"The world is changed, I feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost; for none now live who remember it."
Every now and then I see a rather snippy tweet or comment from the catering industry on the commentary provenance of TripAdvisor. As a regular contributor to and satisfied user of TripAdvisor I find this attitude perplexing and somewhat disturbing. The world is changed.
I'm a Great Fan of TripAdvisor
Not long ago there was a really comfortable, and self contained, relationship between restaurants and critics. Probably too close. Sometimes you'd go to a restaurant on the strength of a review and then wonder if you were in the right restaurant. The critics were known and in small numbers. Comfortable relationships existed. Apart from the odd scathing review (an old review of the Wykeham Arms in Winchester remains an all time favourite!) mostly it was pretty tame stuff that worked a lot like the marketing arm of the catering industry.
Then the Internet happened, and the industry was and remains completely unprepared. The industry frequently rails against it.
I like TripAdvisor and I take it quite seriously. I have written over 50 reviews and, looking at it, nearly all have been positive. I try to be honest in my reviews and I never write a gratuitously bad review. My one properly "negative" review of a highly rated restaurant (here: http://bit.ly/Wf7sCN) was, sadly, an honest and true reflection of our experience. The restaurant challenged the review. I reconfirmed it. They weren't happy. Neither was I.
I have used TripAdvisor very successfully to find some wonderful restaurants. I find that it is simple to filter the trolls from the people being honest. We've found some fabulous restaurants that we could not have otherwise found. Often we spend a lot of time researching a new location and rarely do we simply plump for the top few restaurants, being more interested in those that rate multiple stars and have interesting sounding reviews. I also think that most people reviewing on TripAdvisor do things honestly and truly reflect their experience.
I also love reading the really damning reviews, especially the 1* ones. Mostly they're hilarious rants from trolls. I know this and totally discount them. Most people do. Every now and then though you see a genuinely bad experience and that matters.
The catering industry though, in some arenas, appears to struggle with this. It doesn't recognise that the internet has happened and that customers, and not just critics, have a forum now. The customers are your real critics. Assume for a moment that a bad review on TripAdvisor is a true reflection of a customer's experience. They're not coming back, and they're going to tell their friends. Those friends are probably not coming now either, TripAdvisor or no TripAdvisor. It's not just TripAdvisor. It's Twitter, Facebook and the guy down the pub having a good old moan about the terrible service last night. The "social" part of social media is really important.
How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love TripAdvisor
My advice to restaurants. Embrace TripAdvisor. Engage with your customers online. Most of all, stop hating it.
Sometimes people are going to hate your restaurant for all the wrong reasons. It doesn't matter. They hate it and they're going to tell their friends. They do it on TripAdvisor it's really public and obvious. They do it elsewhere you'll never see or hear it but it is just as damaging. Possibly more so, because they're probably telling locals who are probably your core customer base.
If you're a restaurant, participate on TripAdvisor and engage with your customers. Challenge bad reviews and acknowledge good ones. People on TripAdvisor love feedback from the restaurants they write about and it doesn't happen nearly often enough. If someone writes a truly unreasonable review - like the guy that gave a restaurant a 1* because they were booked out and he didn't have a booking - challenge it and ask to get it taken down.
If you think you don't have enough time to engage with customers on TripAdvisor then your priorities are messed up. Unless you're getting dozens of reviews a day, then you're really looking at a few minutes a day to engage with customers using a different channel. Think of it like the equivalent of having the chef come out at the end of service to chat to the customers. Just do it.
TripAdvisor is not a force for evil and engaged properly can be a great channel to engage with current and future customers. Accept that sometimes people are just going to say completely unfair and unreasonable things about your restaurant. Also accept that sometimes people are going to come to your restaurant and, despite your best efforts, are going to have a truly awful experience whether it's your fault or their expectation. It's been happening forever and it's not going to stop. You'll be a lot more successful though if you engage than if you ignore.
Every now and then I see a rather snippy tweet or comment from the catering industry on the commentary provenance of TripAdvisor. As a regular contributor to and satisfied user of TripAdvisor I find this attitude perplexing and somewhat disturbing. The world is changed.
I'm a Great Fan of TripAdvisor
Not long ago there was a really comfortable, and self contained, relationship between restaurants and critics. Probably too close. Sometimes you'd go to a restaurant on the strength of a review and then wonder if you were in the right restaurant. The critics were known and in small numbers. Comfortable relationships existed. Apart from the odd scathing review (an old review of the Wykeham Arms in Winchester remains an all time favourite!) mostly it was pretty tame stuff that worked a lot like the marketing arm of the catering industry.
Then the Internet happened, and the industry was and remains completely unprepared. The industry frequently rails against it.
I like TripAdvisor and I take it quite seriously. I have written over 50 reviews and, looking at it, nearly all have been positive. I try to be honest in my reviews and I never write a gratuitously bad review. My one properly "negative" review of a highly rated restaurant (here: http://bit.ly/Wf7sCN) was, sadly, an honest and true reflection of our experience. The restaurant challenged the review. I reconfirmed it. They weren't happy. Neither was I.
I have used TripAdvisor very successfully to find some wonderful restaurants. I find that it is simple to filter the trolls from the people being honest. We've found some fabulous restaurants that we could not have otherwise found. Often we spend a lot of time researching a new location and rarely do we simply plump for the top few restaurants, being more interested in those that rate multiple stars and have interesting sounding reviews. I also think that most people reviewing on TripAdvisor do things honestly and truly reflect their experience.
I also love reading the really damning reviews, especially the 1* ones. Mostly they're hilarious rants from trolls. I know this and totally discount them. Most people do. Every now and then though you see a genuinely bad experience and that matters.
The catering industry though, in some arenas, appears to struggle with this. It doesn't recognise that the internet has happened and that customers, and not just critics, have a forum now. The customers are your real critics. Assume for a moment that a bad review on TripAdvisor is a true reflection of a customer's experience. They're not coming back, and they're going to tell their friends. Those friends are probably not coming now either, TripAdvisor or no TripAdvisor. It's not just TripAdvisor. It's Twitter, Facebook and the guy down the pub having a good old moan about the terrible service last night. The "social" part of social media is really important.
How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love TripAdvisor
My advice to restaurants. Embrace TripAdvisor. Engage with your customers online. Most of all, stop hating it.
Sometimes people are going to hate your restaurant for all the wrong reasons. It doesn't matter. They hate it and they're going to tell their friends. They do it on TripAdvisor it's really public and obvious. They do it elsewhere you'll never see or hear it but it is just as damaging. Possibly more so, because they're probably telling locals who are probably your core customer base.
If you're a restaurant, participate on TripAdvisor and engage with your customers. Challenge bad reviews and acknowledge good ones. People on TripAdvisor love feedback from the restaurants they write about and it doesn't happen nearly often enough. If someone writes a truly unreasonable review - like the guy that gave a restaurant a 1* because they were booked out and he didn't have a booking - challenge it and ask to get it taken down.
If you think you don't have enough time to engage with customers on TripAdvisor then your priorities are messed up. Unless you're getting dozens of reviews a day, then you're really looking at a few minutes a day to engage with customers using a different channel. Think of it like the equivalent of having the chef come out at the end of service to chat to the customers. Just do it.
TripAdvisor is not a force for evil and engaged properly can be a great channel to engage with current and future customers. Accept that sometimes people are just going to say completely unfair and unreasonable things about your restaurant. Also accept that sometimes people are going to come to your restaurant and, despite your best efforts, are going to have a truly awful experience whether it's your fault or their expectation. It's been happening forever and it's not going to stop. You'll be a lot more successful though if you engage than if you ignore.
Absolutely agree with you. Tripadvisor is a brilliant resource, and my experience with it echoes yours exactly.
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