Cornell University SHA604: Impact of Online Reviews Discussion

This discussion post examines the impact of online reviews on potential guests' decisions, focusing on a review of the Indian Haveli restaurant in Athens, Greece, found on TripAdvisor. The student, a fan of Indian cuisine, explains how the positive reviews regarding food quality, service, and ambiance influenced their intention to visit the restaurant. The post contrasts this with a negative review of "Michel's on Simcoe" in Toronto, which deterred the student from visiting. The assignment, part of the SHA604 course on Building Guest Loyalty at Cornell University, requires students to analyze how online reviews and responses shape guest perceptions and influence their choices in the food and beverage industry. The student also responds to another student's post, indicating a similar impact of reviews on their dining decisions, highlighting the importance of service standards and effective service recovery in building guest loyalty and creating a competitive advantage. The assignment emphasizes the significance of guest feedback in the food and beverage industry and its role in influencing revenue growth.

Running head: THE IMPACT OF ONLINE REVIEWS
THE IMPACT OF ONLINE REVIEWS
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

1THE IMPACT OF ONLINE REVIEWS
DISCUSSION POST
Indian Haveli located at Leof. Andrea Siggrou 12, Athens 117 42, Greece
(https://www.tripadvisor.in/Restaurant_Review-g189400-d9979781-Reviews-Indian_Haveli-
Athens_Attica.html)
I am a very big fan of the Indian cuisine and regularly like to try it out in different restaurants.
However, in the majority of the restaurants I find that the Indian cuisine that they serve is a
westernized version of the Indian food and thus you miss out on the actual Indian flavors. It is
because of this that for a while now I had been searching for restaurants in Greece which offer
good quality Indian cuisine. To be honest, I found a few however the online reviews which the
guests have posted regarded these restaurants have deterred me from visiting them. However,
last last week I came across the reviews given by the guests for the restaurant Indian Haveli over
TripAdvisor which had actually influenced me a lot.
The review clearly states that not only the quality of the food offered by the restaurant is
excellent but also the services offered by them are very good. In addition to this, the review also
clearly indicated that the majority of the customers get value for their money and the restaurant
offer both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food items, which are completely gluten-free. More
importantly, the restaurant also boasts of a completely Indian setting and soft classical music is
being played to create the right kind of mood for the guests. Furthermore, the affordable prices of
the food items offered by the restaurant is another bonus point for the guests who have to shell
exorbitant amount of money in fine dining restaurants to get good quality Indian food. These
aspects of the restaurant, which I discussed in this post, have convinced me that I would be able

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to enjoy my dinner at Indian Haveli and thus I think that I would be visiting the restaurant very
soon.

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RESPONSE TO STUDENT POST
Matteo Manfio
Hi Matteo,
Going through the review which you posted about the steak house in Toronto, "Michel's on
Simcoe" makes me convinced that this is not the kind of place which I would like to visit to have
my lunch or dinner or even breakfast. For me, the thing which makes a restaurant good is the
quality of the food that it serves however as your review clearly indicates the restaurant that you
visited lacks in this particular aspect. In addition to this, the callous behavior of the staff, the long
duration of time that the guests need to wait before their presence is being acknowledged by the
restaurant staff, the poor quality of the beverages and others are huge setbacks. More
importantly, the restaurant does not even serve a decent quality to get away its lapses or
shortcomings on the above mentioned attributed. In the light of these aspects, I think that I would
take into consideration the review that you have written and avoid visiting this restaurant.