Related topics: Business, People, Restaurants, Hotels
Reviews website TripAdvisor has angered some members of the industry who feel the website does not do enough to protect businesses who find themselves victims of false or defamatory reviews.
People posting overtly negative or even false and defamatory reviews on TripAdvisor has been a problem for many members of the industry
TripAdvisor allows owners to respond to reviews online and recently launched a customer support line, but is that enough?
This short podcast features interviews with hoteliers Christopher Davy, Harry Cragoe and Imran Hussein, who have had both negative and positive experiences of TripAdvisor and looks at where the industry can go from here to help ensure hotels, restaurants and pubs are treated more fairly in the future.
Copyright - Unless otherwise stated all contents of this web site are © 2012 - William Reed Business Media Ltd - All Rights Reserved - For permission to reproduce any contents of this web site, please email Robert Proctor - Full details for the use of materials on this site can be found in the Terms & Conditions
With only three UK restaurants on the list at Monday night’s World’s 50 Best...
As we celebrate the tenth year of the Worlds 50 Best Restaurant Awards, BigHospitality...
As the number of people booking tables and then not showing up increases we...
Just over a week since the 2012 Budget, hospitality operators are weighing up the...
Minimum alcohol pricing which stops retailers selling drinks for less than the tax paid...
Work experience has hit the headlines as Government talks with businesses concerned about the...
In January the announcement the London 2012 organising committee (LOCOG) was releasing rooms sparked...
The Live Music Bill was passed by the House of Commons on Friday 20...
Reviews website TripAdvisor has angered some members of the industry who feel the website...
You’ve found your dream job and have bagged yourself an interview, but failing to...
Kyle Rawles, sales executive at BigHospitality Jobs, gives his top tips on how to...
John Dyson, food and technical affairs adviser at the British Hospitality Association (BHA), gives...
Britain’s front of house staff lack the professionalism and respect found in the kitchen...
The key to hiring the right staff first time round is a strict recruitment...
Restaurant and bar operators should encourage their British staff to take up sommelier as...
Businesses must be tech-savvy, improve their service standards and ensure their menus and design...
An exceptional sommelier is proud of his work and adaptable to any given situation,...
Brett Graham, chef owner of The Ledbury in Notting Hill, entered the S.Pellegrino World’s...
Rasmus Kofoed, the Danish winner of the 2011 Bocuse d’Or and chef proprietor of...
Boutique hotel chain Hotel du Vin intends to grow its standalone Bistro du Vin...
Raymond Blanc has set the benchmark for the UK hospitality sector for decades, with...
With the 2012 London Olympics fast approaching, the hospitality industry needs to step up...
Claude Bosi, chef proprietor of Hibiscus in London has recently been described as delivering...
Jason Atherton is on the cusp of opening his first London restaurant apart from...
Alain Roux took over as chef patron of Bray's The Waterside Inn in 2002...
The World's 50 Best Restaurants Awards - one of the biggest events in the...
On the eve of the unveiling of the 2012 Worlds 50 Best Restaurants list,...
In the ten years since the World's 50 Best Restaurants Awards was launched a...
Restaurant presentation, whether that be interiors or tableware, can have a huge impact on...
With up to 30,000 people departing from Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 3 every day, established...
International Women's Day 2012 is celebrated on Thursday 8 March under the theme 'Connecting...
February sees the opening of Gregg’s Table in London’s Bermondsey Square Hotel - the first...
In the latest instalment of our Kitchen Equipment Special Feature we asked chefs working...
Since Mayfair brasserie Hush opened its doors in 1999, founder Jamie Barber has gained...
The director of London 2012 games transport at Transport for London, Mark Evers, has...
Ahead of Valentine's Day leading patissier and chocolatier Will Torrent shows us some top...
Restaurant editor William Drew heads to the kitchens of Les Deux Salons in London...
It is now almost two years since the Sustainable Restaurant Association launched in a...
Chef Bruno Loubet talks through his plans for a second London restaurant and gives...
Food may have become the saviour of the British pub, but that doesn't mean...
It has been endorsed by Heston Blumenthal, Ferran Adria, Thomas Keller and David Chang,...
Day two of The Restaurant Show is almost at an end. Highlights from today...
The Restaurant Show 2011 has kicked off at Earls Court 2 today. If you...
International contest The Bocuse d'Or is probably the greatest chef's competition in the world,...
Westfield Stratford City attracted 200,000 visitors to its launch on 13 September, who were...
Judges for the 2011 National Chef of the Year competition claim the eight finalists...
Earlier this year BigHospitality announced that Jay Rayner, UK chair of the S.Pellegrino World’s...
While beer sales have been steadily declining over the past few years, pub operators...
We’re moving rapidly towards a cashless society, and with the rise of the smartphone...
If consumers are not willing to recognise calorie information on menus, how much responsibility...
With a 20-strong stable of restaurants, pubs and inns Marco Pierre White has gone...
It’s been a busy year for Jamie Oliver. The celebrity chef has seen his...
Delegates at the inaugural Boutique Hotel Summit this week were told to watch their...
Mid-market hotel brand Jurys Inn has spent the last couple of years reinventing its...
  Rick Stein: Pearls of WisdomThe chef and TV presenter runs three seafood restaurants in Cornwall, as well as two fish and... |
 Recruiting and retaining staff: How to develop employees and cut turnover ratesAdvertising in all the right places and whittling down prospective candidates for a job can seem wasted... |
 Lucy Haines: Career ProfileLucy Haines joined London wine tasting venue Vinopolis as managing director earlier this year, following senior commercial... |
 World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2012: Were three British restaurants enough?With only three UK restaurants on the list at Monday night’s World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards, BigHospitality... |
 IDEAS FROM YOUR PEERSThe Queen's Diamond Jubilee Special: What's your business doing?To celebrate The Queen's Diamond Jubilee next month, BigHospitality has spoken to restaurants, hotels, pubs and bars... |
3 comments (Comments are now closed)
Two months later
Re my previous comment, we now have 27 reviews on TA (22 excellent), and are at #2/104 in Bolton and #12/942 in Greater Manchester.
And guess what, we are packed, and lots of people say they found us via TA. (and we don't fiddle anything other than replying to verbal compliments by saying 'please say it on TA'.)
We have an advertising plan for 2012, local papers, county mags and so on, which will cost about £15,000, par for the course. So far, we have spent nothing except our time working TA, Facebook etc., and I am seriously considering reducing it. One thing I do know for sure is that every ad we produce will contain a 'check us out on TA' button.
Report abuse
Posted by David Atherton
27 January 2012 | 16h53
Flood out bad with good!
My theory is that these whingers are well-versed with TripAdvisor (and Urbanspoon, Sugarvine etc.) so pushing the site in your branding (TA buttons on website, the owl logo on your literature) will not attract any more of them, but it will attract many more ordinary guest reviews, which will be truthful, so therefore good (!) and dilute the bad ones.
It was notable that the people complaining were very old-fashioned types, and didn't seem like the type who would actively manage social media.
We have opened a restaurant in September, Suzanna's in Bolton, and already got 12 TA and 38 Urbanspoon reviews, including 10% bad ones. If you consider people are more motivated when unhappy than happy, 90% good is very good.
But notice the number. 50 reviews in three months, from a country pub/restaurant. The point is, we manage social media well, we use Facebook, Twitter etc. a lot. And we were 'no walk-in space on Saturday' after 7 weeks! The growth is based on quality, but the speed of that growth is largely down to using the 'net.
This is our first Christmas, and we know there will be some slip-ups with the rush. But we invite diners to review us and know we will get many more positive comments to the negative ones.
We are even thinking of adding a TripAdvisor logo to our next menu reprint. What about that!
Report abuse
Posted by David Atherton
09 December 2011 | 14h34
There are always alternatives
The problem is not confined to TripAdvisor as there are similar review sites with Yell.com & Qype to name a few.
Twitreview is a new site that has just entered public beta, that aims to aid in the engagement between the reviewer & the business while providing a fair service for both. The site is aimed specifically at the food hospitality industry at present but does show how reviews should be presented (the last 60 days only) and that a bad day should not have a negative impact on a business forever.
Report abuse
Posted by Barry
07 December 2011 | 13h16