Reviews and guest feedback

Overview

The Feedback area of the Mallard Bay dashboard (/feedback) is where you see guest reviews for your outfitter: an average rating, total review count, and a scrollable list of individual reviews with star ratings, written feedback, optional photos, who left the review, and when it was submitted. Reviews are tied to a group_id. When more than one review belongs to the same group, the main list links to a full review page that loads every review in that group (/feedback/review-groups/:groupId). That helps when feedback was collected as multiple parts (for example, different aspects of the same trip or stay) and you want the complete picture in one place.

This is separate from Feedback mode inside the website builder, which is only for leaving design notes on your site—not for guest reviews.

Reviews connect naturally to bookings and listings: review cards show a subject type (for example booking, listing, lodging, or outfitter) and a subject line (such as a listing or trip title from the API). The product also treats reviews as post-trip signals—for example, the empty state explains that you have not yet received feedback about a completed trip.

What this article does not cover (not visible in this app’s code): exactly when the platform emails or prompts guests for a review, how ratings map to public pages, and whether a given review is shown to other guests. The API includes an is_public field on reviews, but the dashboard list components reviewed here do not display or edit that flag.

Prerequisites

• You must be signed in and working in the outfitter dashboard with an active outfitter context (the main Feedback page requires an outfitter to be selected).
• You need completed-trip (or comparable) guest feedback in the system before the overview shows non-zero counts and the list fills in; until then you will see the empty-state message.
• Navigation: The sidebar structure comes from the server (dashboardNavigationMenu). If your role or subscription does not expose the Feedback destination, you may still be able to open /feedback directly when permitted—exact menu placement is account-dependent and not hard-coded in this repository.

Step-by-step: viewing reviews in the dashboard

Open the Feedback page

1. Go to /feedback (or use Feedback from your navigation if it appears there).
2. The page title is Feedback (labeled under outfitter manage copy in the app).

Read your summary metrics

At the top, you’ll see two large metric cards populated from outfitter-level aggregates:

• Average rating
• Number of reviews

If the count is zero (and data has finished loading), supporting copy explains that you have not received feedback about a completed trip yet.

Browse the review list

Below the metrics, the dashboard lists reviews newest first (ordering comes from the API response consumed as returned). Each card includes:

• Reviewer name and avatar (when available)
• A title derived from what is being reviewed, shown as “Reviewing <type>” (for example Reviewing booking, Reviewing listing—the underlying types include booking, communication, hunt, listing, lodging, outfitter, and value)
• A subtitle from the review’s subject field (often a listing or trip-related label)
• Star rating, written content, timestamp, and optional photos

The list initially loads a fixed page size (20 reviews). If your outfitter has more reviews than are shown, use Show more to load the next page; the button stays available until the loaded count matches the total from the aggregate.

Open a grouped (“full”) review

1. On the main Feedback list, when a review belongs to a group, use View full review on the card.
2. You are taken to /feedback/review-groups/:groupId. The screen title is Full Review, with breadcrumbs that link back to Feedback.
3. That page lists all reviews returned for that group (no pagination in this view in the current code).

Optional: New-review notifications

Notification topics (including reviews) are configured per outfitter in Account settings under the notification preferences table. Labels and descriptions come from your server-side catalog, but the codebase expects a Reviews topic (for example, alerts when new guest reviews arrive). Enable the channels your account supports (such as email or SMS) if you want to be nudged when new feedback appears.

Common pitfalls

• Confusing two “Feedback” features: Website builder → Feedback mode is for internal website comments. Dashboard → /feedback is for guest reviews. They share a word in the UI but are unrelated workflows.
• Expecting to reply inside the review screen: The dashboard screens reviewed here are read-only for review content. There is no in-app “reply to review” or “mark resolved” action wired in this repository. To follow up with a guest, use your normal tools (bookings, clients, messages, etc.); those flows are not linked automatically from the review cards in the code inspected.
• Looking for filters or search on /feedback: The outfitter review list does not implement search, filters, or sorting controls in this codebase—only pagination.
• “See all reviews” on other surfaces: A compact overview with a See all reviews button (pointing to /feedback) exists in a dedicated component used in tests; it is not wired into the main Manage outfitter section list in outfitter-page-helpers in this repo, so you should not expect that shortcut on every screen unless your product build adds it elsewhere.

Related workflows

• Bookings: Many reviews are labeled as reviewing a booking; cross-check the booking and guest record when you want context, payment status, or message history.
• Listings and lodging: Listing- or lodging-related subject types help tie praise or issues back to specific listings or lodging you sell—useful for adjusting marketing copy, photos, or operations.
• Guest communication: After you read sentiment in Feedback, follow-up usually happens through messages, automations, or templates—especially if you need to thank a guest or address a problem that surfaced in a review.
• Website and marketing: Strong reviews support your website and booking widget experience, but how reviews are displayed publicly is not implemented in the files reviewed here.