Region's F&B professionals warm to TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor can be used as a useful tool for receiving constructive criticism and alerting managers to weaknesses in operations, UAE F&B frontrunners have told Caterer magazine.

Speaking at the 2012 Caterer Middle East Conference: Food and Business, chefs and restaurant managers talked positively about the user-generated review site, which has been much-criticised in the past for acting as a public platform to air personal vendettas.

It seems the recent decision to scrap a controversial ratings system, where users were able to score hotels and restaurants out of five without writing a review to justify the mark, could have helped raise its profile as a tool for supporting the industry.

Marco Aveta, director of operations, Radisson Blue Hotel, Abu Dhabi Yas, said: “I don’t think you have anything to worry about if you do your business in the right way. Yes, sometimes you get not-so-positive feedback, but you are allowed to reply in a professional way, and as long as there is nothing to hide, you won’t have an issue.”

George Iacob, food and beverage manager at Hilton Fujairah Resort, said: “I put myself in the guest’s shoes: if I want to go somewhere, I ask my friends, and check TripAdvisor. Of course, I will not just take the first review. But if you take 10 comments, you can get an idea about a place.”

TripAdvisor spokesperson Emma Shaw said about our findings: “TripAdvisor is a free and powerful marketing tool. The candid information travellers share on TripAdvisor can help large and small businesses alike — in fact, for smaller properties with little or no marketing budget, TripAdvisor levels the playing field and represents a megaphone for them to showcase the benefits of their business in front of a global audience of millions.

“We also know that travellers really value feedback from businesses on TripAdvisor: according to a commissioned survey conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of TripAdvisor, 71% of travellers think seeing a management response to reviews is important.”

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When asked if she thought the change in attitude towards TripAdvisor was a global trend, Shaw said: “We regularly hear from businesses all over the world telling us how helpful TripAdvisor has been to their business. Each day we see more and more businesses become further engaged with TripAdvisor, posting management responses, photos and generally using it as a highly effective way of communicating with their customers.”

Aveta agreed that TripAdvisor acts as a good resource to help point out issues you need to be addressig in your business: “Faults can happen and we always welcome feedback," he said. "Everyone likes to receive good comments, but it’s the critics that make you improve. It could expose to the management a weak area in the property that they may not have known about.”

Felita Figuero, assistant digital marketing manager for Jumeirah Group, explained that social media is a two-way channel and can bring business your way.

"We have TripAdvisor logos on our website," she said, "because social channels work in two ways and we can drive people back to the website.

"Some people think that [TripAdvisor] is something that they can't control, so stay away from it, but it's that lack of control that drives people to it. It should be embraced."

There are currently 1047 restaurants listed on TripAdvisor in the UAE.