Is Yelp still a good source of informations in Europe?

I wondered about this. Is Yelp a popular tool for locals in those countries? If not doesn't it limit you to reading reviews by other English-speaking tourists, for example?

This is totally our personal experience, but we lucked out using Yelp in Barcelona in October on the spur of the moment after finishing a tour one day and a visit to the Sagrada Familia the next. Both times we sorted through restaurants within several blocks and once landed in a neighborhood lunch/comida place and the second in an old Barcelona institution behind a plain door. Both times, we were the only non-residents, a curiosity for the regulars. These were lunches, our main meals of the day. So Yelp served us well in this situation.

Find a place where there are no English-language reviews, and the ones you find are all good.

I don't really trust Yelp; on a few occasions when I've had need to leave a bad review, the restaurant owner was able to have it hidden (presumably they'd paid to advertise).

It is sort of used in Germany, but not a whole lot. Neither in German or in English. I stick with Trip Advisor or I ask the clerk in the store where I am shopping or my tour guide if I am on a walking tour or touring a church, or the bartender.

Well Jo, Trip Advisor is now leaving me with a lot of doubts. They have a new pay to play if you want your tour, restaurant, hotel, B and B to come up in a search. I heard it from a small independent guide in Virginia and a B and B owner in Maryland. She couldn't afford to pay and now when I search the name of her town, the only hotels are chains 15 or more miles away. No local places listed, though I first found her B and B in March via Trip Advisor. If I enter the name of her B and B, it does come up, and my review was posted, but nothing if I type the name of the town. All this since March when I set up the trip.

It may not have hit Europe yet, or European law may affect this process. Anyway, it's back to local Tourist Information websites if I want to find what a town has to offer.

TA does have some odd algorithms, but as far as I know, they don't charge for your priority on listings. Ranking is all about reviews, how many, how often, do people like those reviews, are the reviews good or bad, the kick-back from search engines like Google, do people post photos? Your friend also needs to make sure that people aren't posting reviews while on her property. Those will get kicked out right away as potential fake reviews.
Tourist Infos are using the same hotel consolidators, like booking.com quite often or they also charge for a listing on the city website.
I have my own personal beef with the TI in Frankfurt as they do a horrid job of marketing Frankfurt. The city deserves better. Other towns have such wonderful TI, and we get stuck with the worst of the bunch.

How is her Google ranking or Yahoo ranking? There are things she can do to improve that, which cost nothing. Many people just do a Google search for hotels, restaurants, things to do.

The algorithm isn't the issue: the issue is that it's no longer based on reviews of all properties or tours available in a given place, but reviews of only the lodging, restaurants, and tours willing to pay to be included. For example, if only the worst eateries have paid, the rankings for the best in a town are no longer reliable.

The town where we discovered this has no lodging listed, as if they don't exist. This is a depressed fishing town where the owners can't afford to pay. The closest listed are chains 18 miles or further north in the cute tourist towns! Based on TA, there are no motels or B and Bs, when in fact there are, including very nice one. If searching via google, it does show up.

Yet, as recently as March, all motels and B and Bs in that town were listed! This new way of doing business for TA obviously hasn't hit Europe yet, though I noticed the model changing when many tours were suddenly through Viator. Therefore, TA has always been shaky for reliability due to all the false reviews, but it's even more so now in the US.

What Bets describes sounds like Yelp as well. To be placed well on Yelp you have to pay. Several years ago, when Yelp became somewhat important in my area, many clients of mine wrote good reviews for me, yet they didn't show up. Through many calls to Yelp I found out if I paid them $350/mo minimum (at that time) they would then show the reviews. I've talked to lots of people since then who've had the same experience.

About 6 mos ago, a top Yelp guy was on a SF talk radio show (Ronn Owens) and every other caller said what I wrote above. Of course the Yelp guy deflected and obscured.... but that's how Yelp operates.

So... for me, Yelp has absolutely no value. But they do have Yelp for Paris, works the same as SF.

Thanks. It is true what Bets and Susan said. A friend confirmed that with a fee, they don't delete the negative reviews but placed it at the end of all the reviews. I still used it in the Bay area to get an idea. I figured at least we need something to start with in looking for restaurants,

Yelp doesn't seem to be very popular here in Italy, at least not where I am. Trip Advisor does though, I've noticed a lot more reviews on TA and it's common for the Italian owners to post replies to bad reviews. And many restaurants have the Trip Advisor certificate of excellence badge proudly displayed in their windows.

I've been using Yelp and Trip Advisor for the past couple years but after reading this thread, I might just stop using Yelp altogether. Very disappointing to hear how they operate. I've been wondering about TA too because I notice some sketchy things sometimes, like places getting several 5 star reviews but many of them are from people with only one rating.

Find a place where there are no English-language reviews, and the ones you find are all good.

I've made some good finds this way on TA for hotels as well as restaurants. For example, several years ago I was looking for a small hotel in Bordeaux, and found one that did not have a lot of reviews, but they were all good and all, or almost all, in French, and the price was very reasonable. We stayed there, and liked it so much we've been back twice.

The ViaMichelin site might work better for you or some native equivalent for the country you are visiting.

sally, I just noticed you're in SF... I recommend using the Zagat guide for restaurants., either the book or online. Wayyyy more reliable / helpful than Yelp.

If I want a list of restaurants, I use Google. If I want opinions, I trust Zagat, not Yelp.

Kaeleku, I'm only referring to Zagat here in SF. Not saying it's an authority on each and every place to eat... or any place. But as a place to start I use Zagat rather than Yelp here in the SF bay area.

All I know is Yelp ratings and reviews are useless for me. If there's a better source to evaluate restaurants other than Yelp, Zomato or Zagat I'd be happy to try it... : )
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