Encouraging the Reviewers, Honestly
By DAVID STREITFELD, NYT
The credibility of online reviews has come under attack so many times that it is hard to know which, if any, to believe.
Go to an unfamiliar city, look up a promising restaurant and almost invariably there will be a sheaf of reviews celebrating the food, ambiance and service, and then a smaller group of commenters saying the enthusiastic reviewers have no idea what they are talking about and the place is really lousy. Maybe the fans are really touts, who have been bought off by the owner with free desserts; maybe the critics are from competing establishments. It is impossible to know. You might as well choose where to eat by flipping a coin.
If readers knew that reviewers had really been to the restaurant in question, it would not solve all the credibility problems but it would be a step in the right direction. That is the benefit of a new program that TripAdvisor and American Express introduced Tuesday. Amex card members will sign in to a new part of the review site and be given the opportunity to evaluate the places they patronized. Next to their write-up it will say, “Amex cardmember review.” The reviewer might still be a friend — or enemy — of the establishment, but at least he really went there.
“Card members trust other card members’ recommendations,” said Leslie Berland, Amex’s senior vice president for digital partnerships and development. “Their views, their insight, what they’re doing, carries a weight and relevance.”
(More here.)
The credibility of online reviews has come under attack so many times that it is hard to know which, if any, to believe.
Go to an unfamiliar city, look up a promising restaurant and almost invariably there will be a sheaf of reviews celebrating the food, ambiance and service, and then a smaller group of commenters saying the enthusiastic reviewers have no idea what they are talking about and the place is really lousy. Maybe the fans are really touts, who have been bought off by the owner with free desserts; maybe the critics are from competing establishments. It is impossible to know. You might as well choose where to eat by flipping a coin.
If readers knew that reviewers had really been to the restaurant in question, it would not solve all the credibility problems but it would be a step in the right direction. That is the benefit of a new program that TripAdvisor and American Express introduced Tuesday. Amex card members will sign in to a new part of the review site and be given the opportunity to evaluate the places they patronized. Next to their write-up it will say, “Amex cardmember review.” The reviewer might still be a friend — or enemy — of the establishment, but at least he really went there.
“Card members trust other card members’ recommendations,” said Leslie Berland, Amex’s senior vice president for digital partnerships and development. “Their views, their insight, what they’re doing, carries a weight and relevance.”
(More here.)
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