The industry believes that you should always apologize for all complaints without exception.

If the Ritz-Carlton got a review for a having sagging mattresses, not being cleaned for weeks, and having pimps and prostitutes in the hallways, should they apologize for the complaint?  What if down the street is the Ritzy Hotel that sounds exactly as such?

When do hoteliers outright say “you, the guest who is reviewing, is mistaken.”

We just had a really horrible review on our hotel: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g35805-d304277-Reviews-Carlton_Inn_Midway-Chicago_Illinois.html

And, knowing my hotel and knowing a like named hotel down the street, I know that the review isn’t of our hotel.  Yet, TripAdvisor won’t investigate it, the reviewer won’t answer my messages, and we are stuck with our ranking falling from 27 to 57 out of Chicago’s 166 hotels.

What should we hoteliers do when the public can leave feedback on our hotel without the safety of proven hotel reservations?  Human error happens, but should we call it as such, or simply apologize.  My team chose to apologize for something that I believe never happened on our property, and it sits wrong with me.

What would you do?

These are all the very big errands and human mistakes, because the public are always allowed to point out the problems and make their comments in the guests books. It is solely depends upon the public whether they do like or dis-like a hotel and its food and customer servicing including its all departments as well.

This could cause a great and adverse affect on the hotel performance if the name of any hotel is come under such bad stuffs for sure. One should do all the apologies and do all the endeavors to re-establish its previous reputation and goodwill under the public as well.

Would it be possible for you to simply send a private message to the hotel, questioning the review?

Chicago hotelier,
I think you can certainly comment that you believe the review was meant for the other hotel. Be specific such as “our Hotel has a similar name to the one we believe you stayed out. Please take a look at our photos and confirm that we are not the establishment where you had the unfortunate stay.”

But the best thing you can do is to keep encouraging more reviews from your guests. It is a bit of a numbers game.

Is it possible to send a message to the person who wrote a review and tell them to withdraw their review as it is erroneous and misleading?