Comments on: TripAdvisor’s new LocalPicks app: Restaurant Marketing is Social and Mobile

By: Rino Bortolin

Rino Bortolin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 23:26:03 +0000

had doubts the other day of usefulness of iphone dining apps you advocate so much as important tools but tonight a guy came in that works 200m away at customs and he came in b/c UrbanSpoon recommended BKB for soups on his iphone. He also said he would add positive review b/c our soup was so good. you are dead on with this one. weird how that happened

By: Rino Bortolin

Rino Bortolin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:26:03 +0000

By: Google sticks itself into TripAdvisor / Yelp Territory — Internet Marketing for Tourism

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:22:22 +0000

[...] I were TripAdvisor (fresh with a new restaurant review iPhone app) or Yelp whose iPhone app which beckons reviews on all kinds of businesses, I’d be more than [...]

By: davidvwood

davidvwood — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 19:41:36 +0000

Please TripAdvisor don't spoil this by starting to charging for advertising for restaurants – it will distroy trust.
It must be said that this very valuable service has some little niggles. I have been monitoring other voting sites. TripAdvisor suffers from not having the same compulsion to comment that Amazon and Ebay have from their purchasers. Their reviews have higher reviewer scoring than TripAdvisor, this system being easier to make should give higher ratings. Ebay and Amazon have very keen suppliers and I don't see the willingness of restauranteurs to engage in the same way.
This is a great oppertunity for truthful feedback and gaining a compedative advantage – restaurants must realise that this the future.

By: David Wood

David Wood — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 19:22:02 +0000

Yes I completely agree with your comments. Customers hardly ever say what they really think. I just had an agreeable evening with friends, we all said thanks to the owners, we all said afterwards the food and wine as poor. I wrote (I hope as I have 50 years in the business) a truthful review as I was not the host it just was not my job to judge the on the night feedback. I hope that the owners use the feedback to modify their business and have another 30 years sucessful business. Instant (or at least recient) feedback, especially for restaurants, is of more value than that of 1, 2 or 3 years ago. Fashion, chefs and staff change and we all get a little stale and need reminding what we don't see.
I think this is the way forward – instant comment. Words of caution though – TripAdvisor will introduce charging for telephone numbers and Web advertising and at that point many will not trust this input leaving the floor for another app.

By: @Todd Lucier

@Todd Lucier — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:27:13 +0000

Well said. Thank you. In a consumer-review driven economy quality will be
rewarded.

By: Practical Cafe

Practical Cafe — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:21:15 +0000

With nearly 30 years in the business I can tell you that most people will NOT honestly tell you their opinion even if asked. The old standard was that for every person that actually voiced a complaint, there were seven others who left, never said a word, but told all their friends about their “bad” experience. Social media allows owners/managers to find out those critiques and allows him/her the opportunity to correct them. Whereas prior to this, s/he was generally clueless about those word of mouth conversations. These venues provide restaurateurs an opportunity to understand what guests really think rather than what they assume their guest think. Prudent management will act, failing management will react.

By: @Todd Lucier

@Todd Lucier — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:10:05 +0000

Thanks Juergen,
I think confident and empowered consumers is the right way to think
about it. Such empowerment may lead to people feeling braver about
making extreme statements. Still only one review in 6 or 7 is negative
and the volume of reviews will drive revenue.

By: ExpertAdvertisingSolutions

ExpertAdvertisingSolutions — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:07:46 +0000

There is no of choice for online business. We need to do marketing properly to earn profit. Internet marketing helps to improve your business

By: Juergen1

Juergen1 — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 02:36:57 +0000

Will be big and bigger, certainly.
Nowadays everybody is busy writing reviews but how many people are able to compose a meaningful review? It's so bloody easy to give out stars and pass judgement on any business service.
Have you observed that today more commentators on tripadvisor are biased, impolite and ignorant than let's say 2 years ago? Is this the new “confident” consumer armed with a hand-held and ready to spread the good and bad news while still chewing his meal in the restaurant?