Key points at a glance
- Tripadvisor matters above all for tourists. Your venue is often already listed there without your doing: claim the listing for free so you can update details and reply.
- Each review allows one reply from the house. It is public text and subject to the platform's guidelines: factual, personal, without guest data.
- TheFork has belonged to American Express since November 2026 (previously Tripadvisor) and brings bookings, but depending on the plan it charges a commission per guest. Discount deals attract price-conscious guests, not necessarily regulars.
- You cannot buy your way into restaurant guides like the MICHELIN Guide or Gault&Millau. But you can make sure editors and inspectors find good information about you.
- Show an award with its year and source. Presenting old stars, toques or badges as current can be misleading.
This post is general information and does not replace legal or tax advice. Rules change and some differ between federal states: check the details with your chamber of commerce (WKO) or IHK, the competent authority or your tax adviser.
Why Tripadvisor and restaurant guides matter alongside Google
Locals mostly find their venues through Google Maps, recommendations or Instagram. Travellers behave differently: they don't know the town, compare deliberately and trust platforms they know from other countries. Tripadvisor is the first stop for many international guests, especially in city centres, holiday regions, ski resorts and at popular day-trip spots. Restaurant guides like the MICHELIN Guide are read worldwide and are often the reason food lovers travel in the first place.
Your foundation is still your Google Business Profile and a website with all the key information. How to set up the profile is covered in the guide to the Google Business Profile. How to ask guests for reviews and what the law says is in the guide to Google reviews. This post adds the platforms where guests from out of town in particular search.
| Platform | Why it matters | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| Tripadvisor | Tourists, international guests, ranking within the town | Claim the listing, keep details and photos up to date, reply to reviews |
| TheFork | Online bookings, often with a discount, reviews only after a real booking | Check the terms, manage table allocations, use deals selectively |
| MICHELIN Guide | Top cuisine and good everyday cooking, read internationally | No applications, but keep website, menu and press info current |
| Gault&Millau, Falstaff, Varta-Führer | Food lovers and culinary travellers in German-speaking countries | Tell editors about openings and chef changes, show awards correctly |
Claiming and maintaining your Tripadvisor listing
Anyone can add a venue to Tripadvisor and review it. Many businesses have therefore been on the platform for years, often with outdated opening hours, the wrong cuisine or photos taken by guests. Claiming the listing gives you access to the Management Center, where you can correct details, upload your own photos and reply. Claiming is free; paid add-on packages are optional.
Find the listing
Search for your venue's name and town on Tripadvisor's page for owners. If there is no listing yet, you can create one there.
Verify your identity
Tripadvisor checks that you are allowed to speak for the business, for example by phone or with a business payment card. Use the venue's email address, not a private one.
Correct the basics
Enter name, address, phone number, website, cuisine, price level and opening hours exactly as in your Google profile and on your website.
Upload photos
Put good photos of your own of the dining room, terrace and signature dishes next to the guests' pictures. A cover photo that shows the atmosphere works better than a logo.
Link menu and bookings
Add a link to the menu on your website and, if you have one, connect your online booking system.
Manage access
Decide who on the team has access and who replies. When the lease or management changes, hand over access in good time.
According to Tripadvisor, how well a venue ranks in its town's list depends mainly on reviews: their quality, their number and how recent they are. A few new, honest reviews a month are therefore worth more than many old ones. But don't ask guests to post on five platforms at once. For most venues Google is enough as the main platform. A QR code that opens your Google review form on the table or the bill makes this step easy for guests. Tripadvisor is worth it as the second one if a good share of your guests are holidaymakers or business travellers.
Replying to Tripadvisor reviews
Tripadvisor allows one reply from the house per review. It appears directly below the review and is read by everyone comparing your venue. Replies follow the same guidelines as reviews: no insults, no private data, no advertising. Reply in the language of the review if you or your team are confident in it. A short, correct reply in English beats a long, clumsy machine translation.
| Review | Good reply (example) |
|---|---|
| 5 bubbles in English: “Best Kaiserschmarrn of our trip!” | “Thank you so much! We are happy you enjoyed it and will pass your kind words on to our kitchen. Safe travels, Maria from the Gasthof team” |
| 3 bubbles: “Good food, but loud and cramped.” | “Thank you for your honest feedback. It does get lively here at weekends. If you prefer it quieter, you will find a table on weekdays or in our conservatory. We look forward to seeing you again.” |
| 1 bubble: “Wrong bill, unfriendly waiter.” | “We are sorry, that is not how an evening with us should end. Please write to me at info@… so I can look at the receipt and sort this out. Thomas Huber, owner” |
| 1 bubble, but no visit on record | “We cannot find your visit in our bookings or receipts. Please get in touch with us directly.” Then report the review in the Management Center. |
How to get it right
- Reply within a few days, to praise as well
- Respond to what was actually said and sign with your name
- Admit mistakes and say what has changed
- In a dispute, offer to talk by email or phone
- Report reviews with no recognisable visit calmly and factually
Better not
- Make details about guests, their company or their bill public
- Compensate guests for changing or deleting a review
- Offer free drinks or discounts in exchange for reviews
- Have staff, family or friends write reviews
- Threaten legal action before you have clarified the matter
Tripadvisor explicitly bans bought, invented or rewarded reviews. The platform looks for such patterns and can push listings down the ranking or flag them clearly. In Austria and Germany fake reviews are also prohibited under the UWG (Act Against Unfair Competition). The details and how to act against unlawful reviews are in the guide to reviews.
TheFork: bookings and reviews from real guests
TheFork is a booking platform owned by American Express since November 2026 (previously Tripadvisor). Guests book in the app or on the website. Whether the booking button still appears on your Tripadvisor listing after the sale is best clarified directly with TheFork. Only guests who booked through the platform and actually came can review you on TheFork. That makes the reviews credible, but also fewer in number than on Google.
- Costs: Commissions per booked guest are common, plus a software fee depending on the package. Terms are agreed individually. Get every item in writing before you sign.
- Discount deals: Percentages off food fill quiet evenings, but mainly attract price-conscious guests. Use deals selectively for slow periods, not permanently.
- Allocations: Decide how many tables can be booked online. Otherwise platform guests block seats your regulars want to reserve by phone.
- No-shows: The platform reminds guests of their booking. What else you can do is in the guide to restaurant no-shows.
Restaurant guides: MICHELIN Guide, Gault&Millau, Falstaff and Varta
Restaurant guides work differently from review platforms. In the well-known guides, editors or inspectors decide, not any guest. Reputable guides have no paid application. According to Michelin, restaurants cannot pay to be included in the guide. Inspectors book under an assumed name and pay their own bill.
| Guide | Where | Award | How it rates |
|---|---|---|---|
| MICHELIN Guide | Germany; Austria nationwide again since the 2025 edition | Stars, Bib Gourmand for good food at moderate prices, Green Star for sustainability | Anonymous, full-time inspectors, joint decision |
| Gault&Millau | Mainly Austria | Toques (Hauben) and points | Editorial team and testers |
| Falstaff | Austria and Germany | Forks (Gabeln) based on points | Points from editors and from guest and reader ratings |
| Varta-Führer | Germany | Recommendations for hotels and restaurants | The publisher's editorial team |
Even though you cannot apply, you help decide what picture editors get of you. Inspectors and testers prepare their visits online. A website with a current menu as text, the head chef's name, good photos and clear opening hours helps. For an opening, a chef change or a new concept, a short note to the editorial teams is worth it. How to go about this is in the guide to press relations.
Using awards the right way
A star, a toque, forks or a Tripadvisor Travellers' Choice Award are strong arguments for guests who don't know you yet. Tripadvisor gives the Travellers' Choice Award to businesses that have been listed for at least twelve months and collected enough good reviews in the evaluation period. According to Tripadvisor, winners are among the top ten percent of listings, “Best of the Best” among the top one percent. You don't have to apply or pay for it.
How to show an award
- Name it with year and source, e.g. “Bib Gourmand, MICHELIN Guide 2026” or “2 toques, Gault&Millau 2026”
- Show it high up on your website's home page, not only in a footer
- Use logos and badges only as the guide or platform allows
- Check after each new edition and remove outdated awards or label them with the earlier year
- Mention it in your Google profile, on Instagram and on the menu
- Brief your team so they can answer guests' questions
- Keep a short text with photos ready for the press
If you show Tripadvisor reviews or review widgets on your own website, you must state whether and how you check that they come from real guests: in Germany under § 5b Abs. 3 UWG, in Austria under § 2 Abs. 6b UWG. A widget that loads data from Tripadvisor also belongs in your privacy policy and, depending on the setup, needs consent. A simple text with the award and a link to the listing is often the leaner solution.
Reaching tourists deliberately
Travellers often decide on the spot, on their phone and in a foreign language. At first glance they need what locals never ask: Is there an English menu? Do I need to book? Are cards accepted? Can I get in with a pushchair? The more of this is on your platforms and your website, the more likely guests from out of town will come.
- Multilingual content: Menu and key information in English, and in tourist regions also in the languages of your most frequent guests. How to do it properly is in the guide to the multilingual website.
- Photos that explain: Regional dishes with a short description, so guests know what Tafelspitz or Leberkäse is.
- Local partners: Front desks of hotels, tourism boards and visitor centres like to recommend venues they know. Drop off menus, business cards for your venue and a short description.
- Practical details: Enter payment methods, accessibility, dogs, terrace and closing days on every platform.
- Plan for the season: Update opening hours, photos and menu on every platform before peak season.
Format your opening hours consistently
Create your opening hours properly once and copy them to Google, Tripadvisor, TheFork and your website.
A website that wins over platform guests
Menu as text, multilingual content, a booking button and awards in plain sight: see a free preview for your venue.
A free preview of your venue website, designed by us.
