ApartmentRatings.com

Isn't it time to realize that every apartment on ApartmentRatings.com has bad reviews? Isn't it time to realize that most managers and landlords know who puts most of these bad reviews on and more often than not, it was a problem tenant? Isn't it time to realize that just because people post bad reviews on ApartmentRatings.com, every apartment will have some problems at some times. Isn't it time to realize that these bad reviews on ApartmentRatings.com should probably be ignored? It's hard to get the good people to put good stuff on because many people just don't want to get involved. The managers and landlords can't turn around and put real information on the internet about the residents, even if they were bad residents who didn't pay their rent or skipped or destroyed the apartments they moved into and then post bad stuff on ApartmentRatings.com. Isn't it time to realize that it's too bad that ApatmentRatings.com allows people to post bad stuff about apartments that may really be good apartments?

John, I have to agree with you that most of the data in Apartment Ratings is negative, but I don't agree that the site is useless. The reason why the ApartmentRatings.com website is mostly negative is because we leaders in the industry are not paying attention to the post and responding with accurate resolutions. For example, I had a property in Lantana Florida many years back in which the property was beautiful, but every post in Apartmentratings.com was negative, because the previous management didn’t pay attention to customer service, or ensure that every negative post in apartmentratings.com was responded in a professional matter with a good resolution. What I did to resolve this, was immediately post a comment that new management had taken over, and that we were focusing in improving customer service. I then further installed a computer in the community room of our leasing office, and had residents with positive remarks about our changes, post a comment on apartmentratings.com. Right away, you can see that we had more positive comments than negative, and when we indeed had a negative comment, my onsite staff will respond with a resolution to the problem, turning that negative respond to a positive resolved issue. Of course, once I left, the new management didn’t focus on apartmentratings.com anymore, and if you go back today you will see again a bunch of negative remarks. But if you go back in the history, you will see when it showed attention from management. That is how you can make Apartmentratings.com useful for you. Its a great tool, if we in the industry focus on it.

First of all, it really doesn't matter what we think - we aren't the customers, and trying to change their view of ApartmentRatings.com would be a losing battle. Besides, I think that people automatically adjust their expectations based upon the environment. Since the site is quite negative, then instead of a 99% being excellent, maybe an 80% is excellent.

Just out of curiosity, John, what side of the equation do you fall into? Your profile says that your job type is "other", which usually means you do not work for a property management company. Are you on the supplier side of things?

Not only does it not matter what we think, the truth doesn't even matter. But not all reviews are negative.

If someone is angry, they may post a negative review on apartment ratings that is completely untrue. Few free to read my review that says there is sewage flowing through my hallways. (um, false.) It's definitely the problem tenants who are more likely to post a negative review, and prospects are usually aware of this.

The important thing is to respond to all the reviews in a professional manner. Apologize without taking blame for something untrue, thank them for their time, and let them know how to get their issue resolved. Bad reviews should be addressed, not ignored. Domino's Pizza really took ownership of their negative reviews and came out much more respected in the end.

Prospects will see your responses and will at least know that management makes an effort. I've noticed that my properties weaknesses can even be an attribute. We have very limited parking, but plenty of public transportation. A prospect once told me she toured my community because of my limited parking. Being disabled, she didn't want to be at risk in a high traffic community.

Since it's usually the unhappy residents who post reviews, that can skew the ratings. It's possible to get positive reviews too. All we have to do is ask, but we are so afraid of bad reviews we don't ask for the good ones.

Apartment ratings is very useful because it let's prospects know your communities strengths and weaknesses. Prospects are effectively "pre-screened" so of the ones who check reviews, those most interested in your strengths are more likely to inquire.

Even though my property is older and dated, my ratings are high, because I provide great customer service.

It is hard to get people to post good reviews. But ask anyway- frequently. I ask residents to post a review at each lease renewal, at retention events, during maintenance follow up, and again at move out. Most never do, but it didn't hurt to ask.

I Want to know what I can improve at my property. And I want prospects to know what my property has to offer, and what it doesn't.

www.apartmentratings.com/rate/OR-Tigard-...anor-Apartments.html

I'm just going with Godin on this one.

Please Complain

"If you want people to speak up, be clear and mean it. If you don't, don't pretend." - Seth Godin

Yes I know that people now use them to find their new apartment home. So we can’t ignore them. We are compelled to read them and make sure they say only good things about us for the sake of our livelihood, let alone our egos.

Many of these reviews are not only inaccurate but they also can be very personal. Even though you can remove the names from the ad they still can refer to people by title. I am almost convinced that many of these ads are posted by disgruntled employees or former employees due to their personal nature.

When I look at the scenario from a consumer standpoint, even if I did have a bad experience with the company I don't believe that I would personally attack someone that provided me a service or even have enough information about them to attack them personally unless I worked with them.

I read one the other day that cited that the leasing person was socializing with the resident when she should have been doing _______ . The review cited a very specific term for a task that would have been assigned to this person that no one with outside knowledge of the property operations would've ever known about.
So I'm certain that employees are involved but there is no way for me to prove it therefore resulting in no way for me to discipline.