Reviews help customers make decisions on where to stay, what to do or what to buy.

You work hard at providing an excellent customer experience resulting in positive reviews on sites such as Tripadvisor, Facebook, Google, Yelp etc. But every now and then, you may get a negative review. Some are fair, and these provide you with an opportunity to improve aspects of your business. And some are unfair.

No matter what they are, you need to write a response. It provides you with an opportunity to explain what happened and apologise, and it shows your professionalism and that you care.

I have talked with many operators about their occasional bad review. It’s human nature to focus on these, even if the majority of your reviews are raving! 

So, my first piece of advice is: keep the negative reviews in perspective. How many good reviews do you have compared to the bad ones? Don’t take it too personal and don’t dwell on them.

OK, now you need to respond to that negative review. Here are 5 tips to help you do it.

1. Keep it short. Potential customers that read your reviews are likely to read the good ones and the bad ones to get a balanced view of your business. So, keep the response short as no one has time to read a really long response.
2. Apologise. Whether they are right or wrong, apologising to the customer is always appreciated. 
3. Keep it professional. Respond to each of the points and explain what happened. Don’t take on an emotional, accusative or aggressive tone (believe me, these responses are out there! Not a good look!) Be authentic and highlight the positive aspects of your business. 
4. Never offer a refund or other compensation in the online response. Unfortunately, some people make it a sport to complain and get refunds. (you can click on the person who wrote the review and read their other reviews – this can give you an indication). Get the writer of the bad review to contact you directly to discuss the matter further offline or contact them yourself if you still have their contact details.
5. Personalise the reply. Recently, I saw an operator who had a standard identical reply to similar complaints. Do change the text so it’s more personalised.

Final tip: Have a complaints procedure in place so it’s easy to respond. Ensure your staff is empowered to do this too to solve issues quickly and on the spot.

Instagram is a great way to promote your (tourism) business as it’s purely visual and everyone LOVES photos and videos! It takes a bit of thinking and researching to develop a theme that represents your brand, what you stand for and how you want to stand out! But if you're going to spend time on Instagram for your business, you might as well do it well!

A theme will reinforce your brand and help people recognise and remember you.
Like anything in business: planning is the key to achieve what you want. If you don’t know where you’re going, how are you going to get there?
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So, when it comes to Instagram themes and posts, the same applies. Plan your theme for results!
Here are 6 tips to help you develop a theme that people will want to follow!

1. Research and follow Instagram accounts that inspire and appeal to you. For example: https://www.instagram.com/muradosmann/?hl=en
2. Look at your own brand, your colour scheme, what you sell, what you stand for, the people you work with, your customers, etc.
3. Plan WHAT you’re going to post. Make a list of the types of photos you’d like to post to best represent your product and brand.
   If you’re already on Instagram, review your posts and check which ones get the most likes & comments.
4. Have your own ‘identity’ and theme  for your posts and stories (different from your competition). Keep in mind:
   1. Only post photos that are aligned with your business and target market
   2. Only use high quality photos with a creative angle
   3. Your imagery could focus on your brand colours
   4. Type of images: close ups, people, unique locations
   5. Use of filters, split screens etc.
5. Think about the messages you’d like to get across. You could use a graphic design programme like www.canva.com to design some great graphics for promotions or ads and for Instagram Stories. Don’t have too much writing on images as this puts people off.
6. Plan WHEN you’re going to post. Keep in mind: quality over quantity. Post every second day if you can.

 
So, spend a little time developing your Instagram theme that your customers will want to follow and share!
 
Final tip: put a live feed on your website! This will keep your content fresh and encourage people to follow you!

​Till next time, Marijke