Reputation FAQ

Overview

Within the Digital Marketing Performance Dashboard, the Reputation tab provides a specific place to manage guest reviews effectively. This article shows the most frequently asked questions about the following Reputation topics:

1. Reputation Review Responses
2. Reputation Free vs. Paid
3. Reputation Sentiment Analysis and Ask AI tool
4. Reputation Expedia Connection
5. Reputation Troubleshooting

⭐ Reputation Review Responses

• Question: Is it possible for users to respond to all their reviews?
• Answer: Yes, the system enables users to reply to most reviews* received, regardless of the channel. Additionally, users can respond to older reviews (up to one year old) if they have not yet been replied to.
  *Excepting Tripadvisor.

• Question: Can I reply to Tripadvisor reviews directly from Cloudbeds?
• Answer: No. Tripadvisor reviews are read-only and can’t be replied to from Cloudbeds at this time.

• Question: How frequently are reviews updated in the Reputation Management tool?
• Answer: For paid accounts, Reputation Management retrieves the last 12 months* of reviews per channel and updates them daily. The free version retrieves one review per channel per week.
  *Excepting Tripadvisor.

• Question: How much Tripadvisor review history will I see in Reputation?
• Answer: Reputation will initially display the 5 most recent Tripadvisor reviews. After that, up to 5 new Tripadvisor reviews are added weekly. Full historical review data from the past year isn’t available for Tripadvisor.

• Question: Are the AI-generated responses to reviews editable?
• Answer: Yes, customers can edit the generative AI responses before publishing them, or they can choose to respond to reviews manually.

• Question: Why aren’t my replies showing as “Replied” in the Reputation dashboard?
• Answer: Reviews are marked as “Replied” in Cloudbeds only after they have been successfully synced. The syncing behavior varies by channel:
  • Vrbo, Expedia, Airbnb: Replies are always synced immediately. Cloudbeds receives a callback once the channel approves the reply, and the review's status in the dashboard is updated accordingly.
  • Booking.com and Google: These channels do not provide callbacks. Therefore, replies are synced through a daily process, and it may take up to 24 hours for them to appear as "Replied" in the dashboard.

• Question: A guest left a review in a foreign language. How should I respond?
• Answer: Use the system's translation feature to understand the review in English. All replies should be in English to ensure future guests can easily understand them.

• Question: Does the system send reminders when I need to review an Airbnb guest?
• Answer: If the Review Reminder notification preference is enabled, yes, you can receive alerts when an Airbnb guest review is still pending. These reminders display how many days remain before Airbnb’s 14-day review window expires. Two reminders are available: one at 7 days left to review and another at 2 days left to review. The setting can be managed in the account’s Notification Settings.

⭐ Free vs Paid Reputation

• Question: What are the differences between free and paid Reputation features?

• Answer:

  • Free Reputation:
    • Downloads one review per channel per week.
    • No option to reply to reviews.
  • Paid Reputation:
    • Retrieves 12 months of historical reviews per channel (excluding Tripadvisor).
    • Daily updates of new reviews.
    • Includes AI insights.
    • Offers full reply management with generative AI responses (not available for Tripadvisor).

  Important: The AI-generated review summary (“Things to know / Overall summary”) is available only on the Paid Reputation tier and requires specific activation conditions:

  • Minimum of 50 reviews with text across all connected review sources.
  • Processing time of 3–7 days after subscribing to the Paid tier or after reaching the 50-review threshold.

  The summary does not appear instantly after upgrading. Even if a property already has more than 50 reviews, the system begins the sentiment analysis only after the Paid Reputation subscription is activated.

• Question: Is Tripadvisor available to all Cloudbeds users?
• Answer: Tripadvisor reviews in Reputation are available to properties subscribed to Paid Reputation.

• Question: Is it possible to start with the free version and then upgrade?
• Answer: Yes, absolutely. Please be aware that the free version has limitations, meaning you will receive a restricted number of reviews and will not have access to AI insights or generative replies.

⭐ Reputation Sentiment Analysis and Ask AI tool

• Question: How can I analyze and understand guest feedback across all my connected review channels?
• Answer: The Reputation dashboard includes Sentiment Analysis insights that analyze guest review text across connected channels. These insights are displayed in the Overview tab and summarize recurring themes in guest feedback, helping you understand how guests perceive your property.

• Question: What types of guest feedback are analyzed in Sentiment Analysis?
• Answer: Sentiment Analysis evaluates guest review text and organizes feedback into categories based on commonly mentioned topics. These categories may include areas such as Food, Bar, Location, Atmosphere, Transportation, Nightlife, Parking, Couples, and other themes derived from review content.

• Question: Why do my Overall or Category sentiment scores differ from the star ratings on channels like Airbnb or Booking.com?
• Answer: Sentiment Analysis is based on the written content of guest reviews rather than only the selected star rating. When there is a mismatch, the system prioritizes the language used in the review text to better reflect the guest’s actual experience.

• Question: What information does the timeline view show in the Reputation dashboard?
• Answer: The timeline visualizes how guest sentiment has evolved over time. It presents insights into traveler perception across a one-year period, helping you understand how your brand is being perceived during different times of the year.

• Question: Can I change the date range shown in the Sentiment Analysis charts?
• Answer: No. The dashboard does not include a manual date picker. The timeline automatically displays one full year of data to provide a consistent and long-term view of guest sentiment trends.

• Question: Is there a minimum number of reviews required for Sentiment Analysis and Ask AI?
• Answer: Yes. A minimum of 50 reviews with text across connected channels is required. Once this threshold is met, the system begins processing the data, which may take several days before insights and Ask AI responses become available.

• Question: What is Ask AI in my Reputation dashboard?
• Answer: Ask AI is a chatbot tool that allows you to explore guest feedback by asking questions based on your available Reputation data. It also presents suggested questions to help guide analysis of sentiment trends and review insights.

• Question: How does the system decide which questions are suggested in Ask AI?
• Answer: For each analysis, the system generates a set of potential questions. From this set, a subset is randomly selected and displayed as suggested questions in the Ask AI interface.

• Question: Does Ask AI provide recommendations on how to address guest feedback?
• Answer: Yes. Ask AI responses may include a Recommendations section with actionable suggestions based on guest feedback, such as adjustments to amenities or services mentioned in reviews.

• Question: How do I use Ask AI in the Reputation dashboard?
• Answer: From the Reputation tab, select Ask AI, choose one of the suggested questions or enter your own question, and submit it to receive a response. Suggested follow-up questions can be used to continue exploring the topic.

• Question: Why doesn’t Ask AI answer some of my questions in my Reputation dashboard?

• Answer: Ask AI allows you to ask questions freely, but responses are generated only when the relevant information exists within your available guest review text.

  • Ask AI relies exclusively on the content of guest reviews that have been successfully retrieved and analyzed in the Reputation dashboard.
  • If a question relates to a topic that is not mentioned, not frequent enough, or not yet processed within the review data, Ask AI may return limited or no results.
  • When Sentiment Analysis is newly activated or the 50 reviews with text requirement has just been met, the system may still be in a processing state. During this time, Ask AI answers may appear incomplete until analysis is finalized.
  • Suggested questions shown in the dashboard are generated based on the available analysis and are designed to reflect areas where sufficient data exists.

  Once enough review content is available and processing is complete, Ask AI responses become more detailed and actionable.

⭐ Reputation Expedia Connection

• Question: The Reputation product isn’t showing Expedia reviews, but Expedia is connected
• Answer: Add review permissions in the Expedia extranet:

⭐ Reputation Troubleshooting

• Question: Why don’t I see Tripadvisor reviews in the Reputation dashboard?
• Answer: Tripadvisor reviews are displayed automatically when Cloudbeds can match your property with Tripadvisor. If a match can’t be made, Tripadvisor won’t appear in the Reputation dashboard.

• Question: Can I manually connect Tripadvisor to Reputation?
• Answer: No. Tripadvisor connections are handled automatically. At this time, there’s no manual connect option in Cloudbeds. If your property can’t be matched, Tripadvisor reviews won’t appear in the Reputation dashboard.

• Question: Why isn't my reply visible?

• Answer: Replies are typically synced. However, in some situations, syncing might not occur due to channel limitations or pending moderation reviews. Please verify on the channel to confirm your reply was successfully posted.

  Additional situations where replies may not show or be enabled in the Reputation dashboard:

  • Replies are not allowed for any reviews that do not include review text (ie, rating only). The Reply button may be visible, but no reply is allowed. This applies primarily to Booking.com, but possibly to other channels as well.
  • If a property user has replied to the review on the channel directly, no reply will be allowed from the Reputation dashboard. As noted above, there may be a delay with syncing the reply from the channel (24-48 hours in some cases), so verify on the channel that a reply has been made.

• Question: Why don’t I see “Overall summary” insights in my Reputation dashboard?

• Answer: “Overall summary” insights appear when the dashboard has enough review text to generate a reliable summary. If the panel is missing, check the following:

  • The property has at least 50 reviews with text across connected review sources (ratings-only reviews don’t count).
  • After the 50-review threshold is met, allow time for processing. Insights typically appear within 3–7 days, and in some cases may take up to 10 days.
  • Reviews must be available in the dashboard for analysis (for example, channels are connected and review content is syncing normally).
  Dashboard with insights Dashboard without insights

  This layout includes an Overview area with insights such as the “Overall summary” and categories.

  

  This layout focuses on review feeds and does not display insight panels.

  

   If the requirements above are met and insights are still missing after 10 days, contact Cloudbeds Support to request an escalation to the Digital Marketing team.