What if a guest reviews your park with a bunch of complete lies, how are we to defend ourselves, especially when these lies are slanderous & defaming?

I would love to start a website that reviews guests, I wonder how they would like to be slandered & defamed.

I just look at other reviews a person has and the other reviews on the park they are talking about.
You get one bad one and the rest good you kind of know.

You can report your concern by clicking on "Contact Us," and a higher level admin will review what you report.

However, Wink has the right idea. If the ratings are almost all high with only bad one, then it is probable the reviewer was part of the problem and was just writing a vindictive review. If the problem is ongoing, then there will be mention of it in other reviews. Most people on this forum can easily determine the difference between a review identifying a real problem and one written just to get even with the park.

If it is a factual lie like there is no pool and there is, provide the site administrator proof. They should correct that type of information. If it is an opinion or just plain Liable (written lies), you are pretty much SOL. Anonymous reviews are just another hurdle businesses have to overcome. It is kind of a legal gray area, opinions are just that, opinions. Who is to decide, nice, rude, dangerous, smelly, clean, filthy, or any other descriptive term? Best defense is a good offense, push your good guests to post reviews and drown out the bad one.

When I was in the lodging business, we had a whole lot of bogus reviews done by competitors writing bad reviews about others and glowing reviews about themselves. It is real easy to do and very hard to stop. The finicial rewards can be great and in hard times, people do desperate things. The only way for us as consumers is to read multiple reviews and throw out the worst and best.

Free country (at least for now), start a website if you wish. But if you are so mad at being slandered and defamed with lies, why would you want to do the same thing?

Plenty of people out there do the wrong thing - let's don't increase that population.

I never said I wished to slander & defame anyone, I just thinks some guests should be rated, like the ones who think their too good to pick up after their dogs, or think nothing of driving thru someone else's campsite late at night, or stay way past check out time. I don't make a habit of telling slanderous lies about anyone or anything & I think those who do should be made known.

Let me go back to what kcmoedoe said. If someone makes an untrue factual statement about your park (intentionally or not), then yes, by all means report it with the "Contact Us" button. For instance, if someone says you do not have a pool when you do, then we want to set the record straight. Remember that some reviewers will say there is no pool just because it is closed for the season. We want the listing to indicate there is a pool even if it is closed seasonally.

However, if someone rates your park down because it does not have a pool, that is their opinion of what the park deserves based on the missing amenity. People rate parks based on what is important to them. If someone really likes to swim and if there is no pool available, he/she may reflect their disappointment in their rating. The next person may not care whether there is a pool or not, and therefore, will not lower the rating if there is not one available.

I personally do not believe that a reviewer should go so low as a 1 or 2 or slam a park just because a particular amenity is missing (assuming everything else is OK), but that is my opinion.

As for rating guests, I think I'll stay out of that one.

The RV Resort Site owner has the express right to make rules and to enforce them in a kind fashion. If you don't like it that dog owners don't pick up after their dogs there are many ways to tackle that. Same as the late check out. Campers have to obey the Resort owners rules. Simple as that. I agree, no need to create a website to report bad campers. Two wrongs does not make it right.

Remember, a review is that person's opinion of the RV park, and does not have to be in line with your own opinion of your park, or anyone else's opinion of your park. If I want an overnight stop, just to sleep, and do not care at all about your pool or other amenities, my review will state how the RV park met MY needs. Was it quiet, easy in and easy out? It could have the best amenities in the world, but if I could not get a good night's sleep, because of traffic noise, etc, my review will state that I was not happy. For the most part I do state if I stay at a park one night, or a week, but again, it is MY opinion of my experience and I refuse to be influenced by what other people experienced during their stay. Different people, different opinions.

While a review-type website would surely be inappropriate, be aware that many businesses keep a database of troublesome customers. Walmart, Home Depot and similar big box stores can and will keep records of returns, and when you have too high a percentage, just cut you off. Many hotel chains keep a database of guests who damage property, and refuse them service. I wouldn't be surprised if someday KOA had a similar database tying all the customer records from the different parks together.

Believe me I have a list of guests I will not "accommodate"! For the most part I have met many very nice people from all over the world & many return year after year. But there is always those few(thank goodness) that just stick in my memory.

We have a list of RV'ers that will not be allowed back in our park because of their behavior. We had a few RV's from one company that was working briefly in our area and they were so bad they were evicted and no one from that company will ever be allowed back here.

I'm so sorry to hear that someone wrote a bad review of your campground. I can only imagine just how frustrating it is to put your hard work and endless hours into a place only to have it written up poorly.

As TexasRVers said, if it's something completely false, such as they said there is no shower house and their actually is, by all means do have that corrected with the website. Make sure that's noted on YOUR OWN web site as well, because we often do click through to check that out.

But, if it's just a matter of someone who didn't get their expectations met when they stayed with you, the readers here can pretty much see through that when we read it. Also, if there are other, recent favorable reviews of your place, we're sure to take that into consideration, as well.

As for the number ratings in the reviews (1 - 10), please keep in mind that these are so arbitrary that I (and probably others) don't put much stock in them. I have seen reviews where people deducted points because the campground had recycling for plastics but not for glass, or other such trivialities. On the other hand, I gave a state park a 10 rating, even though many would think that's not an appropriate rating unless there are full hookups at each site.

And I do kinda like your idea about ranking the people who stay at your park. Makes me wonder what'd be said about us!

A good example of why some parks would want a database of questionable customers is the guy who just reviewed the Grand Junction Colorado KOA. Apparently he is the guy who posted a thread on the RV.net forums about how he would never give more than a 3 to a park that has wifi that doesn't meet his expectations. His review of the park even said the wifi worked, just not to his satisfaction. Got to admit it is people like this that would make such a list attractive to a business owner.

That review has sure raised a few hackles on RV.NET....

I'm a newbie here and rely almost exclusively on this site for help in selecting RV Parks to stay - and sometimes this is the only source I use. I have often read negative or bad reviews on a park, and stayed there anyway - just recently did that with one park. Read the other reviews and to be honest what I was most concerned about with the park was that we would have privacy if we wanted it (not having to enter into park activities, etc.,). We did, and the problem the bad reviewer had never appear for us or our friends who were there. My feelings are that if you don't make the RV park owner aware of problem/dissatisfaction, you really can't make the bad review (which is what I suspect in my case). IOW, the customer was miffed about something and instead of taking it to owner, decided to make bad review. As owner of 3 companies, I prefer my customers to come to me first with problem, so I can make it right - most RV owners are same way. Just from a customer's point of view.

First, welcome to the forum. You have a good point.

I personally discount any review that is a rant about an incident at a CG. Human nature being what it is, I figure that they didn't much care about the review, but just wanted to vent. I do factor in a review were the individual has made negative comments but has done it in a tactful, fact based manner where there is a legitimate concern for letting others know that there might be a problem.

I suspect that most RVers, to include those who post reviews, do make an initial attempt to work with the CG staff to solve issues. I've been RVing for a long time and haven't had many problems, but one thing I have observed is that "staff" is not necessarily the management nor do they have that type authority. It is incumbent upon the owner, as you have done with your companies, to make themselves available as the ultimate source for problem resolution. If that doesn't happen then getting a bad review might be the result.

The original post on this thread was written by a park owner who felt the review on her park was malicious and felt she should have some method of recourse.
As a park owner I can relate to her frustrations
One of the replies indicated that as she got more good reviews it would be apparent that the one bad one was undeserved.
I have had 8000 reservations in the last four years and have had 3 reviews in that time. At that rate it could take three to four years to recover from a bad review.
Another reply indicated that all reviewers tried to sort out their problems with management first.
Although I have never had what I would call a bad review I have had reviews with negatives included. Never, have the reviewers discussed these things with me or my staff, and my staff all have the authority to resolve any problem to the customers satisfaction.
I do believe that the administrators of this site are responsive to fake reviews and I thank them for that, however I have been approached by people offering good reviews for reduced rates and wonder just how prevelant that is.
All in all I feel this is an informative site and I use it when I travel also but I would certainly not use it as my only basis to choose a park.

We stayed at one park that prominently includes on their amenities and rules sheet; "If you are dissatisfied with any part of your stay with us, please give us the opportunity to make it right. Except the weather, we don't have any control over that. If you are pleased with your stay, please let your fellow RV'ers know about us at RVParkReviews.com."

I suppose that smacks a bit of suggesting we only post the good stuff, but it also reminds us to make the effort to have an issue corrected before complaining about it publicly. Some issues of course are plainly obvious, such as poorly maintained buildings, and either the park management doesn't care, or they don't have the resources to fix them. Other issues, such as a broken power outlet, may not be noticed by management unless it's brought to their attention. In either event, letting the park management know of our concerns is to our benefit, even if it isn't something that can be corrected on the spot.

The program we use allows us to make notes on campers and often, if a camper leaves and there is a big mess on their site, I will make a note, or a violation, on their record. That way, the next time they call to book in I have the red flag and can deal with it appropriately at that time.

Like most have said: read other reviews . I also look at what they used to downgrade. If it's just the fact that their puppy got stickers in his coat or something like that, I take it with a grain of salt. If they don't like something that doesn't concern me, I go ahead and use the park. Most time these reviews will be preceeded or followed by other people who loved the place.

This is why I think adding a pic or 2 to a review would be great! or maybe be able to link the pic to a gallery here on the site. I think it would be very beneficial.

You have to know how to read between the lines. and I have seen a bunch of questionable reviews that I blow off as a guest/customer that will just never be happy!

I think I understand what you mean. The others react that one should read the other posts of a camping, but one should read the posts of the person's other posts. My idea is, that if the other posts are " normal" reactions, this one bad assertion could be true. If this person posts seldom, or has only bad reviews, one should ignore his reviews. So, judge a camping not only on reviews, but judge the review itself, too.