Should property managers respond to public ratings?

[Kalen Jordan]

Is there any good reason that property managers should respond to public ratings on .e.g. google? As I've been researching PMs some of the better ones that I've seen have higher ratings and tend to respond to most of the ratings.

I've asked a few PMs about this - I hear a lot of people say that if you're doing your job right you're going to get bad reviews, because tenants won't be happy about you enforcing the letter of the law.

I get that, and I know tenants can write some crazy (and not true) things, but I still don't see why a PM wouldn't still respond to the ratings? Sure it takes a bit of time but even if you did them in bulk on a weekly basis it couldn't take more than 10 to 15 minutes a week.

Curious what others' thoughts are on this.

[Karl B.]

I think all businesses in general on Google, Yelp, Angie's List, etc. should respond to all negative ratings. It shows they take pride in their business and want to improve.

I've seen a business respond to a negative review stating something like, "Sorry you had this experience with us. We want to make certain it never happens again so please e-mail us at (e-mail address) so we can get some more information from you). 

The above is much more impressive than a business owner/manager/customer service rep who simply ignores the review. 

A business that at least tries to improve/come to a solution with a customer (whether a legit complaint or something that's picky or straight up not true) is a positive.