Chancellor Hotel Receives the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence for 2011

We are very proud to have received the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence for 2011.

As an independent, family owned and operated hotel, our representation on TripAdvisor is very important to us. We don't have brand advertising or a corporate office to help us. We compete with some big companies and large groups of hotels with a lot of resources that we don't have. Our ranking of #9 in San Francisco is quite an accomplishment.

TripAdvisor is an information resource that a huge amount of the travelling public uses to make their decisions on where to stay when visiting a particular city.

Unfortunately, there are still too many people that book first and look at TripAdvisor later. Some do it because of blind bidding sites like Priceline and others do it because they made a bad decision.
They learn about or want to just use TripAdvisor after the fact so they can exact revenge by slamming the hotel with a bad review.

There are good and bad aspects to the new world of online reviews. One of the bad things is that anyone can write whatever they want - regardless of the accuracy or truth. Most people can see right through that, but it still hurts the rating and that is unfair.

I think when people make a bad decision for their hotel stay, that is their fault, not the hotel's fault. People need to take responsibility for their decisions. As an example that hits close to home...When someone books a hotel without air conditioning or that has small rooms and then they knock the hotel for it in a review, that is unfair. That is the way the hotel is, it was that way when they booked and it was that way when they stayed. Unless there is some misrepresentation, I think it is unfair to knock the hotel for what it is. Now, if the service was bad or things are not working, that is wrong and the hotel should be held accountable.

What I just don't understand is that nearly every review of the Chancellor mentions small rooms, yet people still stay and complain about it. If someone does the slightest amount of looking online about us, they will learn about the rooms and shortcomings. If someone books on a blind bidding site, and everything works and the service is good, they have no right to score it low. They may have not liked it, but they didn't choose it - a computer did. They got the price they wanted and the best hotel that was available on that system - they should be happy or should not complain.

One of the good things about TripAdvisor is that we can post a response. Although that gets me in trouble sometimes, I think there are two sides to every story, and when people are using TripAdvisor to make their decisions on which hotel to choose, I want to make sure they have all the information. My responses are honest, direct and real. Not the typical corporate speak you will find from most of the other hotels. Part of my strategy in my responses is to add a little humor and filter out the people that are offended. If you are offended by my response, you are probably not the type of guest that will appreciate and enjoy the Chancellor Hotel. Some past guest reviews have said that people need to be easy going and not uptight to enjoy the hotel. I agree. A vast majority of people that I hear from tell me that they appreciate my responses and enjoy reading them. The people that tell me I offend them, etc., we don't really want them as guests anyways - not because they are bad people or anything, they most likely wouldn't enjoy the hotel. That is okay and completely understandable. It takes a certain type of person to appreciate and enjoy staying at a historic, boutique hotel and we are all better off when we make the right match. Hopefully, my responses help people make the right decision, so I can take the heat.