How to respond to negative hotel reviews, with examples for each complaint

With the thing that went wrong. If the guest dragged their cases up the steps, talk about the steps; if they dispute a charge, talk about that charge. I would drop the opening thank-you whenever it only puts off the apology.

There is a practical reason. Between 1 and 8 October 2026 we read 105,887 Google reviews of 277 upmarket hotels: in 3,330 of the 5,427 that complain about price, a service, a room or a breakfast had also gone wrong. The bill is the yardstick guests measure their disappointment against. Telling them “our rates are in line with our category” leaves the complaint exactly where it was.

The next guest reads your reply too. In an Ipsos MORI survey for Tripadvisor in 2019 of 23,292 users in 12 countries, 89% said a thoughtful reply to a negative review improved their impression of the business.

The second one is about what happened to them. Among the Lumina Replies examples is a review from September 2026 of Palazzo Avino in Ravello: the taxi stopped by the town’s traffic restrictions, the phone call to the hotel about the shuttle, then 15 minutes of steps in the heat, with bags, to get to lunch.

A generic reply would say: “Thank you for your valuable feedback. We are sorry your stay did not meet your expectations.” But the guest had come for lunch: the word “stay” has already lost them.

The reply Lumina wrote goes straight to the point: “we regret that we did not assist you when you called or describe the walk from town more clearly”. Then it apologises because nobody apologised on arrival. I would shorten the closing line and ask reception what they now tell guests arriving by taxi, so the reply helps the next lunch too.

By acknowledging how they were treated, and owning the episode. Quoting the shuttle policy does not answer someone who got neither help nor an apology.

In the Palazzo Avino case I would separate the traffic restriction, which the hotel does not decide, from the phone call and the welcome, which it can reconstruct. Before you write “we have spoken to our colleague”, you must have done it; before you promise a lift, you must know who can give it.

There is research behind this. Deng and Ravichandran, looking at Tripadvisor reviews, found that explanations work for problems of procedure, while for guests who felt badly treated a reply heavy on explanation and light on empathy does worse. “We are sorry we left you without help” is worth more than the full history of the shuttle.

Name the fault and write only the fix you have seen done. “We are always improving” leaves the guest with their question: does that shower work now?

Among the Replies examples is a review from September 2025 of Hotel Bernina 1865 in Samedan: worn furniture, cleanliness, wallpaper peeling in the lift. The reply names them all, rooms, furnishings, lift and cleaning. It is a good start; to add “repaired”, you need maintenance to confirm it.

To decide where to start, look at how often each subject ends in a complaint. In the 104,237 reviews of 273 hotels we counted in October 2026, staff draw the most complaints in absolute terms, but price is the subject that goes wrong most often when it comes up:

I would keep the internal ticket open until someone confirms the fault is fixed. Posting the reply and closing the problem are 2 different jobs.

Answer the amount and the exact request, then take the documents and booking details private. The cancellation policy may explain a charge, but how it was applied to that booking needs checking.

In another Replies example, from October 2026, a guest says she asked to move her dates, was told no and was charged 300 Swiss francs without staying. The reply names the refused request and the 300 francs, acknowledges the frustration of someone who had stayed before, and offers to go through the booking and the messages together by email. It does not promise a refund.

That is the step I would keep: reconstruct first, then decide what to offer. If the hotel grants a refund, new dates or a credit, agree it privately. Google forbids offering anything in return for changing or removing a review: settling a complaint and buying a rating are 2 different things.

Yes, even when the rating is high. In the reviews we read, 1,519 of the 5,427 unhappy about price still gave 4 or 5 stars, and for staff it happened 746 times out of 6,073. If you only answer low-star reviews, these slip past you.

In October 2026 a guest at Hotel Lungarno in Florence writes a review full of praise: the spot by the Ponte Vecchio, breakfast, staff who remember your name. Then come weak wifi, poor shower pressure, a narrow bath that is an adventure to climb out of, and street noise. Lumina’s reply acknowledges every one. I would put the faults before the thanks, though: they are the part waiting for an answer.

I would ask for one detail, with a direct contact. For example: “I am sorry to see this rating. I would like to understand what happened: could you write to me with the dates of your visit? [Name, role and contact]”.

There is no story here, and it is not for you to invent one with a dirty room or a bad dinner. Google advises protecting personal details and taking complicated cases private: room numbers, amounts and details of the stay stay between you and the guest.

Report it to the platform and, in your reply, write only what you know. On Google, disagreeing with the rating is not enough to have it removed. And a name you cannot find among your bookings does not prove the visit was invented: the Palazzo Avino guest had only come for lunch.

For a case you cannot place, I would write: “We would like to piece your visit together: could you write to us with the date and the service you used?”. If the review names a service or a place belonging to another hotel, point it out calmly, without accusing the writer. How to report and post, step by step, is in our guide to replying to Google reviews.

The 6 on the Replies page, each with a study. But each one measures something different: a later rating, an impression or a booking.

Another study, by Proserpio and Zervas, published in 2017, saw 12% more reviews arrive after hotels started replying. More reviews, though, are not more bookings.

I would set the next day as the rule, with one person picking the case up again if something needs checking. In BrightLocal’s survey of 11 February 2026, of 1,002 American adults, 19% expect a reply the same day, 32% by the next day and 81% within a week.

Speed is not enough on its own: in the same survey 50% say a generic or templated reply puts them off choosing the business. If maintenance or accounts have not come back to you yet, you can acknowledge the problem, say who is handling it and return to the text once you have the answer.

Lumina Replies reads the last 60 days of reviews on Google, Booking.com, Tripadvisor and Expedia and shows you the ones still waiting for a reply. From the replies your hotel has already posted it learns how you greet, how long you write and how you sign. You add what really happened, read it through and post it on the site where the guest wrote.

The first reply is free. Each reply costs 1 credit, and so does another version, a rewrite with your note or a translation. After that you buy credits as you need them: 25 for €4.50, $5, £4 or CHF 4, 120 for €18 or $20, 350 for €45 or $50, according to the pricing. The confirmation that a fault is fixed or a refund made still comes from your team.

It should show the guest you have read their case and that someone is dealing with it. Start from the problem, admit the mistake once you have checked it, and give a concrete next step. If there is a charge, reconstruct it privately; if there is a fault, wait for confirmation before writing that it is fixed.

And read past the stars: 1,519 price complaints still came with 4 or 5 stars. Open the next review and find the sentence you need to answer, even if everything around it is praise. What AI assistants find when someone asks them for a hotel is in our study of ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini.