On-Line Reviews and How to Complain To, and Compliment a Business

If you are like me, whenever I travel to a new destination I always use on-line reviews to help in determining where to stay and where to eat while we are there.  There are several sites we use, such as TripAdvisor.com and YELP.com, and UrbanSpoon.com.

For as many times as I use those resources, I find myself with many good intentions to write reviews of the places we go, but seldom do.  What about you?  Do you do the same?

At the Hawthorne Hotel we love hearing from our guests about their experience in our Hotel, and our Restaurants.  We especially love it when the "hearing" is through a glowing on-line review.  More importantly , we really do appreciate it when, if something goes wrong, that the guest will let us know (in person, by phone or even an email) as soon as possible so we can work hard to make their visit more pleasant RIGHT AWAY!

Yet, sometimes when I talk to people about this issue, they will say "Oh, we don't like to complain!"  Of course, you all know that many of those same people who won't complain to the business are the first people to go out and tell 11 of their best friends and closest relatives all about the not-so-good experience.

Or even worse, they will go home and write a horrible review in an on-line service, never having given the hotel or restaurant the opportunity to make things right.  And yes, I fully understand that things should be "right" from the beginning, each and every time we provide service to you, but the fact is that sometimes things just don't go right! 

Which is why I am writing this blogpost.  I am hoping that by letting you, fair blog/Facebook/Twitter reader know about this situation, you will be more forthcoming, both in writing reviews and in letting the hotel or restaurant you are patronizing know if something doesn't go just right, while they have the ability to do something about it.  If the business truly cares about you as a customer, they will be appreciative of the time you take to do either, and will be responsive.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and if you have been a guest of our hotel or restaurants, or even attended a banquet at our hotel, we would love to hear from you.  My email address is Juli@HawthorneHotel.com

I hope to hear from you!

Juli