Consumer Reviews & Guest Feedback Policy

2. Who can submit a review

2.1 We welcome reviews about your experience with us and your stay at the Property, directly and via Third Party Review Platforms.

2.2 We send all our customers who have made a direct Booking with us an invitation to submit a review. For more information about leaving reviews, please see the How to leave a review section.

2.3 We also welcome reviews about your experience by submitting a review via Third Party Review Platforms.

2.4 You can leave a review about a recent experience with us even if you haven’t made a Booking. You can review the Service provided by us (for example, you can review how we handled your enquiry).

2.5 You must be over 18 to leave a review.

3. We do not incentivise reviews

3.1 We do not offer any incentives for reviews (whether positive or negative).

4. How to leave a review

4.1 Following your stay, you may receive an email inviting you to provide feedback through UpFront Reviews. Where applicable, a reminder may also be sent.

4.2 If you booked your stay through an OTA, such as Airbnb or Vrbo, that platform may invite you to submit a review directly. The platform’s own review procedures and policies will apply.

4.3 You may also choose to leave feedback through publicly available review services such as Google.

4.4 Where a guest book is provided at a Property, you may leave comments in the guest book.

4.5 If you have any questions about providing feedback, please contact us using the contact details on our Website.

5. Review Standards

5.1 Your review must:

5.1.1 Reflect your genuine experience (both positives and negatives).

5.1.2 Not be incentivised in any way.

5.1.3 Not relate to a product or service you are connected with (for example, because you (or someone in your family) has a financial interest in or works for the business that provides it).

5.1.4 Not manipulate ratings (for example, you cannot submit multiple reviews for the same product or service).

6. Where and how we display reviews

6.1 We publish all reviews that comply with our Review Standards (whether positive or negative). Sometimes we remove old reviews and make clear the time period of review information being displayed.

6.2 Reviews for our East Ruston Cottages or individual Properties made via Third Party Review Platforms or directly with OTAs may appear on the Third Party Review Platforms/OTAs website. Our Website also links to reviews made on some Third Party Review Platforms and OTA sites.

6.3 We may display review information such as an overall rating by averaging the ratings received. Where such information is displayed, we explain what information is being displayed and the calculation.

6.4 We reserve the right to hide all reviews (whether genuine or fake) and cease taking reviews at any time.

7. We may use your review in our marketing

7.1 We may include all (or a representative part) of your review in our marketing material in any media (for example, on our website, social media or in advertising). Your identity will not be revealed.

8. Reporting of suspicious reviews

8.1 All reviews must comply with clause 5: Review Standards.

8.2 If you think any review is fake or otherwise does not comply with clause 5, please report to us via the contact details on our Website.

8.3 If you think any review submitted to a Third Party Review Platform is fake or otherwise does not comply with clause 5, please report to the Third Party Review Platform via the Third Party Review Platform website. Please see the end of this policy for useful links.

9. How we investigate and deal with suspicious reviews

9.1 If our own monitoring or a report from you or someone else suggests that a direct review does not comply with the Review Standards, we will promptly investigate.

9.2 We will consider the matter in accordance with our usual complaints procedures and may request further information where necessary.

9.3 We may:

9.3.1 immediately remove it (or not publish it, where it has been detected before publication). We will do this where we are certain it is non-compliant.

9.3.2 investigate it further (which may involve contacting the reviewer for evidence that it is compliant) and flag it as a possibly fake review until our investigation is complete or remove the possibly fake review until our investigation is complete. If we then determine the review is non-compliant we will permanently remove it.

9.4 If we identify one review as non-compliant we may remove all reviews submitted by the same reviewer and refuse to publish any further reviews from the same reviewer.

9.5 If we remove a review or are investigating it, we will not include that review in any aggregated review score.

9.6 If you disagree with our decision as to whether a review is compliant, you can contact us via the contact details on our Website. We will deal with the issue you raise in accordance with our customer complaints procedure.

9.7 Where we host reviews regarding the products or services of other traders (e.g., reviews about the Owner and/or the Owner’s Property) and, on assessment, deem the trader responsible for the banned reviews, we may take the following additional steps if we deem necessary on an assessment of the facts:

9.7.1 notify consumers that the trader has benefited from banned reviews by putting a clear notice on the website;

9.7.2 terminate the commercial relationship with the trader; and/or

9.7.3 notify the CMA of the trader's breaches of the banned practices.

9.8 For information on how the Third Party Review Platforms sanctions people who submit fake reviews, please see the Third Party Review Platform’s website.

9.9 If a review is removed from a Third Party Review Platform or otherwise does not comply with our Review Standards, we will remove it from our website.