The Union Street Guest House in Hudson, New York, established this policy to deal with negative online reviews. "There will be a $500 fine that will be deducted from (a wedding party’s) deposit for every negative review of USGH placed on any Internet site by anyone in the party and/or attending the wedding or event."
The New York Post ran a story on this policy. As a result, hundreds of people went to Yelp.com, complained about the policy, and wrote fake, nasty reviews of Union Street Guest House. At one point over seven hundred negative reviews had been posted. Most of these were removed since they did not originate from first-hand experience.
On the Guest House Web site, management maintained that guests who stay with them often don’t appreciate a historic building such as theirs. "Please know that despite the fact that wedding couples love Hudson and our inn, your friends and families may not. This is due to the fact that your guests may not understand what we offer. Therefore we expect you to explain that to them. USGH & Hudson are historic. The buildings here are old (but restored).
"Our bathrooms and kitchens are designed to look old in an artistic 'vintage' way. Our furniture is mostly hip, period furniture that you would see in many design magazines. (although comfortable and functional -- obviously all beds are brand new.) If your guests are looking for a Marriott-type hotel they may not like it here."
After the negative backlash, the Guest House posted this explanation on its Facebook page. “The policy regarding wedding fines was put on our site as a tongue-in-cheek response to a wedding many years ago. It was meant to be taken down long ago and certainly was never enforced.”
However, one Yelp complainer revealed that after his complaint the prior year the inn’s management had twice threatened him. He offered this excerpt from the inn‘s e-mail “Please note that your recent online review of our inn will cost the wedding party that left us a deposit $500. This money will be charged via the deposit they have left us unless/until it is removed. Any other or future reviews will also be charged to the wedding party (bride & groom) from the guarantee they have provided us."
Another guest posted that the owner was incredibly rude and dismissive when she asked for some ice. She felt the Hudson area was lovely with great shopping, but she would not stay at the Union Street Guest House again. The owner responded, “I know you guys wanted to hang out and get drunk for two days, and that is fine.” He explained that his ice machine has been out of service when she requested the ice, but he invited her back for ice because the machine had been fixed. He ended his reply with LOL.
The Post’s story was picked up by several other media and has been widely circulated online, in print, and on TV and radio.
Not surprisingly, the Union Street Guest House has sunk to a one rating.
While this sounds unbelievable, it is a true story. When I first heard it, I could not believe it. I looked it up and read more about it. Even as I write this to you, I am torn between chuckling at the absurdity and being shocked by the rudeness of the details. I don’t know if the owner is burned out with overwork. Perhaps negative customers have started to irritate him a great deal, and each additional negative comment adds to his irritation. He may have become very focused on negative comments and subsequently only hear the bad.
Whatever the cause, the owner is certainly not a good person to deal with customers. We never solve a complaint with negativity. Sometimes we cannot fix a situation, but we always can explain it factually in a friendly tone and language. Allowing negative customers to bother us does not serve our businesses or our mental health. Worrying about what people say about our businesses online can drive us nuts.
If you encounter this situation, do not respond to these complaints with negativity. If you do, negativity will bounce back at your business several fold, as happened to Union Street Guest House. Instead, focus on serving your customers well. If you are doing that, good word of mouth and good reviews will overshadow the bad all on their own.
This week's marketing trivia challenge is How have you seen negative customer comments handled? E-mail your answer.
The New York Post ran a story on this policy. As a result, hundreds of people went to Yelp.com, complained about the policy, and wrote fake, nasty reviews of Union Street Guest House. At one point over seven hundred negative reviews had been posted. Most of these were removed since they did not originate from first-hand experience.
On the Guest House Web site, management maintained that guests who stay with them often don’t appreciate a historic building such as theirs. "Please know that despite the fact that wedding couples love Hudson and our inn, your friends and families may not. This is due to the fact that your guests may not understand what we offer. Therefore we expect you to explain that to them. USGH & Hudson are historic. The buildings here are old (but restored).
"Our bathrooms and kitchens are designed to look old in an artistic 'vintage' way. Our furniture is mostly hip, period furniture that you would see in many design magazines. (although comfortable and functional -- obviously all beds are brand new.) If your guests are looking for a Marriott-type hotel they may not like it here."
After the negative backlash, the Guest House posted this explanation on its Facebook page. “The policy regarding wedding fines was put on our site as a tongue-in-cheek response to a wedding many years ago. It was meant to be taken down long ago and certainly was never enforced.”
However, one Yelp complainer revealed that after his complaint the prior year the inn’s management had twice threatened him. He offered this excerpt from the inn‘s e-mail “Please note that your recent online review of our inn will cost the wedding party that left us a deposit $500. This money will be charged via the deposit they have left us unless/until it is removed. Any other or future reviews will also be charged to the wedding party (bride & groom) from the guarantee they have provided us."
Another guest posted that the owner was incredibly rude and dismissive when she asked for some ice. She felt the Hudson area was lovely with great shopping, but she would not stay at the Union Street Guest House again. The owner responded, “I know you guys wanted to hang out and get drunk for two days, and that is fine.” He explained that his ice machine has been out of service when she requested the ice, but he invited her back for ice because the machine had been fixed. He ended his reply with LOL.
The Post’s story was picked up by several other media and has been widely circulated online, in print, and on TV and radio.
Not surprisingly, the Union Street Guest House has sunk to a one rating.
While this sounds unbelievable, it is a true story. When I first heard it, I could not believe it. I looked it up and read more about it. Even as I write this to you, I am torn between chuckling at the absurdity and being shocked by the rudeness of the details. I don’t know if the owner is burned out with overwork. Perhaps negative customers have started to irritate him a great deal, and each additional negative comment adds to his irritation. He may have become very focused on negative comments and subsequently only hear the bad.
Whatever the cause, the owner is certainly not a good person to deal with customers. We never solve a complaint with negativity. Sometimes we cannot fix a situation, but we always can explain it factually in a friendly tone and language. Allowing negative customers to bother us does not serve our businesses or our mental health. Worrying about what people say about our businesses online can drive us nuts.
If you encounter this situation, do not respond to these complaints with negativity. If you do, negativity will bounce back at your business several fold, as happened to Union Street Guest House. Instead, focus on serving your customers well. If you are doing that, good word of mouth and good reviews will overshadow the bad all on their own.
This week's marketing trivia challenge is How have you seen negative customer comments handled? E-mail your answer.
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