Travel sites like the trip advisor and similar can be hugely damaging to any business and gives customers a platform where they can really go all out to poison reputations and destroy businesses completely. While honest feedback is always appreciated, especially constructive responses that aid any industry in their on going training, maintenance, product sourcing and general “up keep” of the business in their effort to exceed customer satisfaction, most times vidictive remarks and comments left on trip advisor is a direct result of a customer who “didn’t get his own way”. There are many ways to sort out a problem and going directly to management level or above, problems are almost always resolved so those people addicted to trip advisor, in my opinion, should put their talents to some constructive use and perhaps start writing articles to keep their grubby little paws busy.

The feedback on TripAdvisor are of great distress to many a small business who, if not 100% accommodating to customes with regards to discounts and free bees are constantly threatened and basically black mailed that the customer will use trip advisor and similar sites to damage them. It is such a shame that so few people take the time to write about their good experiences. If industrys, especially resorts and hotels, could put everything that is said about them in their guest comment book at their reception desks, on TripAdvisor, they would then score TOP MARKS, but that will be unethical and seen as “self marketing”. Travel sites like TripAdvisor can be very damaging, as the statistics for any service industry shows; only 1 out of 10 customers will pass on their positive feedback, where if they had a bad experience, 8 out of 10 will tell about 10 people and so the circle of destruction starts nevermind those who get their family and friends to join them on their disaster campaign. In one case that we studied, regardless of the negative comments on trip advisor, the resort was still no 8 of the Top Hotels on Zanzibar… In the case where a site like TripAdvisor with 8 million members, it could be devastating for any business. Off course if the customer is paying for a service, their expectation is to receive good service / enjoy a good product and for any serious business, the aim should be to exceed that expectation. An interesting question came up: What if the guest was under the wrong impression and the wrong expectation was created even before they have set foot on the resorts premises?  This is exactly what happened with one guest that wrote negative feedback of the 30th of September about Mtoni Marine resort in Zanzibar. They were sold a 4 star hotel. Anyone living on Zanzibar would tell you that it is very difficult if not impossible to put a star rating to any hotel there. As a South African with many friends in Zanzibar, I can tell you that if I was sold a room in a 4 star hotel and I arrived at Mtoni Marine resort, I would be very disappointed. But….it wouldn’t be the resorts fault….it would be the fault of the person who sold it to me and in order to close the deal, painted a four star picture.

As stated in all of Mtoni resorts marketing material they are “as laid back as home”, they are a family friendly resort, they are the only private beach outside of Stone Town. They do not have TV’s in the rooms, they do not have mini-bars, they do not have room service and they do not have telephones in the rooms. All items that would be associated with a 4 star hotel. They are what they are and they would never apologise for that. BUT….. if a tour operator sells Mtoni to an agent here in South Africa who then sells it to a client and everyone is making money in the process, by the time the client has paid, they have a certain expectation. Mtoni Marine cannot meet that expectation if everyone has added a mark-up to the original price and in most cases a huge mark-up. Mtoni are most certainly not a 4 star hotel, but it is a  beautiful resort with all the special touches that makes them unique and have many a regular guest returning year after year. But nevertheless, if sold as a four star in South Africa (or anywhere in the world) and customer is disappointed after arrival, who is actually to blame here?  Then….. someone goes onto the trip advisor and writes the biggest load of bull but omits to tell the world that he arrived at the resort with a very different expectation and he doesn’t tell the world that his favourite travel agency in South Africa sold the resort to him as a four star resort.  Oh no….that part is left out and the world is left to think that Mtoni is the shittiest resort on the island.

I could write pages and pages on small businesses who have been wrongfully damaged by defiant, rude, obnoxious clients or customers and I could get justification from the businesses for all comments left on the trip advisor, but what I can’t do, is explain some human beings attitudes. There are (unfortunately) just some people that you can’t keep happy…..ever!!!  If these kind of people choose to spend their entire stay at the resort or hotel not talking to each other and just shouting at staff or beating one another up…..exceeding guests expectations is very difficult.  Perhaps all of the trip advisor viewers, trying to make up your mind about a particular hotel, resort, service…and you’re looking at the trip advisor for the answers…it might be a great idea to read between the lines before allowing the comments to change your mind on the hotel or resort that you had in mind from the beginning.

sent anonymously via email

Tags: Mtoni, resort, Trip Advisor, Zanzibar