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Choosing a hotel or restaurant can be difficult sometimes, we all want a pleasant, interesting and comfortable experience. Sites like TripAdvisor and Yelp have become essential to consumers while browsing for the best match, so much so, that a single bad review can make all the difference to their eventual decision. (Facebook cover image: Jamie J. Hagen)
Image credits: The Roxbury
Is this fair to businesses? Not really, especially when some reviews can come from petty revenge, spite, or just plain trolling. While it’s true, online reviews have made businesses raise their games to keep their customers happy, people’s reputations, their lives even, can be ruined by a single malicious rating based on spurious grounds.
Take this review of The Roxbury for example. The hotel resort, located in upstate New York, is famous for its outrageously cool and creative room designs, wowing guests with a selection of unique and whimsically-themed lodgings to choose from. The Tripadvisor ratings are overwhelmingly positive, which 650 five-star reviews compared to just a single one-star critique.
Helpfully, the one-star review has a thorough and well-written response by the owners of The Roxbury, giving their own perspective on this particular experience. The thinly-veiled suggestions of racism could’ve proven incredibly damaging to the owners personally and professionally, however, it becomes clear that the ‘skin color’ references were well off the mark – there was much more to it than blind prejudice.
The response sheds an entirely different light on the incident and is a fine example of how to deal with an unjustified bad review. What do you think? Do you place a great deal of trust in customer reviews of things like hotels and restaurants? Was this the correct way to respond? Let us know your opinion in the comments!
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Here are some reactions to the well-written response
What do you think ?
Pamela24 5 years ago
It's kind of terrifying how many people have a huge problem with being told "No". In everyday situations. No wonder so many people become victims of rape. Hats off to the owner if I were ever near I'd consider going to this hotel just based on this response.
Aunt Messy 5 years ago
It happens all the time. Ever lived in an apartment building? There’s always a group of jerks (and I include the grannies) who think that they’re the center of the universe and get extremely aggressive when they find out they aren’t. ...///... I’m guessing the hotel had to comp several rooms because these idiots destroyed people’s stay as well.
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Christine Blackburne-Kowal 5 years ago
I've stayed at the Roxbury multiple times, including on my wedding night. It's a super fun place and the owners are so nice! One of them came by the room personally with a bottle of champagne for us! People come here for for a quiet weekend upstate, usually escaping NYC. No one wants that kind of noise. The rooms are works of art! One of the owners did stage design for Broadway and they've put that level of detail into each room. It's worth a visit!
Lauren Caswell 5 years ago
It's nice to hear from someone who stayed at this place :) your reaction gels so well with the managers it is clear to see this group was way out of line. Roxbury is on my bucket list for when I finally make a trip to usa
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Pamela24 5 years ago
It's kind of terrifying how many people have a huge problem with being told "No". In everyday situations. No wonder so many people become victims of rape. Hats off to the owner if I were ever near I'd consider going to this hotel just based on this response.
Aunt Messy 5 years ago
It happens all the time. Ever lived in an apartment building? There’s always a group of jerks (and I include the grannies) who think that they’re the center of the universe and get extremely aggressive when they find out they aren’t. ...///... I’m guessing the hotel had to comp several rooms because these idiots destroyed people’s stay as well.
Load More Replies... Christine Blackburne-Kowal 5 years ago
I've stayed at the Roxbury multiple times, including on my wedding night. It's a super fun place and the owners are so nice! One of them came by the room personally with a bottle of champagne for us! People come here for for a quiet weekend upstate, usually escaping NYC. No one wants that kind of noise. The rooms are works of art! One of the owners did stage design for Broadway and they've put that level of detail into each room. It's worth a visit!
Lauren Caswell 5 years ago
It's nice to hear from someone who stayed at this place :) your reaction gels so well with the managers it is clear to see this group was way out of line. Roxbury is on my bucket list for when I finally make a trip to usa
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