Not all reviews deserve the same response effort. A 5-star review that says "great stay" can be acknowledged in 30 seconds; a detailed 1-star review with a specific complaint deserves 30 minutes of GM-level attention. The 3-tier triage decides which review goes to which tier — and saves the guest-experience team 4-6 hours per week.
Tier 1: standard acknowledgment
5-star and 4-star reviews with no specific issues mentioned. The AI workflow: pull the review, generate a 60-90 word response in the property's voice that thanks the guest, references something specific they wrote about (a meal, a staff member, the view), and invites them to return. Human reviews the output for accuracy and sends.
Time per Tier 1: 90 seconds. Volume at a 240-key property: 35-60 per month. Total time saved vs. manual: 4-6 hours per month.
Tier 2: thoughtful response
3-star reviews and 4-star reviews with constructive criticism. The AI workflow: pull the review, extract the specific concern, generate a 120-180 word response that acknowledges the concern, describes what has been done about it (if known) or what will be done, and invites further conversation. Human reviews carefully — these are public and the wrong response generates a second negative review.
Time per Tier 2: 4-6 minutes including review and edit. Volume: 8-15 per month. The AI does the first draft; the human shapes it.
Tier 3: GM-level response
1-star and 2-star reviews, reviews mentioning safety/security/discrimination issues, reviews from VIPs or repeat guests, reviews that have gone viral or been shared by influencers. The AI workflow: pull the review, summarize the issue, suggest a response framework, but the actual response is authored by the GM or a senior team member.
Time per Tier 3: 30-60 minutes. Volume: 2-6 per month. The AI saves time on summary and initial framing; the human owns the response.
Why triage matters
Without triage, the guest-experience team either spends 6 minutes on every review (slow but high-quality) or 60 seconds on every review (fast but generic). Neither works at scale. With triage, the team spends 90 seconds where 90 seconds is enough, 30 minutes where 30 minutes is needed, and the average time-per-review drops to ~3 minutes — with much better quality on the reviews that matter most.