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Okay so if you are not familiar with Yelp.com you should totally check it out. It's an online review site for all kinds of businesses - not just restaurants. You set up an account for free and then you can go to town writing reviews for businesses that you patronize or in my case...sometimes "try" to patronize! The good, the bad and the ugly experiences are all online for consumers to read about. It's a great place to check out what customers have to say about a place before you go, or to make comments about your experience when you do! It's also a great way to vent when you've had a bad experience and care to share that rebelliously with others!
I've only recently decided to become more active with this site but I have been reviewing places I visit frequently for a little over a year now. I have found that not only does this provide a nice online, timeline diary of sorts of my comings and goings but also to remind me of the places or the choices I have made that were both great and not so great. And recently I have discovered a new benefit to doing so! When management of said establishment likes or dislikes your review, they will sometimes contact you to either "Thank you," or to apologize profusely and try to make up for the bad experience you've had! Either way, I have found both my positive reviews and negative reviews have come with rewards.
Once I had a small problem at a hotel I stayed at with a noisy set of patrons directly above my room - I still wrote a positive review because management did take care of the problem for me, but upon seeing my review, they thanked me for being courteous and offered me a nice bottle of wine for my next stay there! Wow! That is customer service!
Apologies from management flow frequently with negative reviews, but sometimes the business wants to make sure to retain you as a customer and will then offer a discount, a gift card or your next meal on them just to try and make you happy! It's nice when these things happen and you can always update your review on Yelp to let others know that management really does care and made an effort to make things right!
So get on the Yelp bandwagon and put your fingers to work - it's fun and can be rewarding to both the business and yourself!
