You pour your life and soul into your tour company, providing exciting tours to the city’s top attractions on a daily basis. You believe that your tours are informative and fun, and you strive to be an efficient and friendly company to deal with. So it’s hard not to take it personally when someone leaves negative feedback on TripAdvisor. Not only is it a tough blow to the ego, it also can be very damaging to your business reputation in the industry. Customers know the power of social media, so they are quick to take to the review sites when they feel something has not gone their way.

Here’s the best way to deal with negative feedback on TripAdvisor:

Give yourself time to cool down after reading the review.

It’s only natural to want to respond immediately and defend yourself, your staff and your business as a whole. However, you don’t want to say something you might regret — because your words won’t disappear once they have been published online. Instead, take a deep breath, and let cooler heads prevail before you craft your response.

Consider the situation from the customer’s perspective.

Take time to understand what might have triggered the response, and see if you can remember the incident that they are describing on the review. If the review provides an accurate account of a poor experience, take note and make improvements to your business for the future.

Draft a response to the review, but always be sure that it is kind, considerate and respectful.

Lashing out with anger and frustration will make your business appear unprofessional, and could discourage future customers from booking with you. Remember that your response will be looked at by potential customers, who will be evaluating your customer service skills as they read the response on TripAdvisor. Thank the customer for their feedback, apologize if necessary, and explain the situation from your company’s perspective. You may want to ask the customer to reach out to you so that you can personally make the situation right.

Once you have read over your response and even reviewed it with your team, publish it to the site.

It is critical that you respond to negative feedback in a timely fashion, as the customer as well as other site users will be looking for it. Strive to reply within 24 hours, if it all possible. It may be tempting to ignore negative feedback, but you should always give the customer the consideration of a response.

Put it in perspective

Remember that one review will not define your entire business, and most people are apt to review when they have an extreme reaction.

The majority of your customers will love the experience on your tours, and will be ready to recommend your company to their family members and friends. When negative feedback arrives, respond appropriately, learn from it, and move forward. For more tips and advice for managing your company’s social media accounts, download our social media ebook today.



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