Reviews Policy

1. Our approach to reviews

Reviews and testimonials associated with Hideaway Stays should reflect the genuine experience and opinions of guests who have stayed with us or otherwise had a genuine customer experience with our business.

We do not create, commission, purchase or knowingly publish fake reviews.

We do not ask guests to provide a particular star rating or to leave only positive feedback.

2. How we request reviews

We may invite guests to leave feedback following a completed stay.

An invitation to review does not require a guest to leave a positive review, and guests are free to express their genuine opinion about their experience.

Where review requests are sent automatically through our booking, email or customer-management systems, the same principles apply.

3. Reviews from third-party platforms

Some reviews or ratings displayed on the Hideaway Stays website may originate from independent third-party review, booking or social platforms.

Where this is the case, the review remains subject to the terms and moderation processes of the platform on which it was originally submitted.

Hideaway Stays will not knowingly reproduce or present a third-party review in a way that materially changes its original meaning.

4. Editing reviews

We will not materially edit the wording of a guest review in a way that changes its meaning.

Where a short extract from a longer review is used for promotional purposes, it must remain an accurate representation of the guest's original comments.

Minor corrections to obvious spelling or formatting may occasionally be made where appropriate, but the substance and sentiment of the review must remain unchanged.

5. Negative reviews

We do not remove, reject or suppress genuine reviews simply because they are negative or critical.

Where a guest raises a concern, we may contact them to understand the issue and, where appropriate, attempt to resolve it.

A review may only be removed or excluded where there is a legitimate reason, such as where it is believed to be fake, unlawful, abusive, unrelated to a genuine guest experience or otherwise breaches applicable review-platform rules.

6. Fake or misleading reviews

Hideaway Stays does not permit fake or misleading reviews.

Where we have reasonable grounds to believe that a review is not genuine, we may investigate it and, where the review is under our control, remove or withhold it.

Examples may include reviews that:

• appear to have been submitted by someone who has not had a genuine customer experience with Hideaway Stays;
• contain deliberately false or misleading information;
• have been submitted in exchange for payment specifically for providing a favourable opinion;
• impersonate another person;
• are generated or submitted primarily for the purpose of artificially influencing ratings or consumer opinion.

7. Incentivised reviews

Hideaway Stays will not offer a reward, discount, payment, gift or other benefit on the condition that a guest leaves a positive review or particular star rating.

If Hideaway Stays ever offers an incentive simply for providing genuine feedback regardless of whether that feedback is positive or negative, the existence of that incentive must be made clear where required.

8. Testimonials used for marketing

We may occasionally feature genuine guest comments or testimonials within the Hideaway Stays website, emails, advertisements or social media.

Where testimonials are selected for promotional use, they must originate from genuine guest feedback and must not be altered in a way that creates a misleading impression of the guest's experience.

The use of selected testimonials should not be interpreted as suggesting that every guest has expressed exactly the same opinion.

9. Monitoring and moderation

We periodically review the way customer reviews and testimonials are collected and displayed.

Where reviews are displayed directly on systems controlled by Hideaway Stays, we will take reasonable and proportionate steps to identify and address reviews that we believe may be fake or misleading.

Where a review is hosted entirely by an independent third-party platform, we may report concerns to that platform where appropriate.

10. Reporting a review

If you believe that a review or testimonial displayed by Hideaway Stays is fake, misleading, incorrectly attributed or otherwise inappropriate, please contact us.

You can reach us by phone on 01736 804545, by email at relax@hideawaystays.uk or via our contact page.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this Reviews Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our practices, the services we use or applicable consumer-protection requirements.

The latest version will always be published on this page.