How can we recover bookings after a very poor holiday let review?

[holidaylethelp]

Any advice very welcome and am prepared to be flamed! We have a holiday let in Norfolk near Cromer, quite a long way from where we live. We have always loved it there and put everything we had into buying a small holiday let about 3 years ago. We got a agent and cleaner and it is rented out for about half the year, in quiet times we go and let family and friends use the house. Our cleaner has always been a little hit and miss, at the start of the summer the feedback we had was good mostly 5 star reviews, but as the summer has gone on we have had some really negative feedback saying that the kitchen and bathroom were dirty. We offered compensation and spoke to the cleaner - the guests were happy. We told the agent we wanted to get a different cleaning company and they said they would start looking for alternatives. We have now had an absolutely dire review from the next guest posted on the booking website, saying items in the house were broken and it was very dirty. The agent is annoyed as they contacted the guests on the day they arrived to see if everything was alright but they did not respond. My wife went to see the house today and it was dirty and items in the house had been broken - for example broken scissors, dvd's snapped in two - of course items do get broken and we expect that but we would never leave broken items in the house and always replace items and never charge the guest for breakages, Sometimes guests hide damage (probably thinking we would charge them) and we do not have the chance to replace the item quickly. This guest of course has a right to complain, holiday time is very precious and I am upset that their stay was not perfect. We have sacked the cleaning company, but I am so sad that we put so much into the property, have had many happy guests, and now no one will rent the house going forward because of this awful review. Any ideas how to approach this?

When renting I look at all the reviews not just the one bad one. People are always looking for things to moan about . I’ve stayed in many places with the odd dire review and they’ve been fabulous. I’d just do what PP have suggested. Respond to the review stating that you’ve changed cleaning companies and probably go and check on it more frequently yourself

Absolutely not - this looks like arse covering and minimising.

"In response to your feedback we have employed a new cleaning company to keep the property to the high standards we expect for all our guests.
I'm so sorry your experience wasn't the one we aim to provide and hope the compensation we gave you helped offset your disappointment."

If an owner does this, I read it as “not our fault, mate”

I had a let on a holiday park 3 hours away, a few years ago. I did all the changeovers myself as the one time we asked a company to do it they did an absolutely crap job. Was embarrassing

I know you just plucked it out as a random example, but whatever you do, don't call your holiday let 'Rose Cottage', folks... at least not if you ever want anybody who works in a hospital to want to book to stay there!

There's a 'Rose Cottage' holiday let right near to where we stay every year (in north Norfolk!) and, beautiful though it looks from the outside, it always makes us wince when we see the sign!

I don’t think it’s the cleaners responsibility to check from broken items… dirty yes but not broken.

I disagree. I mean, if it's something like a snapped DVD or the TV doesn't come on properly, that they'd have no reason to discover, that's fair enough; but surely you'd expect them to notice and alert you briefly of any obvious breakages that they spot in the course of their cleaning, if they know that it's a holiday let that they're cleaning, rather than a standard residence?

As long as you pay them a fair wage, I'd also ideally want somebody who would specifically have a quick check through for breakages or clearly missing items after cleaning it.

I think you also have to be aware nowadays of the people who will specifically look for (or even invent) and wildly overegg tiny little negatives - whether for material for Insta (far more clicks for a 'horror house' than for somewhere perfect), actively seeking compensation/refunds from the moment they book it, or just fans of 4 In A Bed - so they think it's normal to remove every mattress to see if there's a stray head-hair that they can claim is a pube right in the middle underneath.

A dirty holiday home will attractive bad reviews . Reply to the review and detail steps taken to address the issue.

Get a more reliable local cleaner and the agency to do more spot checks as part of management fee.

Take new photos and make sure they are not misleading.

North Norfolk is a popular area and you will get bookings again . Keep the current rental rate displayed but offer attractive 'special deals or discounted rates ' to attract more bookings until reviews improve again .

Email previous guests with special deals to see if you can get repeat reviews from those happier guests.

Provide the guests with a specific local contact number if there are issues.

Great reply

@BrezhnevsLuxuriantEyebrowsi don’t get why hospitals wince at Rose cottage

@holidaylethelp after the first bad review you should have gone there and changed cleaners and had a serious chat to managing company

Post that response but I think you need to be much more proactive here. The management company are poor and should have taken action immediately not just let this carry on.

Do your local contractors know who the reliable cleaners are. Is there a shortage of reliable cleaners?

Interesting to see the impact of Airbnb and the consequences. Too much accommodation in tourist areas making too much money leading to lack of local accommodation and therefore lack of cleaning staff to maintain things. It just doesn’t work.
Have seen quite a bit online from people sick of Airbnb because of expectations on cleaning the property themselves from landlords trying to manage this.
Also that changeover day cleaners in hotspots in Cornwall can charge the earth because it’s a free market and not enough cleaners for every Saturday. Good!
I hate Airbnb and what it is doing to some areas.

Can you explain this further please? I don't understand this at all.

The fact that guest didn’t respond on the first day is not their problem. What would agent do givdb the guest arrived and already saw it very dirty? You need to sack the agent as well because they need to be going in and checking the flat every time and not just rely on a cleaner, that’s big part of management. Otherwise what are they doing? Booking are managed through online system so they are paid for doing nothing

'Rose Cottage' is a euphemism for the morgue.

Although I've worked in a hospital for many years and it doesn't bother me to stay somewhere called this tbh.

The op visited and said it was dirty.

Thanks. OK, it might not outright put people off; but I'm still not sure that it's the impression that you'd want to make: have them chuckling/wincing at the unfortunate name whenever they see/remember it.

People give their holiday lets names in the first place to stand out and be memorable!

No, sorry, I didn't word that very well. What I meant was that, whilst some complainants will have 100% valid justification for doing so, even if you do present your place spotless and perfect, there will be others who will look for something ridiculous and/or non-existent to complain about anyway... like the woman upthread who objected strongly to there being a ladder stored outside.

There's another thread running currently about people who find fault with everything and are seemingly only happy if they can validate their own permanent negativity by moaning and complaining at the perceived wrongs of others - to anybody who will listen.

Maybe it's only a small thing, but I really hate it when people feel the need to make more than a brief passing reference to it happening to rain all week in the guest book or in reviews. Usually they aren't actually seeking to blame the owner of/agency for their accommodation for it; but why on earth would you introduce such negativity at all about something random over which they have no control whatsoever? You may as well imply that it's the cottage's fault that your car broke down on the way home!

Different sort of business but I had a horrible review too which massively caused problems for a while

post a response specifically saying that they were contacted on the first day and did not respond- stating the facts and that you now have a new cleaning company
then you definitely need a positive review after but can you send friends there for free and get them to do a great write up

if i was looking to book I wouldn’t be put off by one bad review but you need to get it off the top, and a response on it

Repeated poor reviews are very hard to recover from. I’d be furious as a customer knowing this has been going on for ages.
You could start a new listing and build up more reviews but I think you need to work out if the holiday let business is for you. Without dedication to providing top notch service, cleanliness and facilities, you’re going to always fail.
Also, go and stay there for a week. See if the beds are comfy, if the TV needs an upgrade, if the glasses, crockery and cutlery all match etc. A holiday let should be better than people’s own homes in terms of comfort, as they’re spending good money to relax and get away from reality.

I've stayed at 30 properties through Air BnB and never been asked to clean. I also constantly read reviews on Air BnB for work and have never seen a single one saying they were expected to clean. I have looked at literally thousands of them. It's an urban myth I think- if people were being asked to do a full clean they would mention it in the review.

Most people are not making huge profits. I know through work that many people are selling up because it's not the cash cow they thought it was or because they are making a loss. There is huge oversupply which means prices are dropping. People who are paying cleaners and a mortgage are barely breaking even

The reality is that you are living too far from the holiday let and rely on agents and cleaners who simply are not taking care of the property.

You should have addressed that early on as soon as one bad review appeared.

Just sell this property as you don't seem to be able to manage it correctly.

It is a business like any other and needs regular involvement to be successful.

Ah,ok. Thanks.

But I am also suspicious about anyone that only has 5* reviews - you can not please everyone all of the time.

I also check what cleaning is expected - if it says strip the beds I won't book.

OP if you are not close by to monitor and check the quality of each clean, then you need to ask for the cleaner to send photos and videos of the apartment after they have cleaned, every time. Checking items, especially crockery, cutlery etc all as they should be, logging any breakages. And you may have to simply travel down more often during peak times to do spot checks as well.

Yes, we haven't stayed at nearly as many as you, but we have looked at loads of reviews before choosing somewhere... and we too have never seen any mention of having to clean, especially as lots of them include a 'cleaning fee' in the cost breakdown.

Obviously you don't leave it filthy or with detritus strewn everywhere... but cleaning, dusting, hoovering, changing bed sheets etc. are all a standard part of what the cleaner does after you've left.

Indeed, you usually have to be out by 10am (sometimes 9am), so who would even have time to finish packing their stuff, getting breakfast, attending to young kids and/or pets (if you have them), loading up the car and cleaning the place as well?! Conversely, if the idea was that you leave it clean and ready for the next guests yourself, why would they require a 4-6 hour window between guests leaving and arriving?!