Hotel fines $500 for each negative internet review

That is what I woud call "a lot of damn gall"

Seb

When will companies like these ever learn? I mean what did they think would happen? That people would just pay the fine and NOT cause a stink over it? Because that's never, ever, what happens in situations like this, and by now I thought everyone knew that... Wow!

I wonder if they're just that stupid or if they're just that smart and have outsmarted everyone and that this was just a way to get their name out there. No publicity is bad publicity..

well thats bad. but this gave them publicity so it helped either way

Fines? That is better then what some places are doing. Just do a Google search for "negative yelp review lawsuit". Many aren't even making the news because individuals are receiving letters from lawyers threatening them to take the review down or be forced into court.

And here Google is pushing for customer reviews / citations to help drive local search results on platforms such as "Google My Business".

And of course companies themselves are listing on directories like "YELP" & "Google My Business" in the hope of getting positive reviews. If you open yourself up to reviews, you have to learn to take the good with the bad.

Same goes for having Social Media Pages. Learn how to deal with bad reviews, or better yet... Try to prevent them from happening by improving your service offering (Unfortunately there are customers out there that just luv complaining).

It's totally crazy but apparently a lot of businesses are putting a little note in their contract or terms saying that you can't speak negatively about the company or you will be held liable! It's outrageous really.

Things like this drive me crazy -- when you allow for reviews (which is honestly something I think most businesses SHOULD do) you need to be ready for good and bad reviews.

For bad reviews you need to publicly address them and try to make the problem right. There are so many things out there on how to address bad reviews... not many of them ever suggest to simply ignore them. A negative review is simply an opportunity to make your business better. Yes, there will definitely be reviews that you do not deserve, are exaggerated, or even completely made up.

You balance these bad reviews by asking your loyal customers or people whom have had a great experience to give you a positive review. Much fewer people are likely to rave online about how awesome an experience is, but if you ask them to, they are much more likely. And if you make it easy for them, by allowing them to do it while they are still there, emailing a link to do so, or something of similar assistance to them you have a much better possibility to actually receive that positive review.

In business a 100% , A++ rating seems ridiculous. No one is perfect, including the best businesses out there. A negative review, with a positive response from the business shows that the people running it are human, care about their customers and their business.

Embrace the good and the bad and use both to make yourself and your business better.

I manage a hotel. I could see some hotels in certain areas/environs having this policy as a deterrent.
People in wedding groups can get drunk, irresponsible and unreasonable. And not all of them are actually staying at the hotel - visiting the wedding party. Another hotelier in my area is seriously considering saying no to wedding groups for this reason.

In our market, there are not many weddings and given that they are usually during prime summer season, they can actually mean less revenue than normal business. And more damage and complaints from the non-wedding guests.

You all have covered most points rather well. I would just add that responding to reviews is important for a couple of reasons.

It shows potential customers more about the personality of the business. I respond to almost all reviews - good or bad. Many customers tell me they picked my hotel just because I respond.

Also, responding to reviews gives the manager or owner the chance to shoot down the negative review, or at least tell their side of the story. In all the negative reviews we receive, there is a lot of hyperbole and a lot omitted. Just as there are no guilty people in prison.

The other things that responding to reviews does is give the owner or manager a chance to get their USP/market message out and explain their policies and why. My hotel is an older building constructed of wood with a wood walkway on the second floor and many reviews complain about noisy neighbors. In my replies, I explain that we do confidentially and discretely handle noisy guests 24 hours a day... Knowing how the building is built gives future guests, who are light sleepers, the heads up to stay elsewhere or bring earplugs or fans or white noise machines....

I cannot imagine outsourcing review responses as I don't think an outsider would respond with the facts and nuances I have.

Dan

You can look at things from another perspective : Only no news is bad news! And bad news...well...it puts you in the news! Everyone talks about you. The percentage of people who will remember why they remember you will be minimal. Point is, they remember your name. That, my friends, is "brandname awareness".

Great marketing tactic!

I think it's a terrible marketing tactic. It's a myth that even bad publicity is good. Bad publicity has caused tons of businesses to go under.

I would never stay in a hotel that would punish me for having a negative experience. How is this enforceable, by the way?

Talk about bad customer service. I've never trusted hotels that only have 4 and 5 star reviews and I know a lot of other people feel that way, too, so they're just shooting themselves in the foot.

What do you want to bet this hotel won't have the same management this time next year?