The Impact of Replying to Reviews

According to a Study in Harvard Business Review , replying to customer reviews results in better ratings. 

The study examined tens of thousands of hotel reviews and responses from TripAdvisor, researchers found that when hotels start responding to reviews, they receive 12% more reviews and their ratings increase, on average, by 0.12 stars

The researchers also found that when managers respond to positive reviews, it has the same benefits as when they respond to negative reviews

In fact, once hotels started responding, they experienced a sharp drop in the rate of short negative reviews and while longer negative reviews still cropped up, these reviews often contained constructive feedback that could be useful to managers trying to make changes.