A newly formed group representing online restaurant reviewers has launched a campaign highlighting what it calls “growing hostility” from restaurant owners.
The Guild of Restaurant Internet Posting Experts (GRIPE) held its first annual general meeting in March, where members voted to raise awareness of the “impact of online abuse directed at reviewers.”
GRIPE Chair Nigel Forthright-Smythe told The Tunbridge Wells Advertiser: “We’re sick of restaurant owners damaging the reputations of our reviewers with outrageous and often untrue statements about the quality and integrity of our reviews. Our members go out at their own personal expense and share their carefully thought-through opinions online, only to have their words challenged by restaurant operators. If this continues, the model of providing free reviews could be broken.”
GRIPE has now written to hospitality bodies across the UK, calling for a voluntary code of conduct encouraging restaurant owners to “accept feedback gracefully” and “avoid questioning reviewers’ expertise.”
A spokesperson for one restaurant owners’ industry association said it had received the letter and was “considering the matter carefully.”
More to follow.
