As a business owner, do you read YELP reviews?

[vash]

i was talking to some restaurant owners..they HATE yelp. they think it sucks that a bunch of know-it-all-wanna-be-self-proclaimed "Foodies" have a vessel to voice their useless opinions.

i was shocked. i thought it would be a great tool to see what you are doing right, and what needs improvement. sure it must take some thick skin to read thru some of the angry blast..but..

what do you business owner guys think? you like yelp?

as a customer, i use yelp all the time. it is actually a super easy way to find business phone numbers, and driving directions off my iphone using yelp.

[Scott R]

Only for entertainment.

[bivenator]

I use Yelp, and read the reviews. Most are dated, and like everything, YMMV

[look 171]

Such-a-BS. if the wind blew the other way, they love to write a bad review. Some business owner pour their heart and their entire life savings into their bus. All it takes is some greedy ******* that want a free meal and siht on them. A friend owns a steak house and this one couple refuse to pay for their meal because they felt the steak was not well done enough. they refused to pay for both their meals after they had eaten most of their crap on their plate. They stiffed the waiter, no tip, and threaten to btich on Yelp. They did. My friend was pissed. Personally, I never read them

[widebody911]

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/yelp-and-the-business-of-extortion-20/Content?oid=1176635

The Yelp Scam | The Truth About Yelp Reviews.

The Epi-Log on Epicurious.com: The Yelp Extortion Scam

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/05/25/4515556/restaurants-decry-yelp-extortion.html

[HardDrive]

I'm Yelp 'elite'.

I think Yelps business model is pretty scummy, but I do think the reviews are generally sound. Its pretty easy to spot fake reviews. I think Yelp users also give weight to others reviews based on the individual that wrote them. Some people are just aholes. If a place has generally good reviews, am I going to give credence to some whiner who has written 18 negative reviews in a row? No.

[aigel]

If there are plenty of reviews, the truth will prevail. If the statistics are not good (less than 20 reviews), the information may be skewed either by a pile of whiners and self centered idiots, or by the business owners trying to prop up the positives through friends and family.

G

[stealthn]

So I read those stories and have hear this before, but never had direct experience with it. I like the idea behind Yelp, but if they are truly pulling this I'm sure an AG would love to go after them for rackettering....if it was true.

[gprsh924]

You have to use yelp smartly. If you do it can be a very useful tool.

This opinion is formed using it solely for restaurants in Chicago. Outside of the major city, the number of reviews drops so drastically that it's pretty worthless. That and the fact that I've seen Applebee's and chilis with 4 stars

[Zeke]

I have ripped and praised on Yelp. I have given out information about relocation, etc. Never filtered. It may not be straight up, but it works for me. The places that I know are rated fairly, some good and some badly.

[KevinTodd]

The ratings are all over the place but you can certainly filter for yourself quite easily as the others have said. Yes, sometimes it seems that it is heavily biased toward the negative but then again--people routinely seem to act more passionately when they are truly upset about something rather than satisfied with it.

I find some of the posts humorous, some righteously dead-on target, and some that are simply pathetic. Kind of like a true slice of humanity.

[rattlsnak]

I consider myself pretty techie and have 6 pages of apps on my phone, but I have never tried Yelp. I mean I've heard of it, but not really sure what it is?

[89911]

The problem with yelp and other internet ratings is that you expect the person to be the same online and they are in person. Good luck. The posters on PP are generally fair and honest, speaking as they would if you would meet them personally. I would say that this generally not the case. Did you ever read the idiotic comments posted that follow a major headline, youtube clip, or a sporting new article? And these people are allowed to rate your restaurant or business?

[on2wheels52]

Just looked, had never used the service before. I must be in too small a market area, none of the pawnshops have any reviews.
A number of restaurants were reviewed, though I noticed some had been closed for years.
Jim

[jyl]

Individual reviews can be garbage or gold, when the number of reviews gets high enough (>10-20), the average is usually a pretty accurate assessment, relative to the standards in the location.

E.g. In Portland the 4 and 5 rated Chinese restaurants are in fact the best ones in town, even if by Bay Area standards they would be 3 and 4, and by Podunk standards they'd deserve straight 5.