How to Respond to a Positive Tripadvisor Review

It’s always a treat to hear when people believe you’re doing a great job. Positive reviews invoke a feeling of validation and seeing a 5-star review is the best feeling in the world. What can be better than reading how you gave someone the experience of a lifetime? 

While reading happy reviews might be the best way to start your day, don’t forget to respond to them. Putting out fires by responding to negative Tripadvisor reviews often gets all the attention. But, as a tour operator, learning how to respond to a positive Tripadvisor review can make you stand out as the ideal booking choice. Why?

Why respond to positive reviews

Your goal, as a tour operator, should be to provide an incredible experience that your guests can’t wait to tell the world about. By responding to positive reviews, you show that you appreciate and pay attention to all guest feedback.

Prospective travelers are going to be looking at reviews to get a sense of what they can expect from an experience. Demonstrating a personable, caring stance whether it’s in response to a happy or critical review gives the impression that you value the guest experience. 

Yes, responding to positive reviews takes a bit of time, but here’s why it’s worthwhile: More bookings! Responding to every review shows a commitment to customer service along with appreciation for guests who take the time to share their memorable experience. 

As an experience provider, your goal is to ‘surprise and delight’ guests, by not only managing expectations but surpassing them as much as possible. Small details like allowing for early check-in or offering a dog bed if you hear they are traveling with a furry companion are thoughtful touches that help elevate the experience.

While it’s a good idea to respond to each review you receive, replying to positive reviews on Tripadvisor doesn’t need to be long-winded. A few well-worded sentences work wonders. Let’s go over how to craft a thoughtful response to positive feedback using these tips. 

How to respond to a positive Tripadvisor review

Imagine standing in front of a guest in real time, listening to them sharing how happy they are. A conversation ignites, you have a bit of back and forth banter before thanking them and encouraging them to visit you again sometime. Keep it simple and use a similar format for how you respond to positive reviews online. 

Humanize how you manage Tripadvisor responses as if you were speaking with a good friend. In keeping your responses breezy and lighthearted, you’ll give future guests more reason to share their happy experiences, knowing they can anticipate a reply from the owner. 

5 tips for responding to positive reviews

1. Acknowledge their time

Acknowledge that your guest took the time to share a review about your business. Readers can tell when you’re just thanking reviewers for aesthetic reasons. Respond to Tripadvisor reviews quickly – ideally on the day of,  but replying as soon as you can gives readers and future reviewers the opportunity to see that you care. 

2. Address them individually

Address the reviewer on a personal level. Guests appreciate being greeted by their name and readers will be looking for indicators that you read their review in the first place. 

Personalize your response to be lighthearted and helpful, making a point to touch on specifics like “we’re thrilled to hear you loved seeing/hearing/experiencing the ________ during the ________ tour.” If you’re finding your initial response to be stiff and impersonal, try using the mic on your mobile phone to respond to a positive review, allowing your thoughts to flow as if you were speaking to the guest in person. 

3. Be clear

Be concise with your reply. A response length of 1-3 sentences is a good length to aim for depending on the level of detail in the positive review. It’s a great idea to include details specific to your guest because it proves that you remember them. Maintain a casual, friendly tone, keeping your reply short and sweet. Read your response aloud before pressing reply. 

4. Show appreciation

Make a point of appreciating when guests take the time to share a positive review. The people who share great feedback want to support your business because they believe in you. Focus on seeking some common ground as in: 

“Wow, [first name], it’s awesome to hear how much you enjoyed your activity with us. I can’t tell you how much it means for us to hear this, especially since this is your first visit with us.

Next time we’ve got to check out the overnight tour and the morning sunrise hike. We’re stoked to hear that you had an amazing time – thank you so much!” 

Your goal in replying to reviews is to be helpful for readers. If a guest highlights how you went above and beyond for them, humbly note how appreciative you are of having the opportunity to host them. 

5. Empathize

People love feeling like they’ve contributed to something. Tap into their natural inclination to support a business they feel really good about their encounter with. 

Saying something like “Thanks so much for helping share. Reviews like yours mean the world to us and are so important for future travelers. Thank you again for taking the time to share this wonderful feedback.”

Sample responses to positive feedback

It’s not a bad idea to keep a template response for managing Tripadvisor responses, which can be tailored for each individual review you receive. Here, you’ll find a few sample review responses you can use as inspiration. Add details and pizazz it aligns with your style.

Here are two examples:

“Hi [first name]. Thank you so much for taking the time to share this 5-star review with our team!  We love hearing how much you enjoyed ________. It’s wonderful to know we did _________and this ____________well. We know you have choices when it comes to your travel adventures, and it means the world to us that you’ve chosen to book an experience with our team. Thank you again for supporting our local business and we hope you’ll visit us in the future!”

or

“Hi [first name]. You were such a blast to have on tour. I loved how excited you were for ______and _______. Your jokes made me crack up, and having you was a treat. Thanks for being such an awesome guest. Cheers!” 

Reading between each of the above responses, which one makes you smile? Readers can tell the difference between a generic reply and one that has a real person behind it. Reward reviewers with fun tips and suggestions for making the most of their next adventure in your responses.

The whole point of responding to positive reviews is to encourage people to keep reading. As your personality shines through with your responses, readers will see that you’re passionate about your work and will be more inclined to book with you. 

Sharing positive reviews online

Sharing glowing reviews from guests on your social media channels is one way of demonstrating that you’re trustworthy. Online reviews play a role when it comes to customer conversions.

Actively responding to reviews helps by stoking a conversation with your audience and keeping you connected with people who follow your business. In addition, one of the first things people will see is your review ranking on Tripadvisor. Companies with more positive reviews tend to show up higher in search rankings. Encouraging reviews will make it easier for people to discover your business. 

Savvy guests will do their research and will be more likely to move forward in booking with you if they spot positive reviews from previous guests. They’ll also be more inclined to share personal insights of their own experience knowing that you make a point of responding to each review. 

Be sure to include testimonials or highlight positive reviews throughout your website. They are one of the best forms of promoting what you do well. Stand-out reviews are perfect for pairing with a captivating photo on your social channels to inspire your followers to learn more. Engaging in conversation with your guests on multiple channels gives more people an opportunity to connect with you and helps to grow your business. 

Asking for positive reviews

Continue asking guests for their feedback in your post-booking thank-you emails. Add in ‘review us’ buttons on your website, emails and social media links to speed up the process. Make it seamless for guests to review you directly from their phone, where your thank-you email hyperlinks to your business on Tripadvisor.  

Find out how to encourage Tripadvisor reviews by training your guides to ask guests for their feedback while finishing up a tour. You can also add direct links to make it seamless for guests to leave you a raving review. Ideally, aim to prompt guests for feedback within a few days of their booking, timed with the memory being fresh in their mind. 

Give guests who leave a positive review on Tripadvisor the option to easily share on platforms like Google, Facebook and Yelp by including links in your post-booking emails. Discover how to get more reviews on Tripadvisor by responding to each positive review you receive.  

Applying feedback you receive is key to making future guest experiences even better. And, if you have lovely guests who leave you positive reviews, be sure to thank them for taking the time to share. It makes them feel valued and reassures them that they made the right choice in booking with you. 

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