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Home Insider Blogs Bill Szczytko's Blog Reasons why managing ApartmentRatings.com is no longer optional
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Aug 29
2011

Reasons why managing ApartmentRatings.com is no longer optional

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Posted by: Bill Szczytko on Aug 29, 2011 08:59

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Mention ApartmentRatings.com to a crowded room of multifamily people and you'll clear it faster than I can while presenting a Powerpoint. We despise this site, loathe it. The anonymous posts, the drunken rants, the vile tongue lashings, the terrible misspellings and sentence structure, and the truth. Hey wait, did I say truth? Yes.. but I'll get to that part later.

People are crazy. Embrace it.

People are crazyWhen people mouth off online they do it for a reason. Some people have stopped taking their medications and others do it because your business has affected them in some way. It's the second part that's worth talking about. Let's take a fast quiz. What's your true/false answer to this statement?

Only unhappy people post reviews.

This is false. According to a survey commissioned by Forrester on behalf of TripAdvisor "The number one reason travelers cite for writing a hotel review is to “share a good experience with other travelers." People want to tell others about the fun they've had or the good experiences they've shared. It's like the east coast earthquake from this week. Did you notice how many Tweets or Facebook posts sounded like this: "Hey did you feel that?" "Yeah I felt that!" "So did I!" People feel validated when they've all shared the same experiences.

High percentage of reviews on Apartmentratings.com are bad.

We all know of course that not every review is good. In fact, just perusing around ApartmentRatings.com presents a ton of bad review examples. So what can we do about it? In the same survey I mentioned above, this compelling point was made: "...71% said that seeing a management response to reviews by an official hotel representative is important to them." How many of you respond to reviews as the management company? Here's the final point to drive home: "Sixty-eight percent of travelers said that if they were considering two comparable properties, the presence of management responses on one would sway them in its favor." That's the holy grail.

I found some more data that I want to share. In The Retail Consumer Report survey that was done over the holidays in 2010, they found that 68% of the people who posted a complaint on a social network or ratings site, got a response from the retailer about it. Because the business responded, they were able to get 18% of those people to buy from them again! Out of those people who received a response 33% turned around and posted a positive review and 34% deleted their original negative review. Folks that is compelling data. You can see that staying silent and pretending this conversation isn't taking place out there is not the right strategy today.

Let's focus in on the bigger picture here.

Start listening to your customersAre you a Company A or a Company B? Company A wants to hear what their residents have to say. Company B doesn't. Company A listens to social media channels and has a corporate culture which empowers employees to solve problems, respond appropriately to their residents, and listen for pain points. Company B is afraid. I blogged about this very phenomenon recently.

If you're having problems with your ApartmentRatings.com ratings, then there's something wrong with your product. Behind the vicious rants are some underlying themes that represent problems you can fix:
"People often speed through the property."
"People are always hanging around outside drinking."
"The office staff is mean."

These are the things companies find it hard to face. The truth. The truth isn't always pleasant but you'll never know if customers are unhappy if you don't ask or listen. If someone posts anything whether it's good or bad, you must thank them. Why? They cared enough to tell you; now do something with it. At the end of the day, people want to feel that the management company is concerned about their needs. They pay a large portion of their monthly salary to you. Fix your product, show empathy when things don't go right, give them great customer service and your bad reviews on ApartmentRatings will go down.

"People will post, Ray"

When people have positive experiences they will tell others. Of those people surveyed over the holiday season who had a positive experience: "21% recommended the retailer to friends. 13% posted a positive online review about the retailer." I don't want to hear "Bill, these surveys you found aren't for our industry." That's a Company B thought. Stop that.

I'm hoping this evidence is compelling enough to make you realize that you need to respond and engage your current customers. Turning them from a brand detractor to a brand advocate is your goal here. Next post, I'll give you some customer service and response tips to help you do just that. See you next time.

Happy renting everyone. Catch more posts over on BSitko.com.


Comments (21)Add Comment
1049
written by John Slattery, August 29, 2011
Does anyone know of a community and/or management company that has actually responded to a review "as a manager" on ApartmentRatings.com? It would be great to see how others are responding.
6708
written by Stephanie Oehler, August 29, 2011
@John, Try Verde Apartments. www.verdeapartments.com. They presented their Apartmentratings.com initiative at last year's Brainstorming, the Managing Reviews session. Their strategy involved replying to posts, encouraging new reviews, etc.
3877
written by Bill Szczytko, August 30, 2011
@John, The Bozzuto Group is another company that responds. Here's a sample of their response:

http://www.apartmentratings.co...54408.html

Thanks for commenting @Stephanie and @John.
0
written by Jim , August 30, 2011
I am very fortunate that I have very happy residents, my approval rating is 91%. I look every single morning to see if there are any new postings.

I have been at my property for nearly 17 years and we really pay attention to what people have to say, whether its good or bad and I always respond back, even if its bad. I always take a step back and re-read my response several times to make sure it is not filled with anger or anxiety. I don't post false reviews to boost my overall rating. I have posted my own response but put my name all over it and my contact information so that it is veyr clear that I wrote it.

I manage an older building with its own set of issues, but we try to go that extra mile to compensate for this. Our turnover for the year of 2011 is about 30% overall. only 3 people have actually moved to competition for a newer product, 1 of those 3 has already moved back. My notices have all been job relocations or home purchase.

Having said this, I have worked at other communities where the ratings were terrible and it took me several years to turn it around.

Apt Ratings is actually my number one source of referrals/traffic. We are strictly online and not in any publications.

So, Apt Ratings can be your worst enemy or it can be your best friend, my advise is to listen to what your residents are saying about you and learn from it.

Happy Leasing!
2779
written by Eric Broughton, August 30, 2011
Thanks Bill! The process and recommendations from Bozzuto look very good. Why isn't everyone doing this? Does ApartmentRatings.com charge to respond.
3877
written by Bill Szczytko, August 30, 2011
Thanks for adding your experiences @Jim. People just want to know that you're concerned about this issues. The key word I think is EMPATHY.

@Eric. Yes AptRatings does charge us a yearly fee for it. I BELIEVE it's 180 a year per property (does someone have the exact figure). I've heard some people call it extortion money. I'll let others judge for themselves on what it is. smilies/wink.gif Thanks for commenting sir.
0
written by jes, August 30, 2011
It's a $100 reg fee and $180 annual subscription fee. Yes it is extortion. Owners/managers don't subscribe out of choice but because they're trying to keep their business operating under what I've seen to be vile attacks that take a life of their own.

Reviewers should be charged for their participation and be required to leave an actual name. I'm sure the posts would be much more thoughtful. Similar to the tenant who bad mouths you to everyone on the property but once they speak to you directly it's amazing how their attitude changes.
0
written by Garrett, August 30, 2011
$100 one time fee, $180/year after that.
0
written by Joslyn, August 30, 2011
Although that I agree that SOME of the posts may be true, our experience is that alot of them are misconstrued and very false. They tend to stretch the issue to make it into something that it is not. A mountain out of a molehill if you will. They also tend to not mention that we took care of the issue or they tend to fail to mention that they are habitual problem renters themselves with complaints etc. I do believe that the public tends to know that not all complaints are 100% correct, and I do agree that management should respond to each and every complaint when possible.
3877
written by Bill Szczytko, August 30, 2011
Thanks for the info @Jes and @Garrett. Have an excellent day.
820
written by Luke Scala, August 30, 2011

One of the common threads in the negative posts on ApartmentRatings.com is not being heard (and yes, for some residents no amount of listening or attention to a given problem will ever be enough).

And it is also an opportunity to face some potentially ugly truths.

Thanks Bill!
0
written by Reviewboost, August 30, 2011
Hello
I work with Multi-Family Managers all across the nation and i can tell you one thing is for sure. People do not start by going to Apartment Ratings website to find your property they use Google and may come across the site by accident. According to Alexa.com the list below shows the top places people search. Google and its family of products has the 1,3,8 spots in the world why not focus your efforts on those.
1. Google
2. Facebook
3. Youtube
4. Yahoo
5. Live
6. Baidu
7. Wikipedia
8. Blogger
9. MSN
10.Tencent
11.Twitter
3877
written by Bill Szczytko, August 30, 2011
@Luke This quote hits it out of the park: "And it is also an opportunity to face some potentially ugly truths." Great comments. Agree completely. Thanks for commenting.
6368
written by Jasmine R. Brooks, August 30, 2011
I definitely agree that we need to man our AptRatings.com pages just like we do our Facebook pages, for example. If we ever receive a negative comment on a Facebook page, we usually address it within 10 minutes (because we receive notifications whenever someone writes on one of our walls). AptRatings.com should be handled the same way.

I think we will see many more properties responding to their AptRatings.com comments as we go into 2012. We may even see more positive comments pop up as property managers start running mini campaigns, asking their residents to comment on these types of review sites ahead of time.

Jasmine R. Brooks
jasmineb@tbrs.com
1578
written by Rose M, August 30, 2011
I always respond to my reviews, good and bad. I have not paid to join the site, but at the time I joined, they only required paid membership if I wanted to be a "verified" property.

Another thing I do is ASK for reviews. I made a brightly colored card to hand out so they remember. I give residents this card at lease renewal, at retention events, and at move out. I don't hide from the negative reviews because I want prospects to know the truth about my property so they can make the right decision about whether or not they want to live here.

http://www.apartmentratings.com/rate/OR-Tigard-Georgetown-Manor-Apartments.html
0
written by Lanessa, August 30, 2011
We encourage residents during the tour, during move in and even at move out to use this site for property suggestions and or rating. We thank our residents for using this because it allows us to recogonize our strengths and weeknesses. Our owners expect that we will respond immediately and take action promptly to any negative comments regarding our community.
smilies/wink.gif
Lanessa
0
written by Jay, August 30, 2011
I will not be paying any website for the privilege of responding to anonymous complaints.
62
written by Brent Williams, August 31, 2011
Jay, I completely understand your thought process on this, but I see the question of whether to pay/participate as a question of negotiation. As of now, ApartmentRatings.com has the upper hand - they have the advantage. Although it might pain us all to participate in a community that is so geared towards bashing apartment communities, ultimately we have to work with the hand we are dealt. Even more, choosing to not participate does not materially affect ApartmentRatings.com. It doesn't affect prospects interest in using the service. The only thing it affects is our presence on the site, which I think is imperative to maintain any semblance of a good reputation.
6685
written by Justin Coleman, August 31, 2011
I always enjoy reading articles on the topic of the infamous Apartment Ratings website, because everyone always has a differing opinion on how to handle both the positive and negative postings. Responding to all postings not only shows that you are a community that makes an effort to address all concerns, but are also one that is making an effort to establish your online reputation, as opposed to allowing others to make it for you. As a community you may know that a certain negative posting is filled with false information, but if I'm a prospect, I may not be so sure. Always respond to postings in a brief professional manner. Never stoop to the level of getting into a war of words on Apartment Ratings, because you will only be pouring salt in the open wound. On a side note Apartment Ratings is a great place to find potential objections that you may not have otherwise been able to prepare for if they were not voiced on the website.
6541
written by Jeff Edgel, August 31, 2011
You can win the battle but you need an online reputation management company who will pro actively go after the negativity online and replace it with positive content. Apartment Ratings website is just like every other industry directory on the web. They want to sell advertising to whomever they can.
0
written by Kimberly Nasief, September 01, 2011
Property management companies need to continue their social media monitoring and responses. In addition, they need to engage residents and prospects using the new technology tools that are out there. Forego the web and paper surveys. Tie the company CRM into a text based survey platform that reaches both smart and "dumb" phones, and send personalized texts requesting feedback to prospects within 30 minutes of them leaving; new move ins within 1 day; 24 hours after a maintenance request; 60 days prior to lease up. Benefit is that if someone is unhappy, as soon as that survey is submitted, the appropriate powers that be will be instantly notified via text or email-with the person's name/ phone number-so that someone can follow up. Since more people are texting now than getting online or checking email daily, it seems that you would be able to nip the negative responses via social media (including Apartment Ratings) in the bud before they happen.
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