Wait times and cocktails drive December review scores

December saw the average social rating come in at 4.2, an increase of 0.1 against December 2018.  When looking by channel Google was a key driver with the average rating coming in at 4.2, again up 0.1 year on year, and Facebook is up 0.2 year on year with a score of 4.6.

When looking by segment it’s interesting that we continue to see a trend for more negative Christmas reviews to come in on TripAdvisor, with the TripAdvisor rating at 3.9, same as last December.  Where Google and Facebook saw increases in the restaurant sector against last Christmas TripAdvisor stayed static at 3.9, and this is a drop of 0.2 from November. 

The average rating on TripAdvisor was held under 4 due to a fifth of reviews coming in negative which a repeat of what we saw in 2018, but more positive news was that there was a switch away from neutral reviews, with around 2% of reviews moving away from neutral reviews and switching into positive reviews.

In the Pub/bar segment we saw all ratings drop from November, but Google and Facebook fell to the same levels as December 2018, again we saw more negativity on TripAdvisor, with 21% of reviews here coming in negative, a 4.7% increase against December 2018

Looking at the comments on TripAdvisor, Wait times was the key issue for those guests leaving negative reviews, with 48% of negative reviews talking about a wait, and 34% of reviews mentioning time.

Cocktails continue to be a key theme for those leaving positive comments on Facebook, and 8% of positive reviews on Facebook talked about cocktails, and 6% of reviews mentioning Christmas itself.

Google reviewers continue to talk positively about price as much as their meal, with 3% of positive reviews mentioning both words.  With 65% of reviews coming from Google in December knowing that price is as big a concern as the meal for the Google reviewers highlights the importance of ensuring the guest feels they are getting value for money.