Dealing with negative reviews
There’s a huge sensitivity these days around negative reviews. It’s seems perfectly acceptable to rant and rave on Tripadvisor when you’ve had a bad experience, but tell it as it is in an article or a social media post, and you’re a pariah on society for speaking your mind.
The hospitality industry has gone through a particularly tough time in the last couple of years. But, six months after lockdown ended, is it an excuse to be presenting a poor experience to customers? It’s so easy to hide behind excuses. We all do it, whether you’re a business or an individual. No-one likes criticism, and no-one likes to be called out publicly when something has gone wrong. It can be embarrassing and humiliating.
But when your whole business purpose is to provide a service or experience for the paying public then shouldn’t you sometimes expect to have to deal with people who might not have had the experience intended? After all, they are paying you to deliver something good. No-one goes to a hotel to stay in a dirty hotel room. No-one goes to a spa to find the swimming pool cold or half the place not open. The same goes for restaurants. The whole purpose for the customer is to have a good meal.
And when that doesn’t happen, the customer is entitled to tell you about their issues. Whether the food is cold, or they’ve not been served the correct meal, or they feel disappointed by something, wouldn’t you want to know? Society has taught customers that it’s okay to leave negative reviews online.
By hearing about peoples’ experiences there’s an opportunity to learn and improve. Not every negative review on Tripadvisor is meant as a personal affront. People use this platform to have their say often because the establishment itself failed to listen to them when they tried to address the issues in person.
And herein lies the biggest issue. When a customer tries to address the issue, the server, manager or owner takes it personally. As if you’re making a personal attack on them. This is where so many establishments get it wrong. There’s a way to deal with feedback and the hospitality industry seems particularly bad about it.
How to respond to negative reviews
Someone once said to me – about 15 years ago now – ‘Feedback is a gift’. And it’s exactly that. What if no-one ever said anything about their experience, paid their bill and left silently, never to be seen again? How would you know what you’re doing right or wrong? Feedback is an opportunity for an individual or a business to develop and grow. Yes, feedback should be delivered constructively, but if you do not know how to accept that feedback then people are naturally going to use the nearest platform to express their opinion. In today’s world, that’s social media and the internet. And we just have to deal with it.
You love your business. Especially if you’re the owner/manager. You live and breathe it. When someone has a bad experience it hurts to hear about it.
But being a business owner means taking to good with the bad. And sorry, you just need to deal with it. Nothing is perfect all of the time. You have bad days, you might be short-staffed, you might be struggling to pick yourself and dust yourself off after Covid. But the paying customer doesn’t care about this. It’s not their problem. It’s yours and you have to deal with it. The customer has come for a good experience and that’s it. Listen to your customers when something’s not right. Take it on board and do what you can to make it better for the next customer. It’s not about giving away a free night, a free visit or a free meal. It’s about making the customer feel they have been listened to and that you’re going to learn from their particular experience. Most of the time it’s simply enough to listen and acknowledge. What you do after that is your prerogative.
But whatever you do, be mindful of your response. Your reputation is on the line and there’s no point in threatening, angry behaviour that is potentially going to fuel the fire and further damage your reputation. Just because you have two AA Rosettes, an award-winning chef or appear in the Michelin Guide, makes no difference if the customer has had a poor experience. Disregarding the customer or telling them that they are wrong is conceited.
