LoyaltyLobby reader forwarded me an email today that he had received after booking an independent hotel using Booking.com.
Remember that you can always email me, send a message via Facebook or use Twitter and include photos too. I’ll try to cover Reader Questions & Comments here several times a week.
Here’s the email from the reader:
In regards to your article on hostile reviews, I booked an independent hotel in Berwick Upon Tweed UK, and received this email after my confirmation ;
From: The Castle Hotel <xxxxxxxx-txgd.p989.jfpw.tgrc@property.booking.com>
Date: 12 September 2016 at 05:00:25 BST
To:
Subject: Online Booking Reminder
The management of the Hotel will charge an Administration Fee of £100 + VAT if the circumstances arise where a response has to be made to any comment or picture posted on electronic media which is in their opinion unfair or scurrilous in nature or to which they were not given opportunity to rectify when or after the service was provided. This charge will be deducted from the Credit or Debit card provided as guarantee for the booking. The Hotel management reserve the right to amend or cancel any booking without notice.
It goes without saying I cancelled my booking as was concerned that any establishment would warn about a charge for submitting a negative review, what horrors await.
TripAdvisor Reviews:
Had a look at twenty or so most recent reviews and the management hadn’t left a single reply.
Conclusion
I believe the reader made the right choice and canceled his stay. If the “welcome” email is this nasty, I would have run away as well.
Why do properties think that they could get away with something like this? You get favorable reviews and you get critical ones like any other property. Overall, they do give a fair picture of what is going on.
Seems that some owners still don’t understand how review sites and social media work. Negative emails like the one above don’t do any good for the property. It already sets a negative tone for the stay had the reader decided not to cancel it.
This is stupid. When customer takes their time and make efforts to post positive review, they get free marketing and would not say a word. But when experience is not good, they have their right to post a negative review and let others know about it as well.
How is that even legal? I’d be issuing a charge-back with my bank if they pulled that one then further posting the negative review on every site online.
Oh let me leave anonymous review of this place how they aim to scam their customers for giving information to fellow travelers. How stupid can these hotels be in the age of social media?
I think the hotel forgot to include the paragraph in its ‘welcome’ email that they also pay 100 pounds for a positive review. Must have been sent out by the work experience kids.
For small/independent vendors, online reviews can make/break you, since the majority of people use them to make purchasing decisions. It is understandable for them to be concerned. Unfortunately this approach is a little heavy handed (if we think its not fair)
I understand the desire to have things brought up during or after the stay for them to resolve before posting – have seen many reviews where people never give a place a chance to fix things.
I always wonder how, if your review is very “general” how they would track it back to you. I have had some where the specifics left no doubt who it was, and others where it would be very hard to determine.
These policies always go bad for the place at the end when it goes viral and random reviewers blast them.