How to get more genuine customer reviews: happy guests are just waiting to be asked
Sunday morning, a family checks out of a small beach resort, praising the room and the breakfast and promising to come back next year. Two weeks later, the only new review is two stars, about slow Wi-Fi.
Key points
- Unhappy customers often feel driven to write a review. Most happy customers don't write one unless someone asks.
- The best time to ask for a review is shortly after the customer has finished, while the experience is still fresh.
- A single link that opens the review form directly makes reviewing far easier than asking customers to search for your business.
- Google's policies don't allow fake reviews, offering discounts or gifts in exchange for reviews, or asking only satisfied customers for reviews.
- Reply politely to every review, including critical ones, because the next customer reads your replies too.
Nine o'clock on a Sunday morning at a small resort by the sea. A family is waiting to check out. Their seven-year-old runs over to hug the staff member who taught her to swim the day before. At the desk, the mother says, "The room was beautiful, breakfast was lovely, we'll definitely be back next year." Then they all get in the car and head back to Bangkok.
Two weeks later, the owner checks the resort's Google listing. There's one new review, from a different guest. Two stars. The Wi-Fi in the room was slow.
The family who couldn't stop praising the place that Sunday morning never wrote a word. Not because they weren't impressed, but because once they got home there were bags to unpack, washing to do and work on Monday, and the good feeling from that morning slowly faded. And nobody had asked them.
Happy customers don't leave reviews because nobody asked at the right moment
Unhappy customers have a reason to write. They want you to know and want to warn others, and some write before they've left the room. Happy customers don't feel that push. They enjoyed themselves and moved on.
So most businesses' reviews don't reflect all their customers. They reflect the ones with enough of a push. A place where nine out of ten guests leave happy can easily have a review page that looks worse than reality, if it never asks anyone.
The good news is you can fix this without faking anything. Most happy customers are glad to write a review if someone asks, at the right time, and makes it easy.
The best moment is while the feeling is fresh, not the following week
Businesses that ask often ask too late, with a thank-you email a week later, when guests no longer remember how good that breakfast was. Or too early, with a survey while someone's still dragging their suitcase.
For a hotel or resort, what works is mentioning it at check-out, a quick word that you'd really appreciate a review if they have a moment, then sending the link that same evening, when they've just got home and are still thinking about the trip. A restaurant can ask when the customer pays. A salon can ask while the customer is admiring their hair in the mirror. A garage can ask when it hands back the keys. Every business has its moment. Find yours and ask there.
Make leaving a review a single tap
Tell a guest "please leave us a review" and they have to open Google Maps, search for you and find the review button. Every step is a chance to give up.
In your Google Business Profile, there's a link for requesting reviews that you can copy and send to customers. Tapping it opens the review form for your business directly. Turn it into a QR code for the front desk, send it on LINE or put it in your thank-you message.
Ask for one place only. Don't send three links and make guests choose. On hotel booking sites, many only let guests who booked and stayed through that site leave a review, and they send the invitation themselves. So the place you can ask for directly is Google, which is also what people see when they search for somewhere to stay in your area. There's more on your Google listing in getting your business on Google Maps.
Ask the way one person talks to another, and ask every guest
A review request that works doesn't read like a form. It reads like a message from the person who looked after them for two nights. Use their name, ask about them first, then ask. Say it won't take long, and that they can write about what they liked and what you could do better.
What you mustn't do is send it only to guests who seemed happy, or ask first whether they were satisfied and then send the link only to those who said yes. Google's policies don't allow selectively asking satisfied customers for reviews. Ask everyone the same way. Your reviews will be a true picture of your place, and since most of your guests are happy anyway, the overall result takes care of itself.
Fake reviews, bought reviews and rewards for reviews are riskier than they look
When reviews look bad, someone always offers a shortcut: paid reviewers, relatives and staff chipping in, or a discount for guests who leave five stars. All of these go against Google's policies, which don't allow fake reviews, reviews from people with a stake in the business, or reviews obtained in exchange for discounts, gifts or services. Most other platforms have similar rules.
The result can be reviews removed or your listing restricted, which is worse than having few reviews. Customers are getting better at spotting it, too. Ten short five-star reviews that all appear in the same week make people suspicious rather than reassured.
You can still give guests gifts or discounts as usual, as long as they aren't tied to writing a review. Each platform's rules can change, so if you're planning any kind of campaign around reviews, read that platform's current policy first.
Reply to every review, including critical ones, because the next guest reads your replies
A two-star review about Wi-Fi isn't the end of the world. People choosing where to stay read how you respond almost as closely as the review itself. A reply like "Thank you for telling us. We've added more Wi-Fi access points in the seafront building" shows readers that you listen, and that the problem may already be gone.
Reply to the kind reviews too. A short reply is fine, as long as it mentions what the guest talked about. "So glad your daughter loved the pool" beats a "thank you" pasted under every review. If a review is false or breaks the rules, report it to Google through its review reporting options rather than arguing on the page.
Make asking for a review part of check-out
Asking for reviews works when it happens every time, not only on days someone remembers. Build it into your front desk's check-out routine, and have the message with the link go out that same evening to every guest.
Do the maths for an imaginary resort with 20 rooms checking out each week. Ask every one of them, and suppose just 1 in 5 actually writes a review.
20 rooms × 1 in 5 = 4 reviews a week, or around 16 a month
A steady flow of fresh reviews like that tells people choosing where to stay that you're still good right now. For the bigger picture of how reviews help local businesses get chosen, see finding customers online as a local business.
If you'd like your guest list in one place, so you can thank people at the right moment, woowey builds websites and systems for hotels and resorts for a monthly fee. Tell us what kind of place you run, and we'll handle the rest.
Next year, the same family might really come back, just as the mother said. This time at check-out, the staff will smile and say they'll send a link that evening. And somewhere on the drive back to Bangkok, the daughter might be the one tapping out that the pool was the best part.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get more genuine customer reviews?
Ask every customer shortly after they've finished, while the experience is fresh, and send a single link that opens the review form directly. Keep the message friendly and use their name.
Can I offer a discount in exchange for a review?
You shouldn't. Google's policies don't allow reviews obtained in exchange for discounts, gifts or services, and most other platforms have similar rules. Reviews can be removed or your listing restricted.
Where do I get a Google review link?
Your Google Business Profile has a link for requesting reviews that you can copy and send to customers. It opens your review form directly, and you can turn it into a QR code or send it on LINE.
How should I reply to a negative review?
Reply politely, thank them for the feedback and say what you've fixed or are fixing. If a review is false or breaks the rules, report it through the platform instead of arguing.
The woowey team
We build websites and systems for businesses
We build websites, booking systems, online stores and back offices for Thai businesses, then look after them every month. What we write here comes from what we see working with real shops.
Want this for your business? Tell us
Type what you need. The woowey team builds your website and systems, then looks after them every month.
Keep reading
Getting customersFinding customers online as a local business: you have 30 seconds on their phone
Seven on a Friday evening, someone in a car park scrolls through three restaurants and picks one in under a minute. The better place two streets away didn't lose on the food. It lost on the phone screen.
Getting customersGetting your business on Google Maps: when a car breaks down, the honest listing wins
Sunday evening, the engine light comes on mid-traffic. The driver pulls over and types "garage near me". The garage that gets the job isn't the best or the closest. It's the one whose Google Maps listing tells the truth.
Getting customersHow to get ChatGPT and other AI to recommend your business: it can only tell what it knows
The night before a concert, someone asks an AI which salon nearby can do event hair on Saturday afternoon. It names three. The best salon in the area isn't one of them, because the AI has no idea what that salon does.