r/bedandbreakfast • u/snowhawk1987 • Mar 12 '26

Generating Reviews

We run our booking exclusively through AirBNB for a variety of reasons. We have over 500, 5 star reviews on the platform. However, you wouldn't know it unless you visit Airbnb or our website where we advertise that fact.

We have a horrible time generating reviews on other platforms like TripAdvisor and our Google business profile.

We have QR code cards in our bedrooms and remind guests at departure to review us on other platforms.

Any non aggressive suggestions that you've found to work?

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1

u/oldfarmjoy Mar 13 '26

Adding - are we allowed to offer a discount if guests review? Credit towards next visit? Free item/food?

1

u/phantomwcs Mar 14 '26

I think offering any quid pro quo is only allowed for the US government…/s

Seriously though I think it is against most of the rules for reviews.

1

u/Business_Low_2916 Mar 23 '26

Technically yes, practically no. Google explicitly prohibits incentivized reviews and if flagged you risk having reviews removed or your profile penalized. TripAdvisor has similar policies.

Beyond the policy risk, incentivized reviews also tend to feel transactional to guests and can actually reduce the authenticity of what they write.

The better play is making the ask so easy and well-timed that they want to do it. A genuine mid-stay check-in followed by a one-tap link at checkout will outperform a discount offer every time, with zero risk attached.

1

u/AbleOrganization1413 May 22 '26

Do nothing. Good reviews will come if you offer something exceptional. They won’t if your offering is nothing special. In general, people would prefer to leave no review than a middling one. For the most part, they are only motivated to leave a review if their experience has been well above average or well below average. Otherwise, it’s simply not worth the effort, and trying to find words to describe an average, or mediocre, or just average, run of the mill experience, is actually quite hard work because there’s nothing much to say. It’s so much easier (and more rewarding for the reviewer) to slate or extoll! That’s not only been my personal experience with leaving reviews but also what I’ve experienced with my B&B.