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!

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?

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.

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

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.

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.