Topic: Looking for some tips on combatting bad reviews.

Most of ours come when we enforce a rule, policy, or late fee. People get mad and put us on blast. Often times saying things that just aren’t true. Any thoughts?

If you advertise with Rentpath or Apartments.com you should reach out to your rep. They each have a ratings and Reviews product where they help with that. I worked for Rentpath a few years ago and they had one then.

In addition to the above, great suggestions...you can encourage or incentive your happy residents to post great things (maybe with a small $5, $10 gift card) Call residents out for always paying their rent on time or just being an amazing community resident and ask if they wouldn’t mind, posting a testimonial online..
I’m not saying every resident every month that pays on time or just randomly selecting (I see fair housing issues) but create the excitement & vibe throughout the community, that there will be a drawing of 5 or 10 residents who paid within the 1st two rent due dates that month, winning a gift card or (dare I say, $15-20 off next months rent)

I did an informal survey of people ages 25-45 (specifically) to see whether or not online reviews affected their leasing decisions. Only 10% felt it mattered and almost everyone stated they could tell when it was a disgruntled person posting. Of the posts that were deemed legitimate, when negative, they paid attention but once they visited the property that was their deciding factor. But this is a small town college town. Please don’t give rewards for reviews. That’s really a no-no.

Hi Greg, I have noticed that people “put us on blast” the most when things are not communicated well throughout all processes. Remind your team to take the extra time when touring, moving in and any other opportunity to explain how items work. If you get hit a lot about late fees, change your policy to where you send out reminder notices while they still have time to react prior to getting a late fee. If authorized, waive the first late fee if the residents follow all other regulations and are a respectful neighbor. On top of that, ensure your team is empathetic when enforcing policies. The resident may not like what is happening but if they are communicated with well and treated respectfully, instead of walking away mad and writing a negative review, they will walk away understanding your team is fair and respectful.
The number one time I see negative reviews is when my team has not communicated well in the get go. The review may not be fully accurate, however; it never would have been posted if the team took the extra care to have full disclosure and be transparent.
It’s not about having a company that helps with your reviews, it’s about having a team that assists in ensuring all steps are taken to avoid the review in the first place. Best of luck to you.

Kill them with kindness. Be empathetic, apologize for upsetting them and then offer to meet with them in person to work towards a solution. Even if they don’t take you up on it, you have handled it in a professional manner and look like the better person.

Focus on getting positive reviews - the people blasting are typically looking kind of cray with their comments. I can typically always tell the ones that are just blasting and when there are many more positive reviews I typically believe the positive.

I agree to kill them with kindness. Most of the times people only post reviews when they are really upset (sometimes for no reason), and the really happy ones just forget to post reviews so sometimes you have to ask them to write a good review for you since they enjoy their home so much! For the negative reviews I always 1. thank them for their feedback because it helps us improve in areas we may not have been aware we were lacking, 2. Quickly addrsss their concerns, 3. Say “I have emailed you to follow up further so that we can discuss your concerns in more detail to improve living experience with us!” And 4. Publish your response!! That way people reading reviews can see what management is doing about the things being complained about, and that you aren’t just passing it off, but that you care enough to talk with the resident to resolve the issues

I don’t give much credit to bad reviews. Most people that have the due diligence to look at online reviews before scheduling a showing and or renting with you can usually spot the reasons for a bad review.

Would you go back and respond to old reviews? We used to respond to the bad reviews and that just seemed to create more drama so we stopped..but now everyone says you should respond to all reviews. What is the right approach?

YES! YES! YES! I would suggest going back 6 months and respond to any and ALL reviews. Taking the time to respond to negative reviews shows the resident that you’re not just sweeping their issues under the rug and that you’re taking active steps to ensure the issue doesn’t happen again (keep in mind: It’s not just the resident who will see the response, it's prospects/public who will see it too).
If we don’t respond, readers may suspect that the review is 100% true. Readers may also think that our property (and company) doesn’t care about our residents if you don’t even try to help.
So, take a deep breath (or two or three) and respond!