Responding to guest feedback from your GuestRevu account

Responding to online reviews and direct feedback can be a daunting task, and depending on your property, you may have specific ways or rules about which reviews to respond and how.

We highly recommend responding to negative and positive reviews of your property, since this shows that you care about your guests. 

This article relates to:

  • CORE
  • PRO
  • GROUP

The exact steps for responding to a review are slightly different depending on two factors: 

  1. Where the review came from – Depending on 
    the review source (indicated by the logo in 
    the source column) there are slightly different 
    ways to respond. Some review sites allow you 
    to respond directly from GuestRevu, others 
    require you to open the review on the platform it came from in a new tab and respond there. 

Tip: Reviews that haven’t been read by any users yet will have their Review Date and Display Name bolded to show that they are unopened. As soon as the reviews are viewed or clicked by any users in the account, they will be unbolded to show that they have been read.

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2. Which screen in your account you are viewing the review from – List View allows you to quickly respond to reviews without opening the details of each one, Quick View shows you the guest’s entire review, along with your options for how to respond, and Consolidated View shows you a combination of both.

 a. A blue arrow button indicates you will be responding from within your GuestRevu account, either via email directly to the guest or a management response that is posted directly to the review source
b.An orange arrow button shows you that you will be redirected to the review source in another tab
c. A red denied symbol means that the guest has asked not to be contacted by management and you will not have the option to respond to the guest or the review via GuestRevu
d. A grey arrow button means you aren’t able to respond to this review because of the review site's rules
e. A grey tick indicates that you have already written a management response to this review. Clicking the tick will show you the response.


3.

a. When you click an orange “respond at source” button, you will be redirected to the review source. You will need to login with your management login details and respond as you normally do on that review site.

b.When you click on a blue response button, the management response popup window will open with the guest’s review on the right, and your management response template in a text editor on the left.


Responding from the guest’s review

1.

    1. If viewing your reviews screen in list view, click the blue Actions button next to the review, then select Quick View from the dropdown, OR click on the guest’s name or email. The review will open in a popup window.
    2. If viewing your reviews screen in consolidated view, select the review you would like to respond to from the list on the left, and the review will appear on the right. 

Tip: List view is great if you want to see high-level information about lots of reviews at once without having to go into every review. Consolidated view is handy if you want to read all your reviews in full, as you can scroll through reviews using the next and previous buttons.

2. Once the review is open (whether as a popup over list view or as a pane in consolidated view), you will see all the data in GuestRevu for that guest and their review, separated into several tabs. You will also have a few actions available to you.  

The orange “respond” button will take you to the online review source in another tab. You will need to login with your management login details and respond as you normally do on that review site.

The grey “respond via email” button will open the management response popup window, with the guest’s review on the right, and your management response template in a text editor on the left. 

Note: if you are responding to a guest with a Booking.com email address (@guest.booking.com) please be aware that this email does expire between 60-90 days

The blue “respond at source” button will also open the management response popup window, allowing you to respond to an online review from within your GuestRevu account. These management responses are then posted directly to the review source.

Tip: Curious about the other buttons? Read about Service Tickets here, and publishing reviews here.

Editing and sending your management response

  1. In the management response popup window, edit your template as appropriate for that particular guest and review (here are a few tips for responding to reviews here – with real-life examples). 

  1. Once you’re happy with your management response: 
    1. If you’re responding to a guest’s GuestRevu survey feedback, click Send. Your management response will be sent via email directly to the guest from your GuestRevu email address. If the guest replies, this will be sent to your forwarding address. Find out more about what happens when you send and receive emails via GuestRevu here.

    2. If you're responding to an online review, click Publish. This will send the management response straight to the online review platform and it will be published there. 

Tip: don’t forget to also give your email an appropriate subject line

Viewing previously sent management responses

You can see any management response you have already sent from the Review Details or from the Communications screen

Review Details

Click the Communication tab, and all management responses for this guest will be visible here. 

Guest Communications Screen 

In the Communications screen, you can see management responses as well as other types of correspondence between you and your guests. Find out more about the Guest Communications screen here.

Responding to reviews from an Account Group 

Responding to reviews from Account Groups is done exactly as described above for individual accounts. The only difference is that once you have opened the review, you will also be able to see the name of the property the review was for.

Top Tip 

If you want to see how many reviews have been responded to at an individual property or Group level check out the Management Response Report here. Can’t respond to reviews and want to get this feature? Upgrade now!