Restaurant Expert Asks Is Suing the Reviewer Next Trend in Lawsuits

Many a restaurant expert will tell you that foodservice owners, operators and employees express certain angst over how valid a restaurant review made online by a customer might be or who that person truly is behind the critique. Is it really a competitor instead? Or, possibly the rating site does not monitor or do a good enough job of overseeing comments from patrons about a particular hospitality related business such as a restaurant, bar and hotel. – Consumers are increasingly using the Internet to visit online services such as Yelp and Trip Advisor to decide what restaurant and hotel to dine in or stay the night and then share their experience with others afterwards. It is not unusual for a food service operation to live and die by word of mouth and customer opinions. Poor reviews could damage a business reputation and cause material harm to the owner and its staff says this restaurant expert. Failing restaurants and other businesses subject to fake reviews by competitors may see no other recourse than to bring a lawsuit similar to the one in this Houston story here. – In the early years of online rating sites, businesses had little control in responding to customer reviews and qualifying the content. This has contributed to a change in policies among several of the major sites such as Yelp and Trip Advisor. Unlike Zagat and Michelin for restaurants and AAA and Forbes Mobile for hotels, those reviews are not done by qualified inspectors and reviewers who evaluate the business and assign a certain rating (i.e. 4 stars) based on an extensive qualification check list that considers many factors. – For this reason among others, online review sites driven by customer comments can be a very subjective process. Worse, anyone including a direct competitor might post a damaging review. Will the reliance by consumers on review sites create the next trend in restaurant lawsuits like the food labeling concern where the businesses sue the reviewer or rating site? If you are a lawyer, operator, owner or restaurant expert who sees a trend or has had a similar experience, please share it with our readers below.