Recommending Restaurants...

From the moment they step through the door your bookings become guests, and their experiences determine whether they ever come back.
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Big Sis..
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Recommending Restaurants...

Post by Big Sis.. »

Hi All...

I expect we all leave Restaurant Recommendations for our guests..
We do... places weve enjoyed[more than once]..also if lots of local people have mentioned it...
My eldest daughter has just come back and really disliked somewhere we had mentioned to her[and put in the info for guests]. :( .
Last year I had a guest who moaned about everywhere I mentioned[but he moaned about everything :roll: ]in the margins of the Info book.
Im just wondering that this could maybe cause a few problems as we all want the guests to enjoy themselves of course..but if they eat somewhere and dont enjoy it could they sort of blame us[in theyre heads of course]
It would be a shame to have a negative impact on something we really have no control over and everybodys tastes are different of course..
Would be interested in your thoughts..Has anybody ever been very negative about somewhere youve suggested..
Stu
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Post by Stu »

Personally Ros, I'd be very pissed off if a 'guest' moaned in the margins of our Visitor's books. Not that we're afraid of criticism, just that it's plain rude to do that!

When any of us give recommendations etc. it's there for guidance only. If people choose to be guided by us and enjoy it, then great. On the very few occasions where they've not been 100% impressed with our choices, then they've mentioned this to us, not written it in the margins, like they were admonishing someone's homework!

We recommend two local eateries, one's the hotel where our daughter works, (but we've recommended it since before then as we eat there when we can and love it), the other's a newly opened creperie which we celebrated Hannah's 18th at a couple of weeks ago. Both are nice, at opposite ends of the scale in terms of ambience, food and service go. Both equally enjoyable (but only in our opinion).
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Big Sis..
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Post by Big Sis.. »

Hi Both :)
Personally Ros, I'd be very pissed off if a 'guest' moaned in the margins of our Visitor's books. Not that we're afraid of criticism, just that it's plain rude to do that!
Sorry I shouldnt really have included this...[and I was Pixxed off....I posted on it at the time :evil: ]
Of course he was a complete prxt and shouldnt be considered in this.....
He wasnt the reason I posted this..what he thinks is of no importance at all....

I was really thinking about the normal ones..[he was a one off hopefully]
Has anyone had a bad feedback from a recommendation they made.....As your on site as well Stu its easier to gauge where people might enjoy..
Stu
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Post by Stu »

It's easier to manage everything when you're 'on site' Ros. We're just about to say goodbye to a lovely family here that have been excellent company. Their son's got a progressive muscle wasting disease and is in a wheelchair. He's 26 and a great laugh. He's brought his mate from uni with him. They're both wheelchair bound, and they've had a great time here. The gite's been just what they needed in terms of levels of comfort and ease of use for them both as well as for Johns mum & dad too. I personally wouldn't feel happy about just handing over the keys in situations like this. It's far, far easier to respond to problems (obviously) when we're here, but also, We wouldn't have any of the feedback we get if we weren't here, which in turn helps us to make the place right for others, see what I mean? I know we're lucky to be able to live here and that many of you can't enjoy your properties as much as you'd like. But absolutely everything is different simply because we're here full-time. We have control over every single aspect of the site, and it works brilliantly! For us.
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Ju
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Post by Ju »

We had some bad feedback last week. The restaurant in question changed hands last year - up until then we had only had good reports (and good meals ourselves). Since then we have had mixezd reviews, some people love it, others have been disappointed. What we now do is put a list of guests comments at the bottom of our notes, this way if some one in one property has a comment then the people in the other properties get to see it (all be it the following year). Whilst I don't copy all the notes, I try to make sure they are a fair balance.

We put this in our notes to make it clear that we are making no promises.
This is a short list of restaurants that we have found to be particularly good in this area. It is also a very personal list – we have visited all of these at least once and in some cases many times, but it’s by no means exhaustive nor is it invariable. If you have a bad experience in one of these, please let us know. If you find somewhere good that is not here, please tell us about it.
We then go on to recommend about 30 different restaurants. I personnally think this is one of the most important things we have in our notes, I would miss out alot of other sections before I got rid of the restaurant section.

Ju
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Big Sis..
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Post by Big Sis.. »

It's easier to manage everything when you're 'on site' Ros. We're just about to say goodbye to a lovely family here that have been excellent company. Their son's got a progressive muscle wasting disease and is in a wheelchair. He's 26 and a great laugh. He's brought his mate from uni with him. They're both wheelchair bound, and they've had a great time here. The gite's been just what they needed in terms of levels of comfort and ease of use for them both as well as for Johns mum & dad too.
Good for you Stu....Bet you really helped make theyre break soo special[and Syb of course]
I sometimes think Id like to be on site more to ...but even though Ive got a nice side[hopefully :wink: ]
I also tend to say what I think :o good or bad...
....and whereas this would work great with the majority of Guests ...[like the ones youve just enjoyed]
this really wouldnt be great with the pain in the bxxs....
There would be a lot of mumbling and face pulling behind closed doors I expect.....
Also it sounds Like blxxdy hard work.... :wink:
So I think I will stay where I am thanks.. :)

Oh Buxxer..This is a thread creep aint it :shock:
[unless of course if I change the title to 'Restaurant Recommendations & Ros's Ramblings'
...gotta sort a ring to it aint it. :wink: :roll: :lol: .
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Lesblancs
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Post by Lesblancs »

We wouldn't have any of the feedback we get if we weren't here, which in turn helps us to make the place right for others, see what I mean? I know we're lucky to be able to live here and that many of you can't enjoy your properties as much as you'd like. But absolutely everything is different simply because we're here full-time. We have control over every single aspect of the site, and it works brilliantly! For us.
Nicely put, we couldn't agree more, and not only for restaurants, but day to day things as well.

We recommend 3 local restaurants, but living here you get feedback from friends as well, so that gives you more confidence as well in your recommendation.

Robert
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Big Sis..
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Post by Big Sis.. »

We put this in our notes to make it clear that we are making no promises.

Quote:
This is a short list of restaurants that we have found to be particularly good in this area. It is also a very personal list – we have visited all of these at least once and in some cases many times, but it’s by no means exhaustive nor is it invariable. If you have a bad experience in one of these, please let us know. If you find somewhere good that is not here, please tell us about it.
Thats a great idea Ju..Were out there in a few weeks so I will write something similar.... :wink: Thanks :)

Mind you my daughter has always been a bit of a fusspot about food..
:wink:
Thinking about the age difference as well
what theyre looking for in a Restaurant wouldnt be the same as us either... :roll:
alifrank1
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Post by alifrank1 »

I'm very wary of recommending restaurants as everyone has different tastes. I belong a forum specifically for my area and there are often recommendations on there. Unfortunately people have different ideas of what's great and what isn't and I often cringe at some of the "eating establishments" that are recommended :oops:
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debk
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Post by debk »

We have pcs/internet at our four Lisbon properties and the default home page is our blog, and the first entry is always our google map of local restaurants.

So, whenever someone opens the browser, there's the restaurant list... just waiting for them. (We have a printout in our visitor's book, too, for the non-techies amongst us.)

This map has been a HUGE hit! We include a range, from hole-in-the-wall to old-world elegance. This sounds like The Dreaded Thread Creep but it isn't. Just wait:

If we get negative feedback about one of our recommendations we can put it right on the map, in the description. For instance, when a guest reported a bad service experience at a local place, we duly noted that on the google map. (Of course, two sets of guests have since assured me that service was very good and their meals were outstanding. Go figure.)

Much like Ju, our local recommendations -- whether restaurants or "must see"s -- are regularly commented on by our guests as being a highlight of their stay. When travelling myself, I always hope to find these insiders recommendations and am duly disappointed if I don't.

Bjs,
debk
who has no official affiliation with google other than a comfy logo'd sweatshirt and a couple of "I Google" t-shirts, courtesy of friends on the inside :wink:
chrismooney
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Post by chrismooney »

as the visitors/comments book was mentioned in this thread.....an idea.....wouldn't it be a good idea if you could purchase a loose leaf visitor book......then any inappropriate/rude/or negative remarks could be easily removed??? just a thought?? as with stu and syb we are 'on site' and on the last day we ask our vistors to fill in the guest book.....at the same time we ask them for any comments/issues/criticisms verbally.....then we can deal with them at our leisure.not always possible for everyone ,however we keep the visitors book controlled and relevant
chef who will try anything!!
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Big Sis..
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Post by Big Sis.. »

wouldn't it be a good idea if you could purchase a loose leaf visitor book......then any inappropriate/rude/or negative remarks could be easily removed???
Hi Chris :)
Good suggestion..thats what I did after my last one was defaced and stored the relevant pages on my computer in case I need to reprint them :)
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Partridge
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Post by Partridge »

We haven't had a guest book before and I've just left a largish note book for this year with 'guests feedback' to see how it goes this year, so can't comment specifically. However, I do leave a list of restaurants and try to include some notes about why we enjoyed it, such as 'very Spanish, little English spoken but great food' 'run by lovely English couple/if you're missing a cooked breakfast give it a try' 'very good for fish lovers, English menu available but little English spoken, a little higher in price' blah blah. In other words I try to give an impression of what type of restaurant it is, therefore making it a little more obvious who would enjoy it.
Don't waste energy on things you can't change.

Costa de la Luz apartment rental
www.ownersdirect.co.uk/spain/S5386.htm
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Big Sis..
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Post by Big Sis.. »

Hi Party :)
I do that as well Think it is important to give a little favour of what each place offers :wink:
Ive only had the bad comments from the 'moron' before...but that was about everywhere so he doesnt count.... :evil:
It just when my daughter said she didnt like the restaurant [we only found it recently but have been a few tines and really liked it]Made me wonder thats all :roll:
...Mind you she can be awkward :roll: ...cant imagine where she gets it from :oops: :lol:
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Jimbo
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Post by Jimbo »

We encourage guests to write about eating places in the visitors' book and this works well - and gets us off the hook if a particular place proves to be duff. Where we are occasionally useful is when guests want to go off-piste from the local Perigordine restaurants (heavy on the duck and goose), we can recommend some more off-beat places. There was a restaurant (sadly changed hands this year) which served only fresh foods from its garden - including their big slugs done in batter (fortunately, I'm a veggie so was able to excuse myself from this treat). But it was very popular with the hardier guests.

Jim
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