While the review manager has always had in app messaging pop up with tips and tutorials and the help center has had best practices and templates, they now sit from and center in the campaign flow and review manager to make sure everyone on your team is able to optimize your campaign to follow best practices, save time and increase conversion.

New Campaign Daily Sending Limits to Improve Deliverability

With the rebuilt review manager and improved performance more companies have been sending more campaigns and larger campaigns.  To ensure strong deliverability new daily sending limits have been implemented which include (1) 250 users/campaign (2) 500 requests sent/day

New Pre-Written Base STARTER Templates

If its your first time sending a review campaign it might take you some brain racking to figure out what the heck to write to get users to leave reviews.  The review manager now has new pre-written base STARTER templates to save you to time.

Its important to remember these are STARTER templates and are meant to serve as a starting point but you ABSOLUTELY SHOULD CUSTOMIZE AND MAKE THEM YOUR OWN.  Remember, your goal is to follow all of the best practices but most importantly: 

1. Make sure you are sending your campaigns from someone users have rapport with and will recognize in their inbox
2. Make sure you customize your templates to sound like a personal 1-to-1 email to each user (not a generic mass marketing email!) 

You can also check out more pre-written starter templates in the help center and

In some areas of China where Google is blocked, the review form was blocking users from leaving reviews.  Therefore, HTR recently released a patch that will detect Chinese IP addresses and offer a workaround when Google Places won't load because it is blocked.

Followup with users who have been sent review requests but never left a review all at once to save time.

Learn more →

Please note that in order to access the Member Bot you must: (a) be logged in (b) have an active membership plan (check your member portal)

Here are a few of the topics that Member Bot can assist with: 

Collect richer feedback and reviews from customers with the new built in review grader to nudge customers along to sharing more of their expertise, insight and feedback.

1. Vendor verifications
2. Link Pre-Filling
3. Mass Followup
4. See Anonymous Reviews
5. Filter Reviews by Product
6. Filter Reviews by Status
7. Improved Template Formatting
8. Send Test Campaigns
9. Review Exports & Suppression List
10. New copy/paste templates library

Vendor Verifications

Get unverified reviews verified faster with self-verifications. Premium members can now utilize a new type of verifications, self verification.  Self verifications mean you have to reach out to hoteliers fewer times while getting more reviews approved and verified.

Link Pre-Filling

Pre-fill links to run targeted campaigns to users and pre-select the products they use to reduce fields and increase conversion.

⏯Pre-filling links (in the review manager)

⏯Pre-fill links (outside of the review manager)

Mass Followup

Followup with users who didn't leave a review after campaigns are complete without going 1-by-1. Once users complete a campaign, then what? Instead of going one by one you can now bulk select and send a mass outreach template to lots of users at once.

See Anonymous Reviews

Feature request shout out: Michelle @ HelloShift

Filter Reviews by Product

Filter reviews by product to save time flipping between profiles. Save time flipping between profiles to read reviews and see which products each reviewer chose to review right from the review manager and filter your reviews by product to more easily find specific reviews.

Feature request shout out: Michelle @ HelloShift

Filter Reviews by Status

Easily sort reviews by status to see when reviews are pending, which reviews you need to respond to or to hunt down rejected reviews and get them verified.

Improved Template Formatting

If you have tried pasting text into the custom templates in the automated review manager previously you may have noticed that the formatting carries over and can lead to inconsistencies if you don't reformat the styles from within the review manager.  Now the templates feature will automatically strip out excess formatting to ensure consistency in your templates.

Feature request shout out: Marvin and Ari @ RoomPriceGenie

Send Test Campaigns

Preview your campaigns before you press send.

Export Reviews

Members can now request an export of review data for internal analysis to share with product, customer success and marketing teams right from the review manager. (Note: Only company admins can access this feature). You can also download a suppression list right from the review manager.

👏 Feature request inspiration shout out: Saahil @ Oaky

Copy/Paste Templates Library

We recently added a new templates library section to the help center that includes inspiration for copy/paste templates for your team to use and to add to the review manager to help you save time and increase conversion.  Be sure to check out our latest high converting templates for collecting reviews during COVID times.

See when you have new leads without going to your vendor dashboard, check your membership status and access the HotelTechAwards live leaderboard without having to leave the main site and go to your vendor dashboard. 

👏 Feature request inspiration shout out: Flora @ GuestJoy

Check your registration status and current standings during the HotelTechAwards in real time and get live tips to improve your score and ranking.

👏 Feature request inspiration shout out: Anait @ D-EDGE

Check the benefits included with your current membership package and view available plans right from the vendor dashboard.

As stated in Hotel Tech Report’s Community Guidelines, any vendor found to be manipulating user reviews in any way will be subject to penalty on the platform. 

Below is a table outlining such penalties based on the level of infraction.  Hotel Tech Report values integrity and fairness above all else - violations penalties are non-negotiable.

Report a potential violation

Violation Severity and Penalties: 

Level 1 Infraction Scenarios (Moderate)

HTR's policy for 1st time Level 1 infractions where the offender claims it was an accidental violation or misunderstanding is to give the offender in question the benefit of the doubt for a first time offense.  Additional Level 1 violations after the first however will immediately escalate to level 2 infractions and incur penalties.

• Scenario 1a: If vendor is found to harass a reviewer about honest feedback left on the platform
• Scenario 1b: Vendor is found to be pressuring reviewers on the spot to write reviews and watching over their shoulders
• Scenario 1c: Vendor is found to be offering pay-per-review (vs randomized giveaway)

Level II Infractions Scenarios (Strong)

• Scenario 2a: Vendor is found to be compensating users for ONLY positive or five star reviews
• Scenario 2b: Any Level 1 violation that is a 2nd offense will immediately be escalated to a Level 2 infraction
• Scenario 2c: Vendor is found to be influencing user reviews by writing reviews for users and sending them the content to submit

Level III Infractions Scenarios (Severe)

• Scenario 3a: Vendor is found to be committing fraud 
• Scenario 3b: Vendor is found to be submitting reviews on behalf of users