In the old days, before the Internet and social media, good or bad reputations only mattered for famous people or groups with state or national recognition. If a restaurant was poor or an apartment building was a good place to live, it was usually only locals who knew it either way.

Things have changed a lot in the Internet age, and now if an apartment building gets a bad reputation, people worldwide can find out about it just by looking it up on review sites. This means that now, more than ever, a good reputation is critical to successful property management, especially for multi-household residential buildings.

If you’re already in a situation where your building has a damaged reputation, while it’s not easy, it is possible to repair this.

Identify The Problem

This is the first step, and often the most difficult, because tracking down the issue can be difficult, or in some cases, difficult to accept. For example, if online reviews say an apartment building is bad but don’t go into detail about the issue. Rectifying a problem you can’t even identify is challenging at best. On the other hand, if the criticisms are specific, such as many reviews claiming interactions with the staff leave them feeling hurt and insulted, you may not want to accept this and even pretend the problem doesn’t exist if it is staff members you like or even yourself.

However, if reviews are consistent about criticizing a specific aspect, especially if it is recent, then this will nn continue to be an ongoing issue that appears in reviews unless you are willing to tackle it.

Transparency

The next step is informing the people who may be affected. For example, if there are consistent negative remarks about plumbing issues and you are taking steps to repair them, let people know. Transparency is good because the affected people know you have heard and are responding to their comments, and you have taken the extra step of letting them know exactly what is being done about it.

How much transparency you allow depends on the nature of the issue and whether privacy or contractual violations are involved. For general repairs or staff issues, however, it’s generally good to disclose as much as possible.

Commit To Addressing The Issue & Get Feedback

Once you know the problem, find the solution and have appropriate team members implement it. If it is a problem with staff, this may involve disciplinary actions, implementing new policies, or even staff reduction measures. For repairs or infrastructure issues, it means getting the professionals in to do the work in a way that is not too disruptive for residents.

Transparency is still important so that people know their issues are being addressed. Surveys are always a good idea at this stage to better understand how people feel. When these issues are handled, it’s not unusual to see people revise their reviews. Going forward, however, it also means newly written reviews won’t carry the same negative sentiment.

If you’d like more help building up your reputation online or in real life, contact Occupancy Solutions and let us help.