Traveler reviews play a key role in the success of any vacation rental business. In this article, with our Revyoos integration, we share with you the top 5 mistakes to avoid with your reviews for more confidence!
Top 5 mistakes to avoid with your guest reviews
Having online reviews is essential, and using them well can boost your business. Discover 5 classic mistakes collected by our partner Revyoos, the traveler reviews aggregator for your vacation rental.
Only publish good reviews
Too good to be true? Indeed, one of the most common mistakes in managing traveler reviews is to only publish the good ones. While it’s tempting to highlight positive reviews to attract more bookings, this can be counterproductive in the long run. Indeed, publishing only positive reviews can create mistrust on the part of travelers and lack authenticity.
In travelers’ behavior, they will often look at the best reviews and the negative ones, which can give them an idea of the worst-case scenario they could experience.
Not asking your guests their reviews
In the case of direct bookings, it’s up to you to encourage guests to leave a review on your Google My Business page, for example.
In your thank-you message, you can invite guests to share their experience on your page to inspire future travelers, but also ask them what point(s) can be improved. This way, you can always offer a better travel experience.
Don’t respond to every review
In our guide we’ve shared examples of how to respond to negative reviews, and suggested how to respond in a professional and respectful manner.
It’s important to respond to both negative and positive reviews. Both are important and will show that you’re paying attention to your travelers’ feedback and the traveler experience.
To add value to your review, remember to personalize each response. We sometimes see nice messages, but they’re all copy/paste. It’s a pity, because even if the intention is there, the automatic aspect could put off some travelers.
Taking feedback into account
It’s important to consider all feedback, whether positive or negative. Guests who take the time to leave a good or a bad review usually have useful suggestions or remarks. Don’t ignore them, as this can give the impression that you don’t care about your travelers’ experience.
If a guest reports a problem or makes a suggestion for improvement, take the time to respond and take steps to resolve the situation. Not only does this show your commitment to your customers, but it can also help improve the quality of your vacation rental and the stay of your future guests.
Don’t use third-party reviews
According to brightlocal, 70% of consumers consult several review sites before choosing a business. Although this figure is not specific to vacation rentals, the study reveals a behavior adopted by many Internet users.
Indeed, cross-referencing information on different sites enables guests to form a true opinion, and above all to see if your reviews are similar from one platform to another. This inspires confidence in future travelers and encourages the booking process.
How do you get started on a new short-term rental platform?
Starting out on a new platform can sometimes be scary, because your vacation rental doesn’t yet benefit from any notoriety. To deal with this, booking portals like VRBO Fast Start and Booking.com are launching solutions for owners. These initiatives enable owners and managers of short-term rentals to showcase their external reviews in order to inspire confidence in future tenants.
Don’t use rich snippets
If you also have a direct booking site to promote your vacation rental, then you can take advantage of rich snippets to display traveler reviews on your site.
Rich snippets are code snippets that you can integrate into your site to display traveler ratings and reviews directly in Google search results associated with your website’s url.
Travelers can then consult the reviews directly from the search results page, which may encourage them to click on your site rather than that of a competitor.
What’s more, rich snippets also enable star ratings to be displayed in search results, which can significantly improve your site’s visibility and generate more trust among travelers.
Don’t position your vacation rental brand and reviews in the url
To capitalize on the traveler reviews you’ve collected so far and boost awareness of your short-term rental brand, it’s important to highlight them in your URL by following the template: www.yourvacationrental.com/reviews
This will make it easier for travelers interested in your services to find them when they search online, and for Google to index your review page so that it stands out in potential search results.
Revyoos, traveler reviews aggregator for vacation rentals
Revyoos was created by vacation rental owners to help other owners and managers regain control of their traveler reviews and make the most of them.
With the Revyoos platform, you can :
- Increase your direct bookings by publishing on your own website your reviews collected on your various points of contact with Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo etc. and boost your trust capital.
- Automatically generate personalized responses with ChatGPT.
- Keep a backup copy and analyze all your reviews thanks to the tool’s dashboard. The Revyoos widget integrated with Smoobu.
Discover below a few websites created on Smoobu or with the Smoobu’s booking system that integrate the Revyoos traveler review widget:
Take the opportunity to test Revyoos free of charge for 14 days, with no obligation, and use the promo code SMOOBU3M to get 3 months’ free use of Revyoos.
In a nutshell:
Guest reviews are a crucial element in a vacation rental business and in your e-reputation. By taking advantage of the points mentioned in this article, you can optimize your rental activity and boost trust with your target audience.
Improve your traveler experience by using the Smoobu vacation rental software. Take advantage of a free 14-day trial !
