5 ways to generate more guest reviews for your holiday rental

5 ways to generate more guest reviews for your vacation rental

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Our research shows that when it comes to picking a property, travelers rely on previous reviews. Let’s get your guests singing your praises and secure more bookings for your vacation rental.

Positive reviews prove to be invaluable for business. For travelers searching for accommodations, reviews act as an independent source of information. They offer an insight into past guest experiences and showcase your property’s best features. Plus, our research* shows that reviews are a key deciding factor with the power to turn lookers into bookers. But how do you get your guests to leave one?

1. Build a personal connection

Make the time to chat with your guests and get to a first-name basis. Whether with a face-to-face check-in or by being super helpful and responsive, we regularly see that hosts who make the effort are celebrated in guests’ positive reviews.

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2. Reply to reviews

Responding to guests is also seen as important. In our Travel Trends 2023 survey, over a third (35%) of respondents said they look at the property’s replies to reviews.

If travelers can see how engaged you are with your previous guests’ reviews, it won’t just reassure them that you’re the right choice, but will also give them more reason to leave their own review – knowing you have an active interest in guest feedback.

3. Give them a stand-out stay

People are most compelled to leave reviews when their experience is one of the extremes – great or really bad. To give travelers extraordinary stays time after time, discover what they say hosts can do to make their stays special in this article.

4. Ask in a welcome pack 

Your welcome pack is the perfect place to leave a friendly message asking for a review. Explain how much you’d value their feedback and use this as another opportunity to establish a connection with your guests. 

Don’t currently have a welcome pack? Consider creating one. It doesn’t need to be super comprehensive – just a brief booklet that explains your house rules and offers a few tips on local restaurants and activities. Sharing that knowledge is likely to boost your review rating too. 

5. Send a personal message after check-out

For your best chance of getting a review from guests, catch them at check-out or send a message an hour or so after to wish them a safe journey home and invite feedback. Better still, include a link to your listing to make the review request as effortless as possible. 

For Booking.com partners, it’s easy. While we send review invitation emails to guests about 48 hours after check-out, you can also use our messaging tools on the Extranet to send a personal thank you message and ask for a review directly. 

Keep your existing reviews 

With reviews being so valuable and hard-earned, we’ve made it simple to keep your reviews from other travel sites. These review scores are converted and displayed on your property page so you’re set up for success and can attract your first Booking.com guests faster. They’ll stay in your listing until you have new Booking.com reviews to take their place. 


*Research was commissioned by Booking.com and independently conducted among a sample of adults who’d taken a trip in the last 12 months and planned to take a leisure trip in 2023. The sample comprised 42,513 respondents from 33 markets Respondents completed an online survey between January and February 2023. 
 
 

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Takeaway
  • Besides price and location, reviews from other travelers is the top piece of info people look for when choosing where to stay
  • Responsiveness is a key theme we see in positive Booking.com reviews. Guests really appreciate knowing their host has an active interest in guest feedback
  • To maximize your chances of getting a review from guests, it’s important to find the right window of opportunity to request feedback. Ask while their experience with you is still fresh in their minds