Reviews Policy

Reviews Policy

At GuruWalk we are committed to the quality of the advertised tours available on the platform and Walkers' opinions are a useful source of evaluation based on the different experiences they have had when booking and/or enjoying an experience through GuruWalk.

These opinions or reviews have the power to impact the decision-making of new travellers who want to book a tour. For this reason, we have created a content policy for all reviews written on GuruWalk, which we use to filter out all reviews that are eligible for modification or removal because they do not meet our established criteria.

Since reviews are a reflection of Walker's experience, it is the GuruWalk Experience team that reviews, filters and edits all reviews, with the intention of enforcing this policy to provide the most accurate information possible to the traveller looking to book a tour. This task is not part of the mission of the account managers or any other member of the GuruWalk team.


Review Control

The opinions received from the Walkers are valid when they talk about the process from the very moment they book the tour, as it is expected that the Gurus make correct handling of the bookings taking into account the terms and conditions of the platform. 

In any case, understanding that situations beyond the control of the Guru may occur, there are reviews that are susceptible to be removed from the Experience team to prevent them from harming the guide or agency in any way. Below is a detailed list of cases in which a review can and cannot be considered for removal.


What kind of opinions can be considered for removal?

Reviews that arrive on the platform with the following themes may be reviewed by the Experience team and considered for removal: 
  • The review indicates that the Walker was late for a tour that did take place.
  • The review indicates that the Walker did not comply with the rules set out in the platform and/or tour description.
  • The review indicates that the Walker made a reservation for a group when the tour description states that they are not allowed.
  • The review indicates that an event was modified in the system following the modification policy correctly.
  • The review indicates that an event was cancelled in the system from the calendar or booking section following the correct procedure.
  • The review indicates that the Walker did not show up for the tour (no-show).
  • The review indicates that the Walker left a review related to another tour/guide.
  • The review indicates that the Walker left a comment talking about a non-GuruWalk product.
  • The review indicates that the Walker left a disrespectful or hurtful comment with no basis in fact.
  • The review indicates that the Walker is complaining about weather conditions that he did not like and are beyond the Guru's control. 
  • The review indicates that the Walker booked a tour incorrectly.



    • What kind of opinions will NOT be considered for deletion?

    Some opinions are evidence of a poor experience of the Walker and will not be considered for removal:

    1. Reviews where the Walker expresses their personal and subjective assessment of their experience with the Guru or the tour, or where the Guru's response is inappropriate or unprofessional, will not be removed.
    2. Reviews that indicate that the Walker left mid-tour because they did not like the tour will not be removed.
    3. Reviews that indicate that the Walker had a bad experience with their booking (before, during or after the tour) will not be removed. If the traveller was unable to go on the tour due to circumstances related to the Guru's mishandling of the platform, they are entitled to leave a review explaining what happened, as this impacts their perception of the platform and highlights what may happen if the tour in question is booked.
    4. Reviews in which the Walker leaves a textless comment will not be removed; even without text, they are still subjective and valid opinions on the part of the traveller (we remind you that Walkers are not obliged to leave any text in their reviews).
    5. Reviews that indicate that a Hobby Guru did not confirm or cancel the tour properly through GuruWalk will not be removed. 
    6. Reviews that indicate that the Guru did not show up for the tour (no show) will not be removed.
    7. Reviews that indicate that the Guru contacted the Walker by WhatsApp after the Walker left a review will not be removed; please note that this is in violation of data protection law and our privacy policy.
    8. No reviews will be removed when the Walker reports that a minimum or set price is imposed on the tour.
    9. We will not remove reviews that indicate that the tour was not conducted in the language in which it was booked.
    10. Reviews indicating that the Guru made an incorrect cancellation or didn't cancel with enough time and withouth a reasonable cause will not be removed. The experience of the travellers is very important, therefore feedback of this type is allowed when the correct cancellation is not made in the GuruWalk system. This is considered as a mishandling of the platform and the bookings received, which generate bad experiences and will not be removed. We remind you of the importance of following the cancellation policy.
    11. Reviews indicating a no-show from a Walker that has not been properly registered through the platform will not be deleted. Even if they have not attended, the flow of emails sent to the traveller continues if they are not marked as a no-show and this is a bother that can easily be avoided.
    12. Reviews indicating that the Guru has made one or more modifications to the schedule initially booked by the Walker resulting in a drastic and/or unjustified change in the schedule will not be removed. Modifications are a tool available to the Guru for very specific emergencies and should not be used on a regular basis as they generate bad experiences for travellers and a bad image for GuruWalk. For this reason, if a Walker decides to notify future travellers that the tour has been modified, this notice will be made public. Please note that if the minimum number of Walkers is not reached, the tour must be cancelled.
    In case you do not agree with the opinion left by a Walker regarding a tour and would like more information about what happened, we remind you that you should only use the GuruWalk platform/chat, and not contact via WhatsApp once the tour is over, because it is out of GuruWalk's data protection policy and privacy policy.

    How can I manage an opinion I disagree with?

    The GuruWalk Experience team monitors each of the feedback received by the platform as impartially as possible. We try to keep this task up to date, but at peak times there can be delays, although all completed requests are responded to. As it is a free service to the community, this can take more than a week at peak times. 

    If you need a review to be considered for removal by the Experience team, please click here. You will need to tell us which aspects of the review do not comply with the review and answer each question. This will be evaluated and you will be notified of the decision as soon as possible.

    This is the only way to contact us to speed up the review process since we will not respond to requests outside this channel.
    We appreciate your understanding regarding our limit of 5 review requests per month per Guru on reviews that are no more than 1 month old.
    Please note that reviews that a guide or agency notifies us that do not comply with the content policy and are requested to be removed will, in certain cases, be kept hidden until a final decision is made. These reviews will be reviewed by our team and the decision to remove them will be based on the relevance of the review.

    We understand that special situations that require additional consideration may arise. Should you find yourself in such a situation, we invite you to contact our support team.


    What can I do while waiting for a response to my request?

    Please be patient, at peak times it can take 3-7 days to process your request, but we do not leave any unanswered. Please do not send a second request about the same case.

    If you want to contact the author of the review to understand/explain what happened in a respectful way and give as much information as possible when contacting us, please remember to do so only through the messaging enabled on the GuruWalk/chat platform. In most cases, if it's a traveller, they appreciate the contact and ask for the review to be removed or amended.

    You can always respond to the review by explaining what happened, which allows the future traveller to understand the situation from both sides and to see that you are active on the platform, always aware of the experience you offer and focused on continuous improvement.

    Do not write to your account manager stating the case; they are not responsible for the removal of reviews, they will not be able to help you receive one response or the other and it could only slow down the process.

    Do not send a second request if the result of the first one does not convince you. Remember that we treat each case as impartially as possible and rely on the feedback policy to resolve each request.



    Content Policy for reviews on GuruWalk

    Write fair and constructive reviews based on your experience with the guru. Never write insults or hurtful messages, keeping in mind that we are all people.

     

    1. Congruence

    The review must contain relevant information about the experience and must be related to the correct performance of the guruwalk, it cannot express aspects in which the guide has no control, such as the weather or topics specified in the tour/experience description that you do not share common beliefs.

     

    1. Personal

    We want to know about your experience, for this reason, you should not quote other people in the group or perceptions beyond your own that were brought up during the tour, you can always give as much detail about your experience as possible, as the guides appreciate constructive or supportive criticism of their work, and you can always give advice to other travelers to better enjoy the guruwalk.

     

    1. It must be part of a GuruWalk experience.

    Guides and agencies have different products and services that they offer on multiple platforms, it is important that you evaluate only the experience you booked through the platform, as GuruWalk is not responsible for bookings made outside the platform and tours or experiences that you do not find on GuruWalk.

    1.  Honest

    The reviews must be written by real people who have attended the experience and who made or are part of a booking on GuruWalk, if the team detects a review from fake users or related to the guru(guide) account, the account will be sanctioned, and the user created for this purpose will be deleted.

     

    1. Respectful

    Remember that guides live from this job and even if you did not have the best experience, keep in mind the impact that your review will have on the guru's profile, for this reason, it should not be created to harm the integrity of the guru, have a threatening, discriminatory or obscene tone.

     

    This policy may be modified according to the cases we receive and that at the time was not taken into account to write it, the new update will always be available to the entire community.

     


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