# Booking.com review reply templates for cafes > Six Booking.com review reply templates written for cafes — the mechanics Booking.com actually enforces, the review shapes cafes actually get, and what to avo… _Updated 2026-08-15 · By Elizabeth Davis_ Source: https://happyreplies.com/templates/platform/booking/cafe ## TL;DR On Booking.com, reviews are split into positive and negative halves, so a reply that only answers the positive half looks selective. For cafes that means bright, first-name, one concrete detail. Anything over 80 words starts to read corporate for a cafe. ## Overview Cafes collect a specific set of review shapes, and Booking.com handles replies differently to every other platform you are on. This page pairs the two: the mechanics of replying on Booking.com, the complaints cafes actually receive, and six templates you can adapt in a couple of minutes. ## What Booking.com does with your reply - Reviews are split into positive and negative halves, so a reply that only answers the positive half looks selective. - Scores are out of 10 with sub-scores for cleanliness, staff, location, and value — the sub-score explains the number better than the text does. - Guests have 28 days after checkout to review, so context is fresh and specific. ## What Cafes reviews complain about - Missing items from a takeaway bag - Queue length at peak - Milk temperature and espresso extraction - Seating and power sockets - Inconsistency between baristas ## Tone Bright, first-name, one concrete detail. Anything over 80 words starts to read corporate for a cafe. Property name plus the manager's first name. ## Policy Booking.com removes responses that include contact details, direct-booking pitches, or personal data about the guest. ## Templates ### Regular's rave > _Review:_ Best flat white on the street and they know my order by Wednesday. > _Reply:_ Hi Priya — knowing the order by Wednesday is the whole job. Aisha called the flat white note out loud when I read this. — Sam, owner ### Missing pastry > _Review:_ Paid for two pastries, got home with one. > _Reply:_ Hi Alex — a missing pastry is a wrecked morning and it's on us. Bag checks are back on at the hand-off point and your pastry is waiting whenever you're next in. If you will give us another go, reply here and I will look after it personally. — Sam, owner ### Burnt shot > _Review:_ Coffee tasted burnt, milk was scalding. > _Reply:_ Hi Nadia — burnt and scalding means the grind drifted and the steam wand ran long. We re-dialled at open and re-briefed the bar. — Sam, owner ### Queue at peak > _Review:_ Twenty minutes in line at 8.30am is too long for a coffee. > _Reply:_ Hi Chris — twenty minutes at the morning peak is us under-staffed, not you impatient. We've added a second bar hand from 7.30. Please get in touch directly so we can close it out properly. — Sam, owner ### Booking.com-specific: the mechanics reply > _Review:_ Decent enough, but I have left this feedback before on Booking.com and nobody responded. > _Reply:_ Hi Sam — thank you for coming back to this. Guests have 28 days after checkout to review, so context is fresh and specific. That is on us to use properly, and from this week every cafe review here gets a named reply. — Sam, owner ### Escalation without a public argument > _Review:_ Worst experience I have had with any of the cafes around here. Avoid. > _Reply:_ Hi Jordan — a review this strong deserves a proper conversation rather than a paragraph in public. Please email me directly and I will go through it with you line by line. Whatever we find, I would rather fix it than debate it here. — Sam, owner ## FAQ ### How quickly should cafes reply to Booking.com reviews? Within 24 hours for anything below four stars and within a few days for the rest. Guests have 28 days after checkout to review, so context is fresh and specific. Consistency matters more than speed alone — a visible response rate reassures the next reader as much as any single reply. ### Can I get a bad Booking.com review removed? Only if it breaks the platform's content policy — fake, off-topic, defamatory, or containing personal data. A review that is simply harsh is not removable, and the reply is the tool you actually have. Booking.com removes responses that include contact details, direct-booking pitches, or personal data about the guest. ### What should a cafe never put in a Booking.com reply? Booking.com removes responses that include contact details, direct-booking pitches, or personal data about the guest. Beyond policy, avoid re-litigating the facts in public: readers score the tone of the reply, not who was right. ### Should the reply be signed by a person? Property name plus the manager's first name. An anonymous reply from "the team" reads as automated to the exact audience you are writing for, and it removes the accountability that makes a service-recovery reply work.