Online restaurant review sites: TripAdvisor or Yelp or ?? Where do you post?
Aug 27, 2015, 12:28 am
#31
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Northern California
Programs: UA Premier Gold, 1.5 Million Mile Flyer
Posts: 3,546
As I've said, my experience with TA restaurant reviews has been excellent. Obviously, I don't just pick the #1 place blindly; one must read the reviews in order to get a good perspective. And everyone has different tastes and priorities in restaurants. The photos of ambiance and food presentation posted by members are really valuable to me.
Aug 27, 2015, 2:51 am
#32
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Anwhere ex-MAN
Programs: A3 *G, BA Silver
Posts: 2,706
Color me a big skeptic on TripAdvisor restaurant reviews. I'm genuinely curious. You use them and find them of value?
I turn into a major foodie when I am traveling somewhere known for superb restaurants (France, Italy, Basque area of Spain). There I use Michelin ratings.
I turn into a major foodie when I am traveling somewhere known for superb restaurants (France, Italy, Basque area of Spain). There I use Michelin ratings.
TA did turn up some great places on my recent trip to Spain and made me avoid some venues. They may have been good, I'll never know. I didn't have a bad meal from the TA sourced places to eat and most were in line with the reviews if you read them "sensibly"
Aug 27, 2015, 9:33 am
#33
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: IAD/DCA
Posts: 31,797
Yelp was calling fairly frequently, basically offering to keep positive reviews of their businesses at the top of the default ordering for a monthly amount of money
owner of a small retail shop that I patronize occasionally, and he told me (and I believe him) that his business was struggling to the point where he hadn't taken a salary for 8 months. From what he described, Yelp was asking him for about $300 monthly, he told them he could not afford to pay. They responded by "filtering" positive reviews, including one of my own, and floating the negative reviews to the top of the default ordering
owner of a small retail shop that I patronize occasionally, and he told me (and I believe him) that his business was struggling to the point where he hadn't taken a salary for 8 months. From what he described, Yelp was asking him for about $300 monthly, he told them he could not afford to pay. They responded by "filtering" positive reviews, including one of my own, and floating the negative reviews to the top of the default ordering
some kids are better behaved than some adults
Aug 27, 2015, 10:24 am
#34
In Memoriam, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Durham, NC (RDU/GSO/CLT)
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Posts: 33,857
TA is my go-to followed by Yelp. I like TA's search options and I'm rarely steered wrong by a restaurant there. I find Yelp to be a bit more reactionary.
Aug 27, 2015, 12:55 pm
#36
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: IAD/DCA
Posts: 31,797
Aug 30, 2015, 1:42 am
#37
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Anwhere ex-MAN
Programs: A3 *G, BA Silver
Posts: 2,706
Aug 30, 2015, 7:35 pm
#39
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: LHR / IAD
Programs: BA/AA/UA
Posts: 2,955
yelp is good as a directory, but not as a guide. pervasive dirty business on the back end really turns me off it. that their feedback system are categorized as "useful" "cool" or "funny" just speaks to what kind of reviews they encourage. they strongly push the community aspect of their site, and id much rather have a blind Up/Down voting system that puts quality of review at forefront than one that young people use as a social platform.
which leaves Tripadvisor. it rightly prioritizes reviews, rather than reviewers. but its not void of clueless contribution. rather, they just come from 40 year old kansas joe rather than 25 year old tiffany. merely a demographics thing. one advantage is that it has better global coverage than yelp...
as far as posting reviews, i only add to Tripadvisor because it has hotels and thus more travel-centric...and as mentioned i really detest the Yelp userbase
I had written more than a few reviews for Yelp over the years, but after hearing from a couple of small business owners how Yelp was calling fairly frequently, basically offering to keep positive reviews of their businesses at the top of the default ordering for a monthly amount of money, I deleted my Yelp account and all my reviews. I felt like I was being a party to a form of extortion. I suppose it is possible TA goes after revenue in a similar fashion, but it has never come up on my radar, so to speak, and I've only written a handful of reviews for them (I no longer write any more).
One of these conversations regarding Yelp was with the owner of a small retail shop that I patronize occasionally, and he told me (and I believe him) that his business was struggling to the point where he hadn't taken a salary for 8 months. From what he described, Yelp was asking him for about $300 monthly, he told them he could not afford to pay. They responded by "filtering" positive reviews, including one of my own, and floating the negative reviews to the top of the default ordering. Basically they made the folks at this shop look like a bunch of @ssh***s, which probably helped the business to struggle even more.
While I will occasionally use Yelp to help someone find a place, with respect to the reviews, I take a little and leave a little.
One of these conversations regarding Yelp was with the owner of a small retail shop that I patronize occasionally, and he told me (and I believe him) that his business was struggling to the point where he hadn't taken a salary for 8 months. From what he described, Yelp was asking him for about $300 monthly, he told them he could not afford to pay. They responded by "filtering" positive reviews, including one of my own, and floating the negative reviews to the top of the default ordering. Basically they made the folks at this shop look like a bunch of @ssh***s, which probably helped the business to struggle even more.
While I will occasionally use Yelp to help someone find a place, with respect to the reviews, I take a little and leave a little.
Aug 31, 2015, 9:02 am
#40
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: IAD/DCA
Posts: 31,797
I was reliably informed that my first Yelp reviews weren't being posted because I hadn't posted enough. This despite a ton of one-post wonders on that site. After 12 reviews I gave up. Despite careful and considerate writing on my part, none of them ever posted. Waste of time
Sep 1, 2015, 10:12 pm
#41
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: SJC/SFO
Programs: WN A+ CP, UA 1MM/*A Gold, Mar LT Tit, IHG Plat, HH Dia
Posts: 6,284
That's surprising. I'm not a Yelp insider, but I've been a regular user for 6 years and I've often clicked through a business's reviews to see the ones that are hidden. I've never seen a person with more than 3 reviews (assuming they're not one-liners or duplicates) have their reviews hidden.
Sep 3, 2015, 3:51 am
#42
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: About 45 miles NW of MCO
Programs: Acapulco - Gold, Panama - Red, Timothy Leary 8 Mile High Club
Posts: 29,238
That's surprising. I'm not a Yelp insider, but I've been a regular user for 6 years and I've often clicked through a business's reviews to see the ones that are hidden. I've never seen a person with more than 3 reviews (assuming they're not one-liners or duplicates) have their reviews hidden.
Sep 5, 2015, 2:28 pm
#45
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Vancouver, BC
Posts: 1,552
Personally, I only post on TA. However, try to use all resources (FT, TA, Yelp, Urbanspoon, wikitravel, Chowhound, local newspaper lists, travel guides, blogs, etc) for my searches since researching the trip is half the fun for me. I try to get an initial list of potential restaurants first and then do a deeper dive with a critical eye on one post wonders, really good or really bad reviews, and the reasons why they rated the way they did.
I only use Foursquare to get ideas what to order at the restaurant or to help identify specials or deals.
I only use Foursquare to get ideas what to order at the restaurant or to help identify specials or deals.
