My hostel breakfast went from sad toast to a full buffet because of a bad review

Stayed at a place in Budapest six months ago, and the free breakfast was just white bread and cheap jam. Went back last week, and they had eggs, fruit, and cereal. The guy at the desk said one guest wrote a really angry online review calling it 'prison food' and it got shared a bunch. Management panicked and upgraded the whole spread. Has a bad review ever actually improved something for you on a trip?

3 comments

3 Comments

parker_campbell28d ago

That "prison food" review story is nice, but I've seen the opposite way more. A place gets one bad review and they just double down, or they make some tiny change that doesn't fix the real problem. I had a hotel with a broken AC unit, complained, and next time I stayed they just had a cheap fan in the room. The review made them do the bare minimum, not actually improve.

quinn_nguyen28d agoProlific Poster

Totally feel that. Had a restaurant with a waitress who was just rude every time, left a review, and next visit she just mumbled the specials instead of yelling. Like, cool, you can mumble now, but you're still awful.

shane_ross17d ago

My old gym had a broken water fountain for months. People complained online, and they finally put up a sign that said "bring your own bottle." Like, thanks, that solves nothing.