From Forced Stars to Genuine Insights: Rethinking Feedback in Healthcare

The Evolution of Feedback and Review Systems: Lessons for Hospitality and Healthcare

Over the past decade, feedback and review systems have dramatically evolved, becoming a cornerstone of customer engagement across industries. From restaurants to hotels, businesses increasingly rely on reviews to boost their online reputation, attract new customers, and refine services. However, the nature of how feedback is collected is changing. A recent trend in the hospitality sector involves restaurant managers and hotel staff urging guests to leave 5-star reviews before they even finish their experience. While this approach undoubtedly increases positive reviews and enhances Google ratings, it often feels forced and insincere. This raises the question: Are these reviews truly a reflection of customer satisfaction, or are they simply a mechanism to inflate rankings?

Why the Hospitality Industry Chases Reviews

In today's digital age, reviews are seen as a form of currency. For hotels and restaurants, a high star rating on Google or Tripadvisor directly influences customer decision-making. A well-rated business appears trustworthy, experienced, and capable of delivering quality service, which increases bookings and foot traffic. Recognizing this, the hospitality industry has adopted aggressive methods to encourage positive reviews. Staff are trained to engage customers with personalized service, followed by a request to scan a QR code and leave a glowing review. In some cases, they even nudge guests to mention specific staff members by name, a tactic that can come across as manipulative.

Identifying Non-Genuine Reviews

For consumers, identifying non-genuine reviews has become increasingly important. Authentic reviews typically contain detailed descriptions of the service, both positive and negative. They reflect personal experiences and offer insights that help future customers make informed decisions. Non-genuine reviews, on the other hand, tend to be short, overly enthusiastic, and vague. They lack specific details and often follow a similar pattern across different reviews for the same business. When a review page is flooded with perfect 5-star ratings with little substance, it can raise suspicion that the feedback has been coerced or incentivized.

What Hospitals Can Learn from the Hospitality Industry

Hospitals, much like hotels and restaurants, also depend on feedback to enhance patient care and improve operations. However, hospitals should take a more thoughtful and genuine approach to collecting patient feedback. While glowing reviews may help boost reputation, authentic feedback—both positive and constructive—can help identify areas that need improvement. Unlike restaurants, where a quick meal can lead to an immediate judgment, the stakes are much higher in healthcare. Patients entrust hospitals with their well-being, and their feedback should reflect the true quality of care they receive. Hospitals can learn from the hospitality industry’s focus on customer reviews, but they must avoid the temptation to game the system by forcing positive ratings.

Why Feedback Should Be a True Reflection of Service

At its core, feedback is a valuable tool for growth. In both hospitality and healthcare, the purpose of collecting feedback should be to serve the operations team in refining their processes, improving service delivery, and addressing real issues that affect the customer or patient experience. Forcing consumers to leave glowing reviews may look good in the short term, but it doesn’t foster long-term trust or loyalty. Feedback should come organically from delighted customers or patients who have genuinely experienced exceptional service. Only then can it provide meaningful insights that drive continuous improvement.

Medblaze Patient Experience and Social Media Review Management

At Medblaze, we believe that feedback should be more than just a numbers game—it should be a true reflection of the patient experience. Our patient experience and social media review management system is designed to help hospitals gather real, actionable feedback. We provide analytics to track trends, identify areas for improvement, and understand patient sentiment. By focusing on genuine feedback rather than coerced reviews, hospitals can better serve their patients, build trust, and ultimately, enhance the overall quality of care they provide. Let feedback serve its true purpose: helping you serve better.