Hate us on Yelp (Please do)

You’ve got to hand it to them for creativity.  25% off for a 1-star review.

Five-star Yelp reviews are like hitting modern day gold for many business owners – but what happens when negative reviews threaten the very existence of a good restaurant?  Botto Italian Bistro was faced with just such a dilemma. And they took the lemons they had been dealt and made lemonade.  By incentivizing negative Yelp reviews. Yes, you read right – they incentivize negative reviews. Botto’s has gone to the extreme of offering a 25% discount to any customer who posts a 1-star review.  But wait, there’s more! They have also embraced the ambitious goal of becoming the “worst rated” business on Yelp.  Customers think it’s hilarious (and like the discount too) and on top of it all, the restaurant has made national news.

Something doesn’t add up here

When I first heard the story, I had to dig a little deeper and needed for my own stubborn curiosity to know… was Botto the victim of a few haters? …is there truth to the negative reviews and is Botto just a crummy place to eat?  …is there some truth in Botto’s Yelp conspiracy claims?

A Yelp Conspiracy

My first step was to check out the restaurant website and to read the reviews on Yelp (I read through probably 50 of them).  After I determined that the food looks edible, the place looks clean, and that customers seem to like the food, I wondered if there was some legitimacy to the conspiracy claims.  Let’s review. Botto’s claims that:

• They were advertising with Yelp
• They stopped advertising
• Some of their best positive reviews were then hidden and negative reviews were promoted on their restaurant’s Yelp page

So, Yelp, what’s your side of the story?

Yelp pleads the fifth apparently, because their voice was noticeably absent from most of the coverage.  The organization chose instead to point inquires to canned information on its website where it states: “our recommendation software treats advertisers and non-advertisers exactly the same. You’ll find plenty of Yelp advertisers with negative reviews, and plenty of non-advertisers with five-star ratings across the board.”

Sadly, we may never have a direct answer from Yelp and we may never definitively know the truth about Botto’s experience. What we do know is that Botto’s flipped the situation and created a counter culture in its favor.

What do you think about Botto’s “Hate Us on Yelp” campaign?

References:

Botto Bistro (2014). Yelp commentary. Retrieved on September 24, 2014 from http://www.bottobistro.com/YELP.html

Yelp (2014). Common questions. Retrieved on September 24 from https://biz.yelp.com/support/common_questions

Cullers, R. (2014, September 22). This restaurant wants to be the worst rated on Yelp, and the reviews are indeed hilarious. AdWeek. Retrieved on September 24, 2014 from http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/restaurant-wants-be-worst-rated-yelp-and-reviews-are-indeed-hilarious-160299

Brackett, E. (2014, September 18). Restaurant fights Yelp, seeks one-star reviews. USA Today. Retrieved on September 24, 2014 from  http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/09/18/restaurant-fights-yelp/15801393/

Whitehouse, K. (2014, September 6). Anger over court’s decision on Yelp’s reviews. New York Post. Retrieved on September 24, 2014 from http://nypost.com/2014/09/06/anger-over-courts-decision-on-yelps-reviews/