The trend of eating out has brought a
great boom in the restaurant business in the past few decades and online
restaurant guides and reviews have brought phenomenal changes in this field.
According to Mario Villegas, the
President of Twilium Management Group in
Seattle, online restaurant guides can either make or break the destiny of a
restaurant. A good review can boost its business and take it to great heights,
while a bad one can literally shut it down. The reason is that people greatly
depend upon online reviews and ratings these days, due to increasing exposure
to internet and social media.
How
valuable are online restaurant guides?
Online restaurant guides hold great value for both, the restaurant owners as well as the customers. They play a key role to educate and inform the customers about the location, star rating, menu, quality of food, quality of service and all they need to know about the restaurant, in order to make their decisions for visiting a restaurant. On the other hand, positive ratings for restaurants on online guides can actually act as crowd pullers, with a positive correlation between the ratings and the number of customers it is able to attract. In fact, these guides can play a vital role in enabling the consumers to make out the quality of food as well as services provide at a particular restaurant.
Hence, according to Mario Villegas Seattle, online presence has become an essential factor which determines the success of any restaurant in the hospitality industry. On the other hand, it is imperative that restaurants which have established a good reputation among the consumers with their food quality, impeccable service and excellent ambience, are not dependent on online guides for their success. They can do well enough even without being able to get good reviews as they are already established as brands in hospitality business.
Comparison on the Basis of Online Restaurant Guides
In the words of Mario Villegas, “A large number of potential consumers make use of online restaurant guides to make a comparison between tow available options and base their decisions on the information available therein.” Therefore, a good rating and positive reviews can be of great help for consumers to choose the best, besides enabling restaurants to compete with their rivals in an effective manner. They can even establish a stronghold in the market with the help of these online guides. Online reviews can influence the consumer decision to great extent even if there is no change in quality of food served as well as the quality of service, as it is the first thing which beckons a consumer to a place and he forms a firsthand impression about the food and service only after dining there.
Despite the fact that online guides about restaurants are no less than asset for them, there is a related concern that these guides may be manipulated by the restaurateurs to mislead the consumers. Such reviews can attract people once, but finally it is always the quality of food, service and ambience at a restaurant which really matter.
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