Dubai broker first to publish ratings for agents

Better Homes, one of the region's largest property agencies, on Tuesday launched a public review initiative to improve transparency for customers. The real estate broker said it has begun to publicly display feedback ratings and reviews for all agents employed by the company on its website. It said in a statement that the new move gave customers the ability to vet and select an agent to work with, based on their service and performance credentials. "Our objective is to deliver great customer service every single time," said Ryan Mahoney, CEO - Better Homes. "Honest and open customer reviews will enable new customers to find the best agents," added Mahoney. Better Homes claims that by allowing public reviews of its agents it will drive a higher level of service by rewarding agents that have good feedback with more business. "Public reviews and online sharing of customer experiences is becoming common practice in the hospitality industry," said Mahoney, who added that the initiative was given a soft launch last month. "We feel it's time it was introduced to real estate." "Many of our agents have embraced the public reviews and have adopted a competitive approach to the initiative," said Annetta Shaw, head of Residential, Better Homes. "Customers appreciate being able to provide feedback on their experience, whether positive or negative. We're providing a platform which allows customers to share their thoughts and for us and our agents to continuously improve our service offering," she added. Last year, Dubai said that the world's first governance charter for real estate developers - aimed at improving transparency in the sector - would be implemented by January 2013. The Dubai Land Department (DLD) said it had launched the draft document with the blessing of ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. It said real estate companies will be educated about what the charter means, prior to putting the final touches on the final draft.