diff --git a/addons/website_rating/static/src/xml/portal_chatter.xml b/addons/website_rating/static/src/xml/portal_chatter.xml
index bb90721133e..78b1b64baae 100644
--- a/addons/website_rating/static/src/xml/portal_chatter.xml
+++ b/addons/website_rating/static/src/xml/portal_chatter.xml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
         Inherited templates from portal to custom chatter with rating
     -->
     <t t-extend="portal.Composer">
-        <t t-jquery="textarea" t-operation="inner"><t t-esc="_.str.trim(widget.options['default_message'])"/></t><!-- need to be one line to avoid \t in textarea -->
+        <t t-jquery="textarea" t-operation="inner"><t t-esc="widget.options['default_message'] ? _.str.trim(widget.options['default_message']) : ''"/></t><!-- need to be one line to avoid \t in textarea -->
         <t t-jquery="form" t-operation="attributes">
             <attribute name="t-attf-action">#{widget.options['force_submit_url'] ? widget.options['force_submit_url'] : '/mail/chatter_post'}</attribute>
         </t>