A Complete Guide to Managing Guest Feedback and Reviews in Hotels

with a little help from Sunbeam

Introduction

Let’s face it: guest feedback can feel overwhelming. It’s coming at you from every angle—public reviews, private surveys, even casual remarks to your staff. But when you break it down, feedback is one of the most valuable tools you’ve got. It tells you exactly what your guests love, what they can’t stand, and what would turn a good stay into a great one.

The key is having a system. Feedback doesn’t just manage itself—you need to actively shape how you listen, analyze, and act on it. In this guide, we’ll walk through a clear process for making the most of guest feedback, from tackling big issues to catching quick wins before they slip through the cracks.

1. Start With What You Have

The good news is that you probably already have enough feedback to get started. Most hotels already have plenty of feedback flowing in from platforms like Booking.com, TripAdvisor, and Google, not to mention their own post-stay surveys.

Before chasing more data, focus on what you’ve already got. If you centralise everything—public reviews, surveys, and even staff-reported comments, you can get one clear picture of what guests are saying.

The goal here isn’t to collect more feedback but to make the feedback you already have more usable.

2. Establish a Rhythm

Managing feedback effectively is about consistency. Daily, weekly, and monthly routines ensure nothing falls through the cracks.

Daily

Check new reviews and respond to them promptly. You don’t need to reply to every review, and doing so may actually give the impression that the process has been automated. However, it is important to show that you’re listening, and to present your side of the story.

A quick daily scan is also great for catching any new major issues that you might not have heard about yet.

Weekly

Now you have the time to take a step back and look for trends. Are guests repeatedly mentioning the same pain points or highlights? Is there evidence that something has changed?

This is also a great time to meet with your team to discuss the actionable themes, and assign owners to tackle specific areas.

The focus here should be entirely on the problems that you actually have a chance of improving over the next week. Staff will quickly stop listening if they constantly get told the same, unmovable issues.

This is also a great opportunity to recognise team members that appear in positive reviews.

Monthly

Now you can dig deeper into the big picture. What’s improving, and what isn’t? Are satisfaction scores going up? Which themes correlate with lower bookings or fewer repeat guests?

This might also be time to compare your scores against other hotels in the same area. You’ve probably considered comparing your average satisfaction scores, but what about comparing your qualitative feedback too? Understanding how guests perceive your competitors, and comparing how often they mention each topic can help make it clear why guests choose one hotel over another.

Getting into these routines takes the guesswork out of feedback—it just becomes part of how you operate.

3. Cover the Basics

Guest feedback isn’t always straightforward. Guests might write in multiple languages, cover several topics in one comment, or even suggest improvements you didn’t expect. To handle this, you need feedback analytics that can deal with complexity.

• Support multiple languages: Feedback in its original language often captures nuances that get lost in translation.

• Allow for overlapping themes: A single review might mention great staff service but also complain about room cleanliness. Don’t flatten this into a single sentiment.

• Adapt to new topics: Feedback evolves. Maybe you’ve added a new amenity or launched a seasonal menu. Make sure your system can pick up on emerging themes without needing constant manual updates. Systems that operate with a fixed list of keywords or aspects particularly struggle with this.

Example: A boutique hotel introduced digital check-in kiosks. Guest feedback ranged from glowing reviews about speed to concerns over losing the personal touch. By categorizing this feedback across multiple themes, the hotel struck the right balance—keeping kiosks but adding staff presence nearby.

4. Top-Down: Focus on Big, Known Issues

Some problems don’t need to be “discovered.” You already know they exist—like a worn-out pool area or outdated rooms. The challenge is understanding their impact and building a case for change.

Quantify the Problem

• Use feedback to measure how often an issue is mentioned and connect it to guest satisfaction scores.

• Look for patterns: Are certain guest types more affected than others?

Build the Business Case

When pitching solutions to big problems, storytelling can make all the difference.

Combine a clear description of the problem, outcome metrics and guest quotes to illustrate why the issue matters:

• Situation: “Guests frequently challenge the quality of the in-room amenities, particularly older couples looking for a luxury weekend.”

• Example: I was very disappointed that the dressing gowns were all one size. My husband was embarrassed walking through the hotel to the pool with a gown that didn’t fit.

• Impact: “This correlates with an 8% dip in rebooking rates compared to last year.”

Evocative quotes help bring the numbers to life, especially when combined with hard data.

5. Bottom-Up: Catch What You Didn’t Expect

While big issues often stand out, some of the most valuable feedback is buried in smaller comments. That’s where bottom-up analysis comes in.

Spot Hidden Trends

• Look for recurring phrases or ideas. Guests might casually mention “dim lighting” or “complicated parking,” and these add up over time without ever rising to the top.

• Track new ideas or suggestions hidden in neutral feedback.

Segment Your Feedback

• Break down feedback by guest type, booking channel, or even time of year. Families, solo travelers, and business guests often value very different things.

• Use segmentation to prioritize fixes.

Example: A hotel noticed that families were the primary group mentioning noisy hallways late at night. By targeting soundproofing efforts on family floors, they addressed the issue where it mattered most.

6. Keep Up With Fast-Moving Trends

Not every issue requires a long-term project. Regular reviews help you identify quick fixes and respond before problems escalate.

Act Quickly on Emerging Issues

• Use alerts to flag sudden spikes in complaints—like noise during a renovation or Wi-Fi issues during peak hours.

• Fix smaller issues fast, and let guests know their feedback made a difference.

Empower Your Team

• Assign owners to specific feedback categories so nothing gets missed.

• Encourage team members to share guest suggestions—they’re often the first to hear them.

Example: A beachfront hotel noticed a sudden rise in complaints about beach chair availability. By adding more chairs within a week, they turned negative feedback into praise for being responsive.

Conclusion

With the right process, guest feedback and reviews can become your most powerful tool for driving guest satisfaction and loyalty.

Start with what you have, establish routines, and balance big-picture projects with quick wins. Whether you’re tackling major renovations or adding an extra toaster to the breakfast buffet, the key is to act—and show your guests that their feedback matters.

This isn’t just about solving problems. It’s about building a better guest experience, one comment at a time.

We built out hotel feedback and review management system, Sunbeam, to help with every step of this guide. All of the screenshots show real guest feedback and product features in Sunbeam. If you’re responsible for Guest Experience and looking for some help in handling your guest reviews, we’d love to be involved.