmosphere and I suspect most owners/managers are likely to do something if it's in a review, rather than as a result of a discussion.

You can’t please all the people all the time, most people have the sense to look at the reviews and decide, on balance, for themselves. A few low scores won’t make any difference if you have so many great reviews. Disappointing none the less though I agree.

Ex employees shouldnt be allowed to review like that on TA

@rookiemere that's categorically not true. It really pisses off managers and business owners when you put things in a review rather than let them know. Give them a chance, if nothing happens then fair enough.
Trip advisor is the realm of the arm chair hospitality expert. They have plenty to say about how they think things should be done, but no clue how things work in practice.
It's definitely worse post covid.
It's easy to say not to take it personally but for good owners / managers it isn't just a job it's a life. When you put maximum effort in, and so many people don't bother reviewing that you don't get the reviews you deserve.
Another annoying one "eaten here many times and always really good but this time it was awful" yet there's no sign of any previous reviews for all the positive visits that they admit they had
Hospitality is really fucking hard at the moment. So if you want to make a difference please make the effort to -
Be polite to staff
Be understanding when it's busy
Book in advance if you can
Leave positive reviews where justified
Be aware that being nice when you complain will get you much further than being a twat ever does
We want all feedback, not just positive. The problem is that customers tend to thank you personally for good service and tell the world any grievances

Write a reply, then get some mates to write some reviews.
Don’t sweat the 1 * review - if you’re as good as you say then you’ll have enough good reviews for people to realise you’re good.

Don’t worry too much about the nutters. I do actually look at the 1* reviews. I mainly walk away from the convinced it’s a good place to go. If I saw a review that mentioned a single cobweb, I’d feel good that they had to look that hard to find something to complain about. The not full menu, I’d check the website and think “well that dumbass can’t read”.

In other words, if the complaints are nitpicking, then it must be pretty good, as the reviewer had an axe to grind or tried but couldn’t come up with a real problem.

@HotelCaliforniaOnRepeat 👏👏👏👏

The thing that I take most notice of is the response made to the poor review. Have they taken on board the complaint? Can they explain what happened? Will it happen again?

I think most people can decide whether the complaint is batshit or not.
I always read the one star reviews, and a lot of the time dismiss them as vindictive or petty.

@MsTSwift

Remember going to a talk by Lionel Shriver she got upset by bad book reviews the worst one ended with the fact the reviewer hadn’t even read the book! There are some right weirdos out there.

DP has written various books. Pretty much wall to wall 4/5 star reviews. First one star review 'Not something I'm interested in, so ignored the suggestion from amazon & didn't buy it.' Second 1 star review: Wonderful! Bought copies for everyone I know! Third 1 star review: Arrived on time. Haven't read it yet. 4th: I know the author, and will never read anything of his.

It's like buying a top or DVD or kettle or whatever- people will give it 1* because it got delivered late.

I'm like what? That's got nothing to do with the quality of the item itself and it's misleading to people looking at how many *s it has got.

just leave a reply. Its part of life today reviewing everything.

I think people can tell when the majority of answers are good. I use it to plan and you can usually get a feeling.