[imagesource:wikimediacommons]

Some of the country’s best restaurants have been dealing with a sudden influx of Google reviews, both positive and negative, that are clearly fake and really stirring the pot.

These obviously bogus reviews are throwing the restaurant’s reputation into question, while also raising concerns about the integrity and authenticity of customer review platforms and online feedback.

Some of the restaurants being thrown under the bus include PIER at the V&A Waterfront, Ōku, Belly of the Beast, Reverie Social Table, La Colombe, and Homespun, to name a few.

Per Bizcommunity, Ryan Shell, a spokesperson for Ōku, expressed frustration over the influx of dubious reviews, stating, “We pride ourselves on providing exceptional dining experiences, but the prevalence of fake reviews on Google is undermining our reputation and misleading potential customers.”

As much as awards and media help raise these restaurants into the right kind of spotlight, what their diners say about them online has much more sway:

“Our main source of information about performance is derived from online reviews. This is because our whole business model revolves around people, and most of the restaurant’s senior staff have worked their way up within the business. We therefore value customer feedback to drive our staff and business forward,” adds Shell.

You can tell they’re nonsense Google reviews, whether positive and negative, as they often mention menu items these restaurants do not even offer, with other details that are clearly inaccurate.

Fake feedback, often generated using AI (da-doy!), misleads consumers but also undermines the hard work and dedication of businesses.

Even false five-star reviews pollute that restaurant’s legitimacy and create confusion among its staff, who do their best to listen to their customers in order to improve their dishes and service, as well as for diners choosing where to dine.

The impact of these scams is significant. Shell noted that of the 203 Google reviews Ōku received, 99% were fake.

Bots write fake reviews on restaurants for several reasons, writing good things to improve a restaurant’s ratings and attract more customers, or competitors might use bots to leave fake negative reviews to damage a rival restaurant’s reputation.

“My biggest concern is how diners expect us to deal with these kinds of things. In an age of AI, we can expect fake things like this to come up. But how do our customers need us to treat it to keep their trust? We want to be as transparent as possible, so we posted publicly about this issue on social media. We also only interact with the Google reviews we believe are real,” explains Shell.

While South African restaurants grapple with this issue, stakeholders are urgently demanding greater accountability and transparency from online review platforms.

By addressing the issue of fake reviews head-on, industry leaders can firmly uphold the credibility of customer feedback systems and protect the reputations of businesses committed to excellence.

[source:bizcommunity]