You work extremely hard to get reviews. If you're like most users, you ask your guests to post reviews after every booking but only a small fraction do. It can take a decade to build a good list of reviews, and the more you have them the stronger your reputation (and easier your marketing) gets. But how do you hang onto them and use them effectively?
It is extremely important that you collect and store reviews in a third party software system (like OwnerRez!) so that you can retain ownership of them forever and use those reviews in other places. The same is true of guest contact data, financial records and many other things, but we're focusing on reviews in this article.
OwnerRez has the ability to collect (both manual entry and bulk import), store and host the reviews that your guests leave, no matter where the review was originally posted. Additionally, refer to the Import Reviews section of the Setup Checklist.
Often, we talk to users who act as though their reviews on Vrbo and Airbnb will last forever. They spend a lot of time directing guests to leave reviews in those places - which is a good practice - but then they consider that the end of the line. The mentality goes - as long as reviews are good on the listing sites, your marketing is all set. But that's short-sighted. You should never assume that your reviews are safe with a listing site because:
- You may stop advertising with the listing site which means your listings (and the associated reviews) will be taken down
- Listing sites go out of business - who do you contact to get your reviews?
- Your listing may need to be combined with a different account (merging businesses?) and the listing site may remove all your reviews in the process.
- The Power of Owning Your Reviews
- Where to get started?
- Navigating Your Reviews
- Listing Channel Reviews
The Power of Owning Your Reviews
When you store your reviews in OwnerRez, you can then search them, export the raw data (Excel, CSV, etc) or host them on your personal website. That last part is especially important. If you've already spent years building good reviews on listing sites, you don't want to start over with your own website. Instead, use our Reviews widget to show the reviews you've already gotten.
We make it simple to enter review data manually or import it in bulk from listing sites. Our review engine is flexible with any type of review you receive and can store it, no matter the specifics (e.g., the number of stars in the rating, whether the listing site allows an owner response, etc.).
Where to get started?
First, start entering your review data right away by manually entering them or importing them in bulk via Excel.
Second, put a reviews widget up on your website so that you can start showing everyone the good reputation you've built.
Navigating Your Reviews
Users can view all reviews and respond to them by navigating to Quality Center > Reviews > Guest Reviews, or by clicking the Reviews link in the left menu. On the OwnerRez Reviews grid, users can clearly see which reviews are eligible for Channel distribution in the Distribution column.
OwnerRez users can respond to a Hosted Website guest review by navigating to the individual Booking > Reviews.
Listing Channel Reviews
Opt-in
Eligible direct-booking reviews will automatically sync to other participating first-class listing channels (currently HomeToGo, Houfy, and FloridaRentals) without doing a thing! No action is required in OwnerRez to enable this feature for most channels. Please note: this is available for Vrbo also, but you must opt in on the Vrbo channel integration settings page to do so. Also, please note, this is not available for Airbnb channel integration connections.
On each review detail, you can see more specifics around this.
Of course, we have to add the disclaimer that all reviews remain subject to each specific listing channel's policies and the level of development that they have done on their side/site. For specific questions or problems with synchronizing reviews across partners, we recommend contacting the partner directly.
Notifications
Vrbo and Airbnb reviews boost credibility, attract more bookings, improve search rankings, and provide valuable feedback to enhance guest experiences and drive repeat business.
The Review Submitted Via Channel Notification alerts you when a guest on your Airbnb or Vrbo channel leaves a review of their stay.
Notice that the Email Notification is automatically enabled for all users, while the Push Notification is set to Off by default. You can enable the Push Notification for Review Submitted Via Channel by navigating to your Profile menu > Notifications > Review Notifications > and toggling the Review Submitted Via Channel Push Notification to On.
Here's an example of the Review Submitted Via Channel Notification sent by OwnerRez to users.