Reviews Policy

For the purposes of this policy:

• A fake review is a review that appears or claims to be based on a genuine experience but is not

• A concealed incentivised review is a review that does not make clear that the reviewer received or was promised money, a discount, refund, free stay, gift or another benefit in connection with the review

• Consumer review information includes information derived from reviews, such as overall ratings, review scores, review counts, rankings and review summaries

Fake reviews can be positive or negative. A review is not fake merely because it is critical of Knockerdown Cottages, a stay or event with us, or because Knockerdown Cottages disagrees with the reviewer’s opinion.

A fake review is a consumer review that purports to be, but is not, based on a person’s genuine experience.

Customers of Knockerdown Cottages are welcome to submit reviews any time via their platform of choice. We do not offer any incentive, financial or otherwise in exchange for customers leaving positive reviews.

You may leave a review where it reflects your own genuine experience of:

• The Knockerdown Cottages stay or event you experienced

• The Knockerdown Cottages booking or enquiry process

• Communication or customer service provided by Knockerdown Cottages

Depending on the platform, a reviewer may be the lead booker of a stay or event with us or another guest who experienced this stay or event.

You do not necessarily have to be the person who paid for the booking. However, you must have a genuine connection to the experience being reviewed (e.g. service or the stay / event with us) and must comply with the rules of the platform on which you submit the review.

Customers via OTA platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com are invited to leave feedback and a review following their stay. This process is handled by the platforms themselves.

You are welcome to review both your experience with our service and/or the experience of the stay or event with us as part of your review.

5.1 Online travel agency (OTA) reviews

Customers who book through an online travel agency (OTA), such as Airbnb or Booking.com, may be invited by that platform to leave a review. The relevant platform controls:

• Who is eligible to leave a review

• When the review may be submitted

• How the review may be submitted

• How ratings are calculated

• How the review is moderated or reported

Knockerdown Cottages may display, link to or refer to reviews and ratings from these platforms. We will identify the source where appropriate and will not present an OTA review as having been independently verified by Knockerdown Cottages.

Where Knockerdown Cottages displays the reviews from these platforms on the website it will be via an Elfsight reviews widget. This widget simply pulls the review information, review counts and star rating from the platform to display on the website and does not in any way alter the original review submitted to that platform.

5.2 External review platforms

Customers may leave reviews on independent platforms such as Google or TripAdvisor. These reviews are publicly submitted and are managed by the relevant platform.

Knockerdown Cottages does not control whether an independent platform publishes or removes a review.

Knockerdown Cottages may display, link to or refer to reviews and ratings from these platforms. We will identify the source where appropriate and will not present an OTA review as having been independently verified by Knockerdown Cottages.

Where Knockerdown Cottages displays the reviews from these platforms on the website it will be via an Elfsight reviews widget. This widget simply pulls the review information, review counts and star rating from the platform to display on the website and does not in any way alter the original review submitted to that platform.

Where Knockerdown Cottages republishes an external review on a channel under our control, this policy apples to our use of that review.

5.3 Direct feedback and testimonials

Customers may provide feedback directly to Knockerdown Cottages by email, via a JotForm, in-person guestbook, or social media. Direct feedback is not automatically treated as a public review.

Knockerdown Cottages may publish direct feedback as a review or testimonial where we have reasonable basis for believing that it relates to a genuine experience, it meets our rules for publication, and we have permission to use it where required.

We aim to present reviews and testimonials accurately and with sufficient context for customers to understand the stay, event or service they relate to. We will not select, edit or present feedback in a way that gives a misleading impression of customer experiences. Where selected feedback is presented specifically as a testimonial, it will be identifiable as such.

We may shorten an extract or correct an obvious typographical error, but we will not edit feedback in a way that changes its meaning or makes it more favourable or less critical.

We may also redact personal information where necessary. Any privacy redaction will not be used to change the meaning of the review or testimonial.

Review invitations sent or arranged by Knockerdown Cottages are intended to be neutral. We will not:

• Ask customers to leave only a positive or 5-star review

• Discourage customers from leaving an honest negative review

• Make complaint resolution, compensation or another remedy conditional on a customer not leaving a review

• Ask a customer to remove or change an honest review in exchange for a refund, gift or other benefit

• Place pressure on a customer to change the sentiment of their review

Resolving a complaint does not prevent a customer from leaving an honest review of their experience.

Knockerdown Cottages does not offer money, discounts, refunds, gifts, free stays, competition entries or other benefits in exchange for customers leaving, changing or removing ordinary customer reviews.

We will not publish or republish a concealed incentivised review.

Where Knockerdown Cottages separately publishes paid, gifted, or otherwise incentivised advertising or endorsements, it will:

• Be based on a genuine experience

• Be clearly identified as advertising or incentivised content

• Not be presented as an ordinary customer review

When submitting a review, it should:

• Reflect the reviewer’s genuine experience

• Be honest and accurate to the reviewer’s knowledge

• Relate to a stay, event or service experienced

• Not be submitted using a false identity or another person’s account

• Not be generated or submitted using a bot or another automated method intended to mislead

• Not be duplicated or submitted through multiple accounts to manipulate a rating or review count

• Not conceal an incentive or material connection with Knockerdown Cottages, an employee, a supplier or another relevant party

• Comply with the rules of the platform in which it is submitted

• Not contain unlawful content, threats, hate speech, discrimination, targeted harassment or personal information that should not be made public

Knockerdown Cottages employees, suppliers, and people connected with them must not pose as independent customers.

A genuine negative review will not be removed merely because it is critical, gives a low rating or contains an opinion with which Knockerdown Cottages disagrees.

Critical comments about a service or interaction are permitted. Threats, targeted abuse or harassment are not. Abuse of Knockerdown Cottages staff or local stakeholders will not be tolerated.

Knockerdown Cottages may display reviews and review information on the Knockerdown Cottages website, social media, email marketing, digital advertising, printed marketing materials and press or public-relations materials.

We aim to present reviews and review information accurately and with sufficient context for customers to understand what they relate to.

9.1 Website pages

Where relevant, pages on the Knockerdown Cottages website may include third-party review widgets displaying reviews submitted through external platforms, such as Airbnb, Booking.com, Google and Tripadvisor, as well as reviews submitted directly to Knockerdown Cottages.

We use different review widgets across the website and, where appropriate, display reviews that are relevant to the type of stay or event featured on that page. For example, a widget displaying wedding-related reviews may be used on pages relating to weddings, while holiday-related reviews may be displayed on pages about our holiday stays.

Some widgets may contain a combination of reviews from external platforms and reviews submitted directly to Knockerdown Cottages.

Where reviews are grouped or displayed according to a particular stay or event, this is based on their relevance to the content of the page and not whether the review is positive or negative. We aim to ensure the reviews are presented accurately and do not give customers a misleading impression of the experiences of our guests.

9.2 Ratings, review counts and summaries

Where reasonably practical, a rating, review count or summary published by Knockerdown Cottages will make clear its source, what stay or event it relates to, the number of reviews on which it is based on and the date of the review or when it was last updated.

Knockerdown Cottages will not knowingly use a rating, review count, ranking or summary that is false or misleading.

Where a review is removed because it is found to be fake, concealed incentivised or otherwise misleading, we will take the reasonable steps to correct the claim on channels under our control.

9.3 Selected testimonials and marketing extracts

Knockerdown Cottages may select individual reviews or extracts for use as testimonials in its marketing. A selected testimonial or extract:

• Will be based on a genuine review or genuine customer feedback

• Will be relevant to the stay, event or campaign in which it appears

• Will not have its meaning or overall sentiment changed

• Will be identified as a selected review or testimonial where the context could otherwise be clear

• Will not be presented as a complete or statistically representative account of all customer feedback unless we have the necessary evidence to support that statement

We may shorten an extract or correct an obvious typographical error, but we will not edit it in a way that makes the review more favourable or less critical.

We may redact personal information where necessary. A privacy redaction will not be used to change the meaning of the review.

9.4 Older reviews

Genuine older reviews may remain relevant. Where stay or event has changed materially, we will consider whether continuing to display older reviews without explanation could mislead customers.

Depending on the circumstances, we may decide to add explanatory context, separate reviews from different periods, stop republishing an older review or update the relevant review information.

You may report a review, rating, review count, summary or testimonial that you believe is:

• Fake

• Based on an experience that did not take place

• Concealed incentivised

• Submitted through a false identity

• Duplicated or intended to manipulate a rating

• Connected to Knockerdown Cottages or a stay or event without that connection being disclosed

• Attributed to a wrong property, stay, event or location

• Inaccurate in a way that materially mislead customers

• Inappropriate or unlawful

• Otherwise inconsistent with this policy

A report may be made directly to Knockerdown Cottages even where the review originally appeared on an OTA or another platform.

Where possible, please provide a link or screenshot, the name of the platform or page, the stay or event concerned, the reason you believe the content is suspicious and any relevant supporting information.

Reports should be sent to:

Email: hello@knockerdowncottages.co.uk

Telephone: 01629 540525

Online: Through our enquiry form on the Knockerdown Cottages website.