I have had a number of Bad reviews on Tripadvisor, ‘I’ being the operative word as the critical reviews are more about me than about the properties, if anything the reviews praise the Cottages but have issues about my manner or the rules and regulations I use in the management of the Cottages. Any rule or regulation we have are for the benefit of the guests who have paid their money and chosen to have stayed with us. We see Tory Bush as more than mere accommodation for the night but a holiday experience, we even have people in their twenties now coming back to have their own children experience a place where they had a great child-hood holiday, when I see them bring their grandchildren then I know I will have been in this business too long!
I have no real issue with personal criticism, it hurts at the time of reading, but there is an expression that says, if amongst the people you meet, a third like you, a third dislike you, and the other third are indifferent then you are not doing too bad.
But what is upsetting is that these reviews are putting people off staying at the Cottages, particularly new visitors and visitors from out of the country. We have calculated, using Tourist Board figures that over the 16 years we have been in business we have brought £5.1 million into the local economy and at these difficult times we should all be doing as much as possible to support these primary enterprises that generate new cash for the country. Thankfully we have a high level of repeat business, probably the highest in our sector and that’s because most people appreciate the way the cottages operate.
It is noticeable that the bad reviews I have had are where I have challenged people on some issue and it would appear that they are using Tripadvisor as a means of retribution. I actually think that this is an issue for Tripadvisor, and there is a view in the leisure sector that Tripadvisor has been dis-credited as a consequence of malicious, retributive or just plain false reviews. I am not alone in this, none other than Duncan Bannatyne of Dragons Den fame and owner of four Hotels is considering legal action against Tripadvisor.
I am going to post on this blog the contents of the Critical Reviews and let others decide if their is validity in them. By using the ‘property right to reply’ box following each Tripadvisor review I hope to able to direct people from the reviews on
Tripadvisor to this blog, I don’t think Tripadvisor would let me give all the background that let up to each review.
