Online review websites have become an omnipresent force and they have transformed the way customers make decisions. People take to these sites to review your restaurant and to have a place to showcase their complaints – but we hope for praises! As a restaurant owner, you can’t stop people from writing these reviews, but you can monitor them and respond as you see fit.
Zomato
Zomato is a well-known app that connects people with restaurants in their area. You should “claim” your listing on Zomato so that your restaurant can be found and to respond to reviews. Zomato does have guidelines to follow when responding to negative reviews, but rule of thumb is to treat the customers as though they are right, even if they are not.
Yelp
Yelp is not confined to just restaurants, but rating and writing reviews of restaurants is the number two rated category on the website. You can respond publicly or privately to reviews if you’ve claimed your restaurant through Yelp.
OpenTable
Customers who use OpenTable to make reservations at restaurants receive an email 24 hours after their reservation asking them to review that restaurant. You will get charged a fee to be included in online reservations through OpenTable, but OpenTable can help increase the number of online reservations you receive and allow you to view and respond to reviews.
Trip Advisor
Trip Advisor is a huge travel site, but is also used to review restaurants. Your ranking depends on how many reviews you’ve received recently and individual ratings. If you’re registered, you can respond to reviews publicly.
Review websites can be helpful if your restaurant is receiving great reviews. Even if there are some negative reviews scattered around the websites (and there inevitably will be), responding to them shows initiative and helps boost your image and the way you are perceived by potential customers.
