Humor is a powerful coping tool, and laughter can do wonders for our mental wellbeing. That’s why I couldn’t help but share these hilarious responses to negative hotel reviews, even though it’s a bit outside of my site’s niche.
While preparing for a weekend trip to Cancun, I decided to read reviews of the hotel I booked, with a special focus on the negative ones. I didn’t bother reading the hotel’s responses at first, but then this gem caught my eye:
“I am sorry that you were not able to reach your desired alcoholic state, but your health is very important to us.”
Warmest Regards, Guest Experience Manager
This clever response was to a reviewer who complained about not being able to get drunk (insinuating that the drinks were watered down).
After reading the first witty response, I couldn’t help but read all of the hotel’s responses to negative reviews. The elusive guest experience manager not only politely responds to every single review, but also does so in an artfully crafted way. His responses are a delicious concoction of apologetic concern and tact, perfected with a splash of snark. He always closes with the salutation, “Warmest Regards, Guest Experience Manager.”
The sarcasm is so subtle that it could potentially be attributed to a language barrier, but I’m convinced that’s not it. The guest experience manager is a mastermind with a great sense of humor.
Read the responses and decide for yourself!
Beware bad reviewers: the guest experience manager at Hotel NYX is not afraid to call you out on your own bad behavior!
Responses to Negative Hotel Reviews on TripAdvisor
1. To ronX4715NF, who left two stars because he asked to remain parked in the lot for a few hours after checking out and was told no, and then also asked to take a few items from the breakfast buffet to-go and was told no:
Thank you for sharing your review. Unfortunately, when you requested to use our parking lot, it was not at your check-out; rather, you informed us that you had been a guest of the hotel a few days ago and wanted to go to Plaza La Isla, but did not want to pay for parking at the mall. Since you were no longer a guest a few days ago, we cannot allow you to use our limited parking space, which our current guests need. I am sorry if that experience outside your stay has affected the good service you mentioned you enjoyed. We hope you will be able to visit us again and make use of all our facilities, and we look forward to welcoming you back.
2. To 933yushanh, who left two stars because there was a leak and no hot water in their room:
Thank you for taking the time to share your valuable review. I am sorry that your room had a leak during the raging [storm] that we had. In that type of situations, we definitely change the room in order to offer you better experience. However, we don’t have any information of requesting a change of room or informing the situation regarding the hot water. We really encourage our guest to inform front desk in order to assist them properly. We hope you can give us the opportunity to welcome you again and offer you a better stay.
3. To hectorh831, who left one star for the staff who were “unhelpful, unorganized, and not professional.” He also accused the hotel of not being gay-friendly.
Thank you for taking the time to share your valuable review. I am sorry that you didn’t enjoy your short stay with us. As your records informs, you did not appreciate the fact that our restaurants have a dress code. Gentlemen must wear a sleeve shirt. I am sorry if you perceive it as a personal attack. I am also aware that we gift you a NYX sleeve shirt in order to avoid any inconvenience with the restaurants, as you state that you had no other shirt than sleeveless. We can assure you that our hotels do not make any type of discrimination or difference regarding your personal preference. As a matter of a fact, we have many groups, events, and weddings of all genders, ethnicities, and nationalities. Therefore, your complaint is misplaced. We will always be glad to welcome you again, in order to pamper you.
4. To carolinaei13, who left one star because she was robbed of a small amount of money left in her backpack and then staff were unhelpful and not empathetic to her situation:
Thank you for taking the time to share your valuable review. I am truly sorry that you weren’t able to fully enjoy your stay with us. The first time that you report the situation to front desk, our receptionist explain to you the process when something is lost. After that, a security agent is in charge of taking the report, looking into the system to see who enter to the room, check the room and if you allow it, to make a thorough search of the room and your belongings, either to verify that the object or money is not there, or to find it, as it is often found among the belongings. Our receptionist has to translate everything to the security agent, I am sorry if you find her services as rude. Regarding the security report, our security supervisor accompanied you to your room to check your room badge and do the searching in your room, however, right there you decided that you would not let him in to do the check after he explained to you again about the process, refusing his services. By interrupting and rejecting the investigation, we cannot assist you further than that. It was also explained to you that you should make use of the safe box to store important items and/or money, otherwise the hotel cannot be held responsible. At the end, you were told to see a manager the next day. The room badge shows us that no staff enter the room because you left the “do not disturb” sign. Then you conjectured that someone may enter through the window. Security did check on the outside area of your room, however, there was no evidence to show that anyone tried to enter through the window, and most likely it is not possible without leaving traces or footprints. Your case was dismissed for lack of evidence and because you refused the entire security process. However, you were offered the necessary reports, so that if you wished, you could file a report with the police. Nevertheless, the manager did change your room and give you a free upgrade in order to make you feel safer, even thought there was no evidence. We regret the situation, however, we will always keep our arms open to welcome you back and pamper you.
5. To Bethany G, who left one star with her review, ‘WORKERS ARE THEIVES,’ in which she accused staff of stealing:
Thank you for taking the time to share with us your experience. We have taken all your feedback on board and this will be used constructively to perfect our future guests’ experience. We would like to comment that at no time were your belongings stolen, when you reported it, our staff found your belongings in the suitcase in front of you and after a day, you called the hotel to report that you forgot a hairdryer, when in fact there was nothing in the room. However, we appreciate your sincere feedback and it will be channeled to the relevant departments for follow-up.
Responses to Negative Hotel Reviews on Travelocity
6. To Charles, who commented on front desk staff and being given a hard time for not wearing a mask and was “kicked out” of the line while waiting to make dinner reservations by a rude staff person:
Thank you for sharing your kind review. We are really glad that you had enjoyed your stay with us, moreover, that you had enjoyed our food quality of our restaurants the attentive services that our staff offered you. I am sorry that you perceive her services as rude. Currently, all over the [world] we are facing a new COVID spread, and the reservation area is a very close environment where a lot of people gather in order to make reservations, as you known we have a policy at the hotel that in close areas and restaurants it is necessary to wear a facemask not only for our guest, for our staff as well. Nevertheless, checking our cameras, it is shown that you were kindly asked to wear a facemask, you said some unpleasant words and leave, at all time you were kindly a polite treated. We understand that waiting is not the best of the experiences, however, we are in a high season. I am sorry if that was an inconvenience. We hope you can visit us again, to pamper you even more.
7. To Aleksey, who commented on there being no amenities for kids, bad food, and disrespectful staff, and won’t be back:
Thank you for sharing your valuable review. We are really glad that you had enjoyed the good quality of our restaurants and bartenders, as well as the good services that our waiters offer you. I am sorry that you didn’t enjoy our Chianti restaurant, normally we have wonderful comments about it. Our is a family hotel, however we do not have a kids club, you can verify the information on the web. I am sorry that you perceive that our staff weren’t trained properly. As our report inform, you bring ya babysitter; for someone to enter the hotel, being a guest must register, if you are not a guest, you must pay a daypass, at the moment we do not have daypass due to high occupancy, so you were offered the rate of the extra person, you inform that was quite expensive, and we made an exception to give you the rate of the daypass, it was still not to your liking. We have to remember that this is high season and unfortunately no one enters the hotel without paying. I am sorry that this was an inconvenience. We hope you will give us the opportunity to serve you again, to offer you a better experience. Warmest regards.
8. To Dianko, who left one star due to the hotel having lots of stairs, and when his wife fell on the stairs and he reported it, no one showed up:
Thank you for take the time to share your valuable review. We hope that you were able to enjoy most of the good services that we have to offer. I am deeply sorry to read that your wife fell on the stairs close to your room on the 1st floor. Indeed, you report it, and in our records our front agent offer you assistance and first aid assistance from our security department in order to check your wife’s elbows and knees. However, you refuse the attention because you had dinner at Umami. She may assume that everything was fine. I apologize for the inconvenience. Nevertheless, we hope you can give us the opportunity to welcome you again in order to give you an even better experience and create better memories.
Responses to Negative Hotel Reviews on Booking.com
9. To Tracie, who commented on having issues with her room and there being invasive seaweed:
Thank you for sharing your kind review. We are really glad to read that you had a good stay in general, specially that you had enjoyed the quality of our breakfast. I am sorry if you had issues with your room, we always recommend informing front desk, so they can assist you and give you a proper solution. Unfortunately, we do not have any information regarding these issues. Unfortunately we cannot control the seaweed, we only can clean our beach area, however due to the hot season, the seaweed appears. Your comments are really important to us because it helps us to improve our services. We hope you can visit us again and offer you a better experience.
10. To Reico, who commented on the front desk staff being rude, having to ask them 5 times to fix the AC in the room until they were finally moved to a new room:
Thank you for sharing your valuable review. We are glad that you had enjoyed your comfortable room and the view, as well as the attentive service that our staff offered you. As our system reports shows, you were originally in a Deluxe Room. Our front agent sent several times a maintenance agent, regarding an issue with the thermostat of your room. Our technician were able to fix it, leaving the standard temperature of 21 °C, however, it seems it was not cold enough for you. Our front agent gift you a free upgrade to a Junior suite, that has an ocean view, in order to give you a better solution. I am sorry if you perceive a lack on their service. We hope you can visit us again to pamper you again.
11. To Saif, who left a poor rating because he did not enjoy anything at the hotel and commented that the beach was bad, and the manager was rude and had a horrible attitude:
Thank you very much for sharing your valuable comment. I am very sorry that you did not enjoy your stay. Normally, we have excellent feedback regarding the beauty of our beach, during the warm season the sea produce a lot of seaweed; we cleaned it every day. Nevertheless, we cannot control its growth. You booked a Deluxe room for 2 adults and 1 child; however, you arrived at the hotel with 6 people. We supported you by checking to see if you had another reservation, unfortunately, you only booked that room. Our manager gave you a special rate for the second Deluxe room, despite the high occupancy. Since you came with minors and for your convenience, you were given 2 free upgrades to a Junior Suite with ocean view for both rooms, in order to keep the 2 rooms together. Thus saving you $120 USD per day per room. I regret if you perceived this as a bad attitude from our management, however, at all times you were treated with respect and given the best options from the goodwill of our management. Unfortunately, we cannot give rooms for free. Even less if it is not the hotel’s responsibility.
12. To Lidia, who left one star in her review titled, ‘Horrible customer service,’ because they didn’t give her a king suite and instead put her in a 3-bathroom, 2-bedroom suite:
Thank you for taking the time to share with us your experience. We have taken all your feedback on board and this will be used constructively to perfect our future guests’ experience. We know that our colleague Estela from reception offered you a room with a single bathroom, a king size bed and a room for yourself but, unfortunately, you did not want to change your room. Our staff was attentive to all your needs and we regret that it was not enough. We hope you give us the chance to demonstrate you that our main goal is to create good experiences.
So, what do you think? Is the snark intentional? Is the guest experience manager passive aggressive or not?
Either way, I hope you enjoyed reading the guest experience manager’s responses as much as I did! Let me know what you think in the comments below.
