Blog
Review gating: why you should ask every guest for a review
Review gating is asking only happy customers for a public review and sending unhappy ones somewhere private. Google's review policy forbids it. The safe way is to ask every guest, at the right moment, and to fix problems quickly while the guest is still with you.
What is review gating?
It usually looks like this. After a stay, a hotel sends a short survey: “How was your stay?” Guests who pick four or five stars get a link to the Google review page. Guests who pick one to three stars get a private feedback form instead. The second path is the gate. It keeps unhappy guests away from your public reviews.
Many review tools used to offer this as a feature. It still shows up in plenty of hotels, agencies and clinics today.
What Google's policy says
Google's policy on user-contributed content says businesses must not discourage negative reviews or “selectively solicit positive reviews” from customers. The same policy also bans:
- Offering money, discounts, free stays or gifts in return for a review.
- Paying or rewarding someone to change or remove a negative review.
- Asking staff to collect a set number of reviews, or reviews that name them.
- Pressuring guests to write a review while they are still on the premises.
Google does allow you to ask customers for reviews, as long as you ask without incentives and without trying to influence what they write.
In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission's guidance for marketers says the same thing: do not ask for reviews only from customers you expect to be happy.
What can happen if you gate reviews
Google can remove reviews that break its policy, and repeated problems can lead to restrictions on your Business Profile. Gating also skews what you learn. If unhappy guests never reach your reviews, you stop hearing the complaints that would help you improve, and future guests stop trusting a page of perfect scores.
Can you still collect private feedback?
Yes. A private “How was your stay?” survey is fine. What is not fine is using the answer to decide who gets asked for a public review. Send the review request to every guest, whatever score they gave. You can still follow up an unhappy guest privately to put things right.
How to get more reviews the right way
- Ask every guest. More reviews in total makes one bad review matter less.
- Ask at the right time. At checkout, or within a day of the trip or stay ending.
- Send a direct link. Use the link from your Google Business Profile that opens the review box.
- Keep it personal and short. Use the guest's name and mention the host, guide or property.
- Fix problems during the stay. A message on day two asking if everything is fine catches problems before checkout. Our guide to hotel guest messaging shows when to send it.
- Reply to every review, good or bad, calmly and by name.
A review request you can copy
Hi Sara, thank you for staying with us at [property]. We'd love to hear how it went. If you have a minute, you can leave a review here: [link] If anything wasn't right, reply to this message and we'll sort it out.
Send the same message to every guest. The last line gives an unhappy guest a way to reach you, without keeping them away from your reviews.
How Socavi handles reviews
Socavi's Reviews & Rebooking Agent is coming next. It will ask every guest for a review after the trip or stay, and flag unhappy guests to your team at once so you can put things right. It will never ask only the happy ones. Today, the Guest Agent already handles messages during the stay. See the agents, or read how stays can win more direct bookings.