How to reply to guest reviews on MakeMyTrip and Goibibo

This is OneHorizyn's own guide, written from MakeMyTrip's Go-MMT Partner Community help. MakeMyTrip asks hotels to check their reviews routinely, to see their hotel as guests do.

1. 1Log in to the InGo-MMT extranet at in.goibibo.com/extranet, typed into the address bar yourself.
2. 2On the Dashboard, open the “Reviews” tab.
3. 3Use the toggle to switch between MakeMyTrip and Goibibo.
4. 4Choose what to see: “All Reviews”, “Not Replied”, “Replied”, “Booking Reviews”, “Non Booking Reviews” or “Photo Reviews”.

• Booking Reviews shows each review with the booking ID of the guest who stayed.
• Non Booking Reviews are older reviews from people who didn't stay with you. MakeMyTrip no longer accepts them.
• Photo Reviews are the reviews where guests added their own photos of your hotel.
• Your reviews are in the InGo-MMT mobile app too.

1. 1In the “Reviews” tab, click “Not Replied” to see every review still waiting for an answer.
2. 2Click “Reply Now” on the review and type your reply in the box below it.
3. 3You can add your “Name” and “Designation” in their boxes.
4. 4Click “Send”, then “Yes” in the window that opens to confirm.

In the InGo-MMT mobile app, replies are under the reviews and ratings section. Once a guest's review arrives, the booking shows a “Review Received” tag, and the review is on the “Ratings & Reviews” screen.

• Any guest who books your hotel on MakeMyTrip or Goibibo can review it.
• Every review goes through a moderation check before it is published, for offensive language and to confirm it is genuine. MakeMyTrip says its moderators keep fake, irrelevant and duplicate reviews off the sites.
• Every published review is shown to travellers on the websites and apps of both MakeMyTrip and Goibibo.
• Every traveller can read your replies. MakeMyTrip asks you to reply properly to each review, positive and negative, and says other travellers take a reply to a negative review well.

MakeMyTrip's help says to reply to every review but doesn't say what to write. This is OneHorizyn's own advice, the same as for any review site:

1. 1Thank the guest, and for the detail they gave.
2. 2Name the problem in their own words, so it is clear somebody read the review.
3. 3Say what you did about it, or will do, in one plain sentence.
4. 4Invite the guest to contact you, by your name or role, so the next reader sees a person behind the reply.
5. 5Keep it to four or five sentences, and fill in your name and designation.

• Leave out the booking ID, the price paid, the guest's phone number and anything else the guest didn't write themselves.
• Don't argue. A reply that proves the guest wrong reads badly to the next traveller.
• Write a different reply each time. The same paragraph under every review shows that nobody read them.

• Open “Not Replied” on MakeMyTrip, then switch the toggle and do the same on Goibibo.
• Start with the low ratings, newest first: they are what a traveller scrolling your page reads.
• Answer anything about safety, hygiene, theft or harassment the same day.
• Then thank every other guest briefly, in your own words.

A complaint dealt with while the guest is still with you doesn't wait for the review. MakeMyTrip's guest chat lets you message a guest who has booked:

1. 1In the extranet, click “Messaging Centre”, then “Guest Messages”.
2. 2Enter the booking ID or the guest's name.
3. 3Click “Initiate Chat” and write your message.

• Guests can start a chat too once it is on for your property; if it isn't, ask your Business Development Manager. MakeMyTrip says chat before booking is only for homestays, villas, apartments and hostels.
• You are told about new chats by email and in the InGo-MMT app, with a reminder about unanswered chats every three hours.
• You can reply until two days after the guest checks out.
• The guest's email address and mobile number show under Customer Details in the “Bookings” tab from 3 days before check-in.

The “Request Review” button sends a guest MakeMyTrip's request for a review by email or WhatsApp. It is on by default for every booking between check-in and check-out.

1. 1Log in to the InGo-MMT extranet.
2. 2Open your booking list under the “Bookings” tab.
3. 3Click “Request Review” beside a booking whose guest is staying with you now.

• The button then shows “Review Requested” and comes back after 24 hours, so you can ask once a day until check-out. MakeMyTrip limits it so guests aren't sent too many requests.
• The message is MakeMyTrip's own and can't be changed.
• MakeMyTrip sends no reminder by itself, and suggests following up with guests during their stay.
• Ask every guest the same way, not only the ones who seem happy.

MakeMyTrip says it doesn't normally delete reviews, positive or negative, once they pass moderation. If you strongly believe a review isn't genuine, ask your Business Development Manager to remove it, with your reasons and these details:

• Property name and city.
• The guest's name and email address.
• The booking ID, in HTML format.
• The guest's booking voucher.

Old reviews can be removed only after a change of management, such as when you have bought or taken over a hotel that someone else ran. Send your Business Development Manager proof of the change, its exact date, and the property's name and city. MakeMyTrip then removes every review with a check-in date before the change.

MakeMyTrip's help also shows how to find who wrote a review: copy its booking ID from the “Reviews” tab and paste it into the Booking ID search in the “Bookings” tab. Use it to contact the guest privately, never in your public reply.

Every published review and reply shows on both sites, and some of MakeMyTrip's own programmes ask for a minimum rating. One example is its goSTAYS and MMT ValueStays programme for independent budget hotels in India, which also has rules on rooms and prices.