Don't ask me for a review and tell me what rating to give

It has long been a pet peeve of mine to be asked to give a review after staying at a hotel, and as you check out, they say: 'Please give us a 5-star review on Trip Advisor' Today, I received from a major hotel chain in Toronto - which finally prompted me to blog. Here are key snippets from the email:

"Thank you for choosing [ Major Brand Hotel] as your choice hotel for accommodations when travelling to the GTA.  You may be contacted shortly by [hotel] regarding completing a survey form your recent visit. The survey is randomly sent and I would like to encourage to you complete this short survey with your support of a 9 or 10 for your intent to recommend our hotel.   We thank you for your loyalty as a Silver Elite.

Please if you are not able to provide a 9 or 10 with your intent to recommend score, please contact me directly by replying back to this email the survey and give us the opportunity to make it right.

... Our GOAL is to achieve a 9 or 10 in your intent to recommend our hotel and services. As a bonus – we are offering 1,000 free Bonus points to the first 10 guests who respond."

Beyond writing errors (Bold), I take major offence when a company asks me for a 9 or 10. I'm familiar with Net Promoter Score and the implications of a 9 or 10 (advocates), 7-8 (passives) and 0-6 (detractors).

When I studied quantitative research while completing my doctorate, my professor gave me this book, which was eye-opening and memorable! You can make the numbers say pretty much anything you want. I passed on to my son a generation later who majored in statistics and computer science.

Bottom line: If you want honest feedback and don't want to annoy your customers, don't tell them how to rate their experience; invite honest input. The fact that they are offering you to 'call' is nice, but having had so many issues at the hotel and talked to the staff during the stay, there is no way another call and use of my time is valid, and no way I would give 9s or 10s.