Can a hotel reward guests for posting a public review of their stay?
·Wootera
A hotel may ask guests to write publicly about their stay. What it must not do is offer them anything in return: a discount on their next stay, a gift, a drink at the bar or an entry into a prize draw. Platforms treat such a review as incentivised and may delete it. On top of that, Google may respond to fake and incentivised reviews by temporarily blocking new reviews on the business profile, hiding existing ones or displaying a warning on the profile about removed fake reviews.
Exactly where the line lies depends on four things: what the guest gets for the review, whom you ask, how the request is worded and who actually writes the text. The rules of individual platforms differ in the details, but they agree on the main points, and those are what you will find below.
Why deal with this now? As Lupa.cz reports, the watermarks meant to label AI-generated text are easy to get around. Once some of the words are replaced with synonyms, detection usually fails, and after translation or rewording the watermark disappears completely. Fake reviews can therefore be expected to multiply. A hotel that otherwise acts honestly but offers rewards for reviews can then easily end up among the suspects.
A reward is anything a guest gets only because they wrote a review
One test question is enough for any offer to guests: does the guest get something extra because they wrote publicly about their stay? If so, it is a reward, no matter how small.
The following are also usually considered rewards:
- a prize draw or competition among guests who posted a review,
- a discount on the next stay “for your feedback” if it is conditional on a public review,
- late checkout, a better room or a free coffee in exchange for a written review,
- a donation to charity for every new review.
It also makes no difference whether you are asking the guest for praise. A reward for any review makes it incentivised.
What is not a reward is anything all guests receive regardless of whether they write something. A welcome drink for everyone is hospitality. A drink only for those who show a published review is a reward.
Ask all guests the same way, not just the happy ones
The second common mistake is selectivity. The front desk can tell who is leaving happy and asks only them. Or the hotel sends a short internal survey and shows the link to the public profile only to those who gave a high score, while sending dissatisfied guests to an internal form.
This practice is called review gating, and the major platforms usually prohibit it explicitly. It distorts the picture of the hotel just as much as a reward does.
You are allowed to have an internal survey. But offer the link to the public profile to everyone who completes it, whatever their answer.
In practice this means:
- the same request wording for every guest,
- the written post-stay request goes to everyone, not at the front desk’s discretion,
- you can skip the personal request at checkout for a guest who has just had a problem, but they should still receive the post-stay message.
A guest whose problem you solved may write a fairer review than you expect.
Check the overview to see what is fine and what crosses the line
Common situations in a small hotel or guesthouse:
| Situation | OK? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A request at checkout, the same for everyone | Yes | A request with no condition and no selection |
| A post-stay message with a link for all guests | Yes | Everyone has the same opportunity |
| A card with a link in the room or at the front desk | Yes | It simply makes writing easier |
| A reply to every review, including critical ones | Yes | It shows you read reviews |
| A discount on the next stay for a published review | No | Reward |
| A prize draw among guests who wrote a review | No | Reward |
| A link only for guests with a high survey score | No | Review gating |
| A review by staff, family or friends | No | Not a genuine guest |
| The hotel dictates or prepares the text for the guest | No | Not the guest’s own opinion |
| The guest writes directly on a hotel tablet at the front desk | Risky | It feels like pressure, and many reviews from one device can look suspicious |
If you are unsure about a situation, ask yourself: would you do it the same way if someone from the platform were watching? If not, don’t do it.
Related solution: Guest-choice housekeeping with a QR code in the room
Ask briefly and while the stay is still fresh
A satisfied guest often writes nothing simply because nobody asked or because it is complicated. That is why it pays to make the request simple and well timed.
Three good moments:
- In person at checkout. One calm sentence, without pressure and without waiting for the guest to write something.
- By message a day or two after departure. A short text and one direct link.
- With a card in the room or at the front desk. A link or a code to scan for those who like to write straight away.
Example of a short post-stay message:
Thank you for staying with us. If you have a moment, we would be glad if you shared a few words about your stay publicly. It helps future guests and it helps us.
A few principles:
- Give one link, not a list of several platforms. More options mean more hesitation.
- Send at most one reminder. Repeated requests are a nuisance.
- Don’t tell the guest what rating to give or what to write about.
- Some booking platforms only allow reviews from guests who booked through them and send the request themselves. For those, it is enough to let the guest know the message will arrive.
Fix problems while the guest is still there
A critical review often describes a problem the hotel only learned about from the review itself. A cold shower, noise from the corridor, towels that weren’t changed. Had the front desk known in the evening, it could have fixed it.
What helps:
- The day after arrival, briefly ask the guest whether everything is all right, in person or by message.
- Give guests a simple way to report a fault or a request, even if they don’t want to go to the front desk.
- When a guest reports a problem, tell them what you will do and by when. Then do it.
The point is not to intercept criticism and keep it from going public. This guest will receive the post-stay request too. The point is to give them something fair to write about.
Then reply to all public reviews, positive and critical alike. Guests browsing the profile can see that the hotel reads reviews and responds.
Only genuine guests may write, not staff, family or AI
Some ways of getting more reviews look innocent, but platforms consider them fraud. These include:
- reviews from staff, owners, relatives and friends who have not stayed with you,
- buying reviews from agencies or individuals,
- swapping reviews with other businesses on a “you scratch our back, we’ll scratch yours” basis,
- critical reviews of competitors,
- text that you write or prepare for the guest, including AI-generated text.
If a guest cannot write in the language they want to post the review in, let them translate it themselves. Don’t write it for them.
AI-generated text in particular calls for caution. If, as Lupa.cz reports, watermarks in AI-generated text are easy to get around, platforms may pay more attention to how a profile behaves, for example a sudden flood of reviews after a long silence, or reviews that sound alike. A hotel that asks all guests the same way and on an ongoing basis does not create such patterns.
If you have already offered rewards, stop now
If you offered a discount or a drink for a review in good faith, the fix is simple. Just don’t put it off.
- Withdraw the offer everywhere. Cards in the rooms, message templates, the website, the sign at the front desk, the lines staff say to guests.
- Write one approved request text and give it to everyone who talks to or writes to guests.
- Set up the request so it goes to all guests in the same way and at the same time after departure.
- Don’t go round asking guests to delete or edit earlier reviews. It looks odd and solves nothing.
- If the profile has already been restricted, follow the platform’s instructions. Fix the cause, and in any appeal describe truthfully what you have changed.
In many countries, consumer protection rules also cover buying and faking public reviews. Check with a local expert what applies in your country.
Sources
Frequently asked questions
Can we thank a guest for posting a review?
Yes, in words. A reply under their review or a thank-you on their next visit is enough. The thank-you must not take the form of a gift, discount or perk, though, and the author of a critical review should receive it just the same.
Can we give a discount for completing an internal survey?
A reward for a non-public survey is a different matter from a reward for a public review. The problem arises when the discount is linked to the public profile link or when the survey is used to decide whom to ask. Keep the two completely separate and check the rules of the platforms you use.
What if a guest offers to write a review if they get a discount?
Decline politely and explain that you don’t offer anything for public reviews. If the guest is asking for a discount because of a genuine problem, handle it separately as compensation for that problem. Never make it conditional on what the guest writes or deletes.
Can we incentivise staff to ask guests for a few words?
With care. Bonuses based on the number of published reviews tempt staff to pressure guests or bend the rules. It is more sensible to reward making the request at every checkout and to monitor guest satisfaction overall.
How many public reviews does a small hotel need?
There is no fixed number. For guests browsing the profile, what usually matters is that reviews keep coming in steadily and are recent. A regular request after every stay therefore helps more than a one-off campaign.