How to Respond to Online Reviews of Your Apartment Complex

By Julia Dunn on September 9, 2015

If you’re a property manager for student housing complexes, you probably have an online presence/platform for reviews. You might have a website or a central posting online that details your apartment complex and its features, amenities, and details on how to contact the owner (you).

Since most everything is online these days and extremely media-centric, you cannot afford not to be up on what people are saying about you online. Especially in the housing business, reputation is everything, and a poor reputation can greatly deter people (notably, students) from checking out your place if your reviews online are not so great.

The following was concluded from Satisfacts’ Online Renter Study conducted in 2014.

“Forty-six percent of renters look at ratings and reviews when searching for an apartment, 49 percent of renters have the perception that if you respond to online ratings and reviews, you have good customer service. Ninety percent of renters care on some level whether the property management team is responding to reviews. Only 10 percent weren’t concerned with reviews at at all.”

Image Via: flickr.com

So, about half the people interested in your housing property really rely on online reviews during their apartment search, and furthermore, they notice whether or not you’re responding to people’s comments (especially if the comments are negative). People can form an impression of you based on the way you react to online reviews.

As a student housing manager, how should you go about responding to online reviews of your housing property if an interested (or blatantly disinterested) client leaves you a comment? The way you respond is crucial to your success in the housing and renting industry.

If the reviews are positive:

Thank the author of the comment! Good reviews help you immensely with rankings and attracting solid customers, especially if your target renting population consists of students who don’t have time to do tons of research on available housing. They want to be able to check reviews on a main website, and they want to like what they see; it makes the housing search so much easier.

Respond graciously to reviews that help you, and the authors of those comments will stay loyal to you and maybe even serve as recommenders in the future if you ever need a recommendation. Keep track of these relationships that could become huge assets later.

If the reviews are negative:

First off, do not ignore these! It will reflect poorly on you as a housing manager.

When you write your response, do your best to use the reviewer’s name in the reply. It may seem small, but it humanizes and customizes the comment such that the original reviewer will care to consider your response. Apologize to the reviewer for whatever made them dissatisfied, and try to understand what the person’s need is that isn’t being met.

Did you have a typo on your brochures? Is the paint job on the front door a little sloppy? Too much noise in the neighborhood due to nearby construction? Find out what may be going on below the surface for the person who wrote the complaint.

When answering them back, be considerate, apologetic and kind, while showing genuine care for the person’s satisfaction. Also ensure that you are not writing with a defensive or argumentative tone, but with an attitude that clearly shows you care about the situation.

Image Via: flickr.com

If the problem is easily fixable, or could be resolved with a little more information, express that you are willing to remedy the situation if it means securing one more happy customer. The author of the comment will hopefully be willing to work with you to fix the problem, which turns an initially negative experience into a positive one.

They will likely be interested in hearing how you plan to solve the problem, so if you do in fact have a solution, explain it honestly and let the person know the steps you are taking to address the issue. This will demonstrate a lot of care for transparency on your part, and prove that you are a receptive housing manager worth interacting with.

If the problem cannot be fixed completely, try to come up with at least a partial solution to alleviate the issue so it is less glaring and more tolerable.

It can be difficult addressing a less-than-positive review, no matter how skilled you are at responding to them. If you’re still stuck or not as confident as you’d like to be in regards to answering online comments, check out webinars for further advice on gracefully addressing complaints, and on tightening up your online presence.

Ultimately, both positive and negative reviews can be the beginning of an important dialogue that will not only benefit the reviewer, but it will benefit you as a student housing property manager in that you’ll know what to improve. Online reviews will stick around on the internet for a long while into the future, and thus they will significantly impact future apartment seekers’ first impressions of your property and of you, the owner. Take reviews seriously, and interested renters will take you seriously.

Follow Uloop

Apply to Write for Uloop News

Join the Uloop News Team

Discuss This Article

Get Student Housing News Monthly

Back to Top

Log In

Contact Us

Upload An Image

Please select an image to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format
OR
Provide URL where image can be downloaded
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format

By clicking this button,
you agree to the terms of use

By clicking "Create Alert" I agree to the Uloop Terms of Use.

Image not available.

Add a Photo

Please select a photo to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format