For Hotel Front Desk Agents ·
What you'll accomplish
By the end of this guide, you'll have a personal system for responding to guest reviews on TripAdvisor, Google, and Booking.com in under 2 minutes each — instead of 15-20 minutes. You'll use ChatGPT with a custom prompt that knows your hotel's name, your response style, and your general policies, so every response sounds like it comes from the same professional voice.
What you'll need
What you should see: The ChatGPT interface — a clean chat window where you type messages and get responses. The left sidebar shows your conversation history.
Troubleshooting: If the site says "at capacity," try again in 10-15 minutes, or use claude.ai — the Claude interface works identically for this guide.
This is the core of the system. You'll create one prompt that you reuse (with slight edits) for every review. In a new ChatGPT conversation, type and save this template in a notepad or your phone's notes app — you'll paste it every time:
You are a hospitality professional writing a response to a guest review on behalf of [YOUR HOTEL NAME]. Our response style is warm, professional, and genuine — not corporate or robotic.
Guidelines:
- For positive reviews: Thank them by name, highlight something specific they mentioned, invite them back
- For negative reviews: Acknowledge their experience empathetically, apologize for falling short, mention we've taken note, invite them to contact us directly to make it right
- Never be defensive
- Keep responses under 100 words
- End with: "We hope to welcome you back soon — [Your Name], [Your Hotel Name]"
Now write a response to this review:
[PASTE REVIEW HERE]
[PASTE REVIEW HERE] with the actual review text[YOUR HOTEL NAME] and [Your Name] with actual valuesWhat you should see: A complete, polished review response in about 3 seconds. It will acknowledge the specific things the guest mentioned, match the tone (warm for positive, empathetic for negative), and stay under 100 words.
Troubleshooting: If the response feels too generic, add more detail about your hotel to the prompt — e.g., "We are a boutique property in downtown Charleston, known for personal service and locally sourced breakfasts."
Once you've tested and refined the prompt:
For a short, glowing 5-star review:
Write a brief, warm thank-you response to this 5-star hotel review. Be specific about what they mentioned. Under 60 words. End: "We'd love to welcome you back — [Name], [Hotel]"
Review: [paste]
For a detailed complaint (1-2 stars):
Write an empathetic, professional response to this negative hotel review. Acknowledge each concern specifically, apologize genuinely, and invite them to contact us directly to make it right. Under 100 words. End: "We hope to earn a second chance — [Name], [Hotel]"
Review: [paste]
For a mixed review (3 stars):
Write a hotel review response that thanks the guest for the positive feedback and specifically acknowledges the issues they raised. Don't be defensive — show we're listening and improving. Under 90 words. End with an invitation to return. [Name], [Hotel]
Review: [paste]