Tour and rental businesses thrive on positive customer reviews, and a high rating from customers can be a significant factor in attracting new business.
In this article, I'll share some of the best ways for tour and rental operators to get more 5-star reviews, based on my own experience owning and operating a top-rated rental and self guided bike tour business.
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Table of Contents
1 Encourage Feedback
One of the most straightforward ways to get more 5-star reviews is to simply ask customers for feedback!
After a tour or rental, operators can send a follow-up email or survey to the customer, asking them to rate their experience and provide any suggestions for improvement.
The key here is to make the process fast, easy and convenient for the customer, and to make sure they know that their feedback is valued.
I can't stress how important it is to automate this process so that it happens every time you have a customer interaction!
We do this through our booking system, that sends out thank you notes and review requests 2 days after the rental or tour date.
If you are transitioning to an automated system and don't have the time to manually send out review requests, consider using an inexpensive remote virtual assistant to help you!
2 Provide Exceptional Customer Service
Tour and rental businesses that provide exceptional customer service are more likely to receive 5-star reviews. This means going above and beyond to make sure customers have an enjoyable and memorable experience.
This can involve offering additional amenities, providing timely and helpful responses to customer inquiries, and going the extra mile to ensure customer satisfaction.
In our case, we offer complementary bike gloves on cold days, showering facilities after very hot days, free luggage storage and discount vouchers that can be shared with family and friends.
3 Offer a High-Quality Experience
It’s essential to make sure that the tour or rental itself is of high quality. This means investing in high-quality equipment and vehicles, ensuring that the tour or rental is well-organized and professional, and providing comprehensive and accurate information about the tour or rental to customers.
It goes without say that a high-quality product is more likely to result in positive reviews from customers, but to ensure that the 5-star reviews keep flowing in, you really have to focus 100% on the customer experience. If you do that, the reviews will take care of themselves.
One of the ways we have done this is to make both our booking and bike hand-over experience as fast and seamless as possible.
To do this, we use a leading cloud based booking system that allows our customers to make and pay for bookings in under 3 minutes, and we use Routzz to allow our customers to download our tours for self guided navigation in around 2 minutes.
4 Respond to Negative Reviews
While getting 5-star reviews is the goal, it’s also important to respond to negative reviews in a professional and helpful manner.
By addressing customer concerns and working to resolve any issues, tour and rental operators can demonstrate their commitment to customer satisfaction and turn a negative review into a positive one.
Most importantly it gives you an opportunity to show what kind of a business you operate, and allows shoppers to understand how you might deal with them, should a less than ideal experience occur.
In our business, we make sure to respond to all reviews within the same week they were posted, but preferrably the very same day.
5 Incentivize Reviews
Finally, tour and rental operators can incentivize customers to leave 5-star reviews by offering special promotions or discounts for customers who provide honest feedback. This can be a powerful motivator for customers and can result in a higher volume of posted reviews.
We offer two-way referral discount vouchers in our business as a friendly way to thank customers for taking the time to share a review and at the same time incentivate a referral through friends and family.
Never pay directly for reviews: aside from being unethical, it is a costly proposition that will burn out fast. Most importantly, if the reviews submitted don't actually match the quality of your service, they won't remain 5-star reviews for long!
Don't be Shy, Give it a Try!
In conclusion, tour and rental businesses can increase their 5-star reviews by encouraging feedback, providing exceptional customer service, offering a high-quality product, responding to negative reviews, and incentivizing customers to leave positive feedback.
By following these best practices, you can quickly and efectively boost tour and rental business online reputation and attract more business.
The first step is to simply but proactively ASK for reviews - let your customers know that your really depend on their reviews to draw in new business.
It takes time to get the review flow running, but with dedication and a blend of great tools and well defined processes, you will find that reviews can become your number one, free source of new business, and that is priceless!
Further Reading
- How can I apply these strategies to get 5-star reviews consistently?
- What tools or platforms assist in managing and analyzing feedback?
- How to encourage reviews and handle negative feedback?