Fine Dining Lovers has reported that scammers based in India are blackmailing American Fine Dining restaurants to remove negative reviews which they have posted without ever having eaten there, in exchange for payment.
The publication quotes the New York Times that Top Restaurants are being awarded 1 out of 5 star reviews on Google, without photographs or a description, and the review writers never having eaten at the establishments. Continue reading →
Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* After having focused on Cape Town earlier this week, Huffington Post has included Hermanus in an article entitled ‘5 Lesser-known African wonders you have to see’. Whale-watching is recommended, from July – November, with twenty to thirty whales being seen in Hermanus on average per day in that period, announced by the whale crier on his kelp horn. The other wonders are the lunar rainbow in Zambia, the South Carmine Bee-eater migration in Zambia, wildebeest calving in Tanzania, and the Fruit-bat migration in Zambia.
* South Africa’s premium wines over £10 a bottle were praised at a blind tasting held in London on Tuesday, offering quality and value for money. The tasting was organised by the drinks business and the Premium Independent Wineries of South Africa, a collective of 15 local wine producers, promoting premium wines costing £10 or more. Only 4% of wines are bought at that price-point, warned Tesco’s South African wine buyer, but he praised the quality of our wines, saying that they are ‘fantastic‘. He said that our country’s premium wines need to promote their credentials. Local wines tasted were Ken Forrester Chenin Blanc 2000, Beaumont Hope Marguerite 2009, Journey’s End Destination Chardonnay 2012, Mulderbosch Barrel Fermented Chardonnay 2010, Radford Dale ‘Nudity’ Syrah 2013, Mullineux Syrah 2012, Mvemve Raats de Compostella 2012, Jordan Cobblers Hill, South Africa 2011, Newton Johnson Family Vineyards Pinot Noir 2012, The Drift ‘There are still mysteries’ Pinot Noir 2012, and Paul Cluver Pinot Noir 2012.
* Italian anti-trust and competition authorities are investigating TripAdvisor for its Continue reading →
A study conducted amongst just more than 1000 German travellers in December 2013 and January 2014, and with input from 1500 hotels in European countries, has found that travel review sites are believed to contain fake reviews of tourist attractions, restaurants, and accommodation!
The Worms University of Applied Sciences in Germany evaluated the reliance of travel review sites, their credibility, and consumer requirements. The findings of the study were the following:
* Reviews are consulted by one in two travellers, half of these recognising that they should handle them with ‘care‘.
* Half of travellers say reviews are an important input to making accommodation decisions, but friends’ recommendations and the establishments’ website influence their decision too.
* Twitter followers, Facebook friends, customer reviews on review sites, YouTube views, and blogposts on blogs can be bought.
* The majority of travellers read up to 20 reviews
* The majority of review readers consider reviews to be credible, but content must be credible
* Reviews are not credible if they are unlike all others, and if their wording is not believable. Videos and photographs add to Continue reading →