How to Get More Reviews on my Vacation Rental

[Catherine W.]

Hi All-

Question for vacation rental owners out there.  We've had our listing on HomeAway, VRBO and Airbnb for about a year now.  Here's the listings in case anyone wants to take a look:

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/2349920?guests=4&s=Ifqk

http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p3719746

We've gotten about 35 reviews between the different sites.  The thing is, we've had about 55+ reservations during that time.  On Airbnb, we've gotten a review from every one of our guests, but on HomeAway/VRBO, we've only gotten reviews from about 60% of our guests.

After every reservation, I'll reach out to the guest and ask them how their stay was.  If they don't have anything blatantly negative to say (which they never do), I'll go ahead and ask them to write a review.  Usually, I'll get a response like "Of course we'll write a review - we'd love to.  We loved our stay!" and then they never actually do it.  I usually follow up with them once, but that's it - I don't want to be too pushy.

Another thing to note - we sometimes greet guests when they check in (if not we have a keyless lock on the front door so they can let themselves in).  We don't ever really meet them when they check-out.  Perhaps if we were to ask them in person, or offer some sort of incentive (although I don't know what kind), it could increase the odds of us getting those extra reviews?

If anyone has any advice or experience on how to get more reviews, I'd love to hear it!

Thanks,

Catherine