Managing reviews
Review response templates for hotels, salons, restaurants and shops
Review response templates work when they answer the complaint your industry actually gets, and the complaints differ sharply between a hotel, a salon, a restaurant and an online shop. We tagged 3,207 one and two-star reviews from 320 businesses by topic on 17 October 2026: hotel guests wrote mostly about the room and its cleanliness, salon clients about the result and the people who did it, restaurant guests about the food, the staff and the bill, and shoppers about deliveries and messages nobody answered. Below are twelve templates, three per industry, each aimed at one of those complaints, with a note on the sentence that carries it.
What customers complain about, by industry
The reviews come from businesses that connected their review profiles to JustReview: Google for all four groups, plus Booksy and Moment for salons, Booking.com for stays, and eBay, Allegro, Amazon, Etsy and similar marketplaces for shops. We grouped businesses by the name on their Google profile and by the platforms they use, and checked every match by hand. Each review was then read in its original language (Polish, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Danish and more) by an AI model and given up to three topics from a fixed list. A hand check of 44 random labels found three debatable calls and no clear errors. To stop one large resort or chain from setting the result, we counted at most 25 recent reviews per business, and for shops we took each shop’s 20 most recent.
| Complaint topic | Hotels and stays | Salons | Restaurants | Online shops |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The core product (room, result, food, item) | 60.5% | 60.8% | 51.3% | 34.0% |
| Staff attitude | 18.1% | 34.3% | 32.5% | 5.2% |
| Price, fees or value | 19.3% | 32.4% | 24.6% | 9.0% |
| Cleanliness | 27.7% | 3.4% | 8.1% | 0.7% |
| Waiting | 5.5% | 7.0% | 15.4% | 0.6% |
| Booking, check-in or order handling | 10.9% | 7.9% | 6.4% | 6.4% |
| No reply or poor communication | 8.8% | 15.1% | 6.7% | 24.1% |
| Refund or return | 2.9% | 4.9% | 2.6% | 13.5% |
| Delivery | 0% | 0.6% | 1.4% | 37.5% |
| Wrong item or order | 0% | 0.4% | 7.2% | 12.6% |
| Noise | 13.4% | 0.6% | 1.4% | 0.1% |
| Health (reaction, injury, illness) | 1.3% | 7.2% | 2.0% | 0.5% |
| No concrete reason given | 13.9% | 5.8% | 8.1% | 7.2% |
| Reviews / businesses | 238 / 36 | 469 / 63 | 345 / 26 | 2,155 / 195 |
A review can raise several topics, so the columns do not add up to 100%. Five things stand out.
Shops are judged on what happens after the sale. 63.9% of negative shop reviews mention a delivery, a wrong item, a refund or an unanswered message. On Google the top complaint is silence: 41.8% of 349 reviews of 52 shops say nobody replied, against 18.7% on marketplaces, where delivery leads with 41.2%.
People matter most where the service is personal. A third of salon and restaurant complaints are about staff, and in salons 46.5% are about staff or communication. In shops the figure is 5.2%.
Hotels are the only group where cleanliness is a main topic, at 27.7%, with noise in 13.4% of reviews. On Booking.com cleanliness rises to 41.5%, though from only 41 reviews of 7 properties.
One salon complaint in fourteen describes harm: an allergic reaction, a burn or pain. That needs its own reply, below.
Almost every negative review is specific. Only 5.8% to 13.9% gave no concrete reason, so a specific reply is almost always possible. The real gap is reviews with no words at all: among one and two-star Google reviews written since 2022, 22.7% of hotel reviews were stars only, against 15.7% for salons, 14.8% for restaurants and 8.5% for shops.
How to use these templates
Find the template for the main complaint, replace everything in brackets with the details from the review, and add one sentence if the reviewer raised a second topic. Keep the structure of thanks, specific apology, what you changed and a named contact, described step by step in our guide on how to respond to negative reviews, which also has a template for a rating with no text. Reply within a day or two, and rewrite at least one sentence each time, so your replies never read as copies.
Hotel and guest house review response templates
Rooms, facilities and cleanliness make up most of what guests complain about, so two of the three templates are about the room itself. More on how stays collect and show reviews is in our guide to hotel reviews on your website.
1. A room that was not in the condition you advertise
Thank you for staying with us, [first name], and I am sorry the [shower in room 14 kept running cold]. That is a fault on our side, and you should not have had to report it twice. [Our maintenance team replaced the valve on 3 October.] If you come back, write to me at [email] before you arrive and I will have your room checked that morning.
What carries it: the fault named in the guest’s words and the date it was fixed. The next guest is deciding whether the problem is still there.
2. Cleanliness
[First name], thank you for telling us about the [hair in the bathroom and the stained towel]. There is no excuse for a room that was not ready, and I went through it with our housekeeping team the same day. I would like to make this right, so please contact me at [email] with your booking reference.
What carries it: no defence of your cleaning standards in general. A guest who found a stain wants to hear that this room was dealt with.
3. Arrival, check-in or a booking that went wrong
Thank you for the review, [first name]. Arriving at [11 pm] to find [nobody at reception] is not the welcome we promise, and I am sorry. We now [text every guest a key-box code on the day of arrival], so it cannot happen the same way again. I am [name, owner] and you can reach me at [phone].
What carries it: the change in process. “It will not happen again” only convinces when the reply says what changed.
Salon review response templates
The result of the visit leads, but staff and price follow close behind, so these templates cover all three. For where salon reviews live and how to show them, see reviews for beauty salons.
4. A result the client is unhappy with
[First name], thank you for coming in and for being honest about the result. I am sorry the [colour came out warmer than the shade we agreed]. We would like to correct it free of charge at a time that suits you. Please call [salon phone] and ask for [name], who will do the correction personally.
What carries it: a visible offer of a free correction. Other clients read a bad result as a risk to their own hair.
5. Not being listened to, or a stylist’s attitude
Thank you for your feedback, [first name]. You should feel listened to from the consultation to the moment you leave, and it sounds like you did not. I have talked this through with [the team]. If you are willing, I would like to hear more about your visit at [email].
What carries it: accepting the client’s account of how the visit felt. Arguing about what was said in the chair turns a private disagreement into a public one.
6. A price, a fee or a deposit that came as a surprise
Thank you, [first name]. I understand the [late cancellation fee] was frustrating. We charge it because [a slot cancelled on the day cannot be filled], and it is on our [booking page], but it clearly was not visible enough, so we have [added it to the confirmation text]. I am happy to look at your appointment at [email].
What carries it: one sentence of explanation, then a change in how the price is shown.
If a review describes a reaction, a burn or pain, do not use a template. Write two sentences: that you are sorry and want to help, and a phone number to call today. Keep treatment details out of the public thread.
Restaurant review response templates
Food comes first, but a third of complaints are about staff and 15.4% about waiting. More on showing reviews for a venue is in our guide to restaurant reviews.
7. The food itself
Thank you for dining with us, [first name], and I am sorry the [risotto reached your table lukewarm]. That should not leave our kitchen, and I have spoken to [our head chef] about [the pass on busy evenings]. If it happens again, tell your server and we will replace it straight away.
What carries it: describing the dish exactly as the guest did. “Sorry you did not enjoy your meal” reads as if nobody opened the review.
8. A slow evening
[First name], waiting [50 minutes for main courses] on a [Saturday] is too long, and I am sorry. We were [two people short in the kitchen], which explains it but does not excuse it. We now [take fewer bookings when we are short-staffed]. I hope you will give us another evening.
What carries it: the reason in one clause, then the change. Diners accept bad nights, not restaurants that pretend they did not have one.
9. How a guest was treated
Thank you for writing this, [first name]. The way you were spoken to at [the bar] is not how we treat guests, and I have discussed it with the person involved. I would like to apologise properly, so please reach me at [email] or [phone].
What carries it: not naming or defending the employee in public.
Online shop review response templates
Delivery, unanswered messages and refunds outweigh product quality in shop complaints, so the templates follow the order after it leaves your warehouse. For product-level reviews, see reviews on product pages.
10. An order that is late or never arrived
Hi [first name], I am sorry your order has not reached you. I have checked it and [the courier shows it stuck at their depot since 2 October], so we have [sent a replacement today with tracking]. If anything else goes wrong, write to [email] and you will hear from me the same day.
What carries it: proof that someone looked at this order, and a fix that does not depend on the courier.
11. A product that broke or was not as described
Thank you for the review, [first name], and I am sorry the [zip on the jacket] failed after [two weeks]. That is covered by our [warranty], and you do not need to send anything back. Email a photo to [email] with your order number and we will send a replacement or a refund, your choice.
What carries it: removing effort from the customer, since “send it back at your cost” is often what produced the review.
12. A refund or a message nobody answered
[First name], you are right that we took too long. Your message from [date] should have had a reply within [one working day], and it did not. Your refund of [amount] was issued today, and [name] is now looking after your order at [email].
What carries it: admitting the silence first. When the complaint is that nobody answered, a fast and specific public answer is half of the fix. On marketplaces, cut templates 10 to 12 to two sentences: what happened and what you did.
Limits of this data
These are businesses that chose to show reviews on their own website, mostly in Europe, so they are not a random sample of all businesses. Restaurants and stays are smaller groups (26 and 36 businesses), and their negative reviews lean towards 2017 to 2022, while 90% of the shop reviews are from 2021 onwards. Topics were assigned by a model from a fixed list and checked only on a sample, so treat differences of a few points as noise. Our copy also keeps reviews that a platform may since have removed. For review counts and ratings in the same industries, see our reviews benchmark by industry.
Why JustReview, once the reply is written
A good reply changes how a complaint reads, but most visitors to your website never open your Google profile to see it. JustReview shows your Google rating and reviews on your own pages, refreshed every 24 hours, next to the platform your industry lives on: Booksy for salons, Booking.com and Airbnb for stays, eBay, Allegro and Amazon for shops, each labelled by source and installed with one snippet. Start with the Google reviews widget. On the Ultimate plan you can answer Google reviews from the Replies tab of the same dashboard, so these templates sit one click away from the review they are meant for.
What to know before you sign up: the widget shows reviews, not your replies to them, so the public answer still lives on Google or the marketplace. Replies covers Google only and never posts anything by itself. The free Basic plan shows up to 100 Google and Facebook reviews in the badge widget, the Reviews Page layout on this page starts with Pro at 19 € a month, and Ultimate costs 39 € a month. Every plan is on the pricing page. To see your own reviews on your site first, create a free account.
FAQ
What should a hotel's reply to a negative review include?
The specific fault the guest described, what you did about it and when, and a named person to contact. In 238 one and two-star hotel and guest house reviews that we tagged on 17 October 2026, 60.5% complained about the room or the facilities and 27.7% about cleanliness, so most replies need to say that a particular room or bathroom was dealt with, not that the hotel has high standards in general.
Can you use the same review response template for every complaint?
No. Pick the template for the main complaint and add one sentence for the second, because most negative reviews raise more than one thing: 59.5% of the salon reviews in our sample, 58.0% of hotel reviews, 51.0% of restaurant reviews and 40.6% of shop reviews named two or more topics. Change at least one sentence every time, so that a reader scrolling through your replies does not see the same paragraph twice.
How should an online shop reply to a review about a missing order?
Show that someone checked this order, say where it is, and offer a fix that does not depend on the courier, such as a replacement sent today. Delivery was the most common complaint in 2,155 negative shop reviews we tagged (37.5%), and on Google the leading complaint was that the shop did not answer messages at all (41.8%), so a fast, specific public reply already addresses half the problem.