Restaurant client claimed previous business and changed name

[Rich Owings]

Hi all,

I've got a client with a restaurant in their hotel. The management recently changed and they now have a new name, different cuisine, etc.

The problem is that the client claimed the old Google business page and changed the name, which is of course full of reviews of the former restaurant.

What should we do? Delete the page and start a new one?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks for posting in the right section Rich.

This is a peer to peer support forum. I help when I can, but I am tied up all day.
So I'm hoping one of our members has time to give you some advice.

In meantime, don't delete. That's usually not a good idea unless you are sure there are no other options.


Thanks, Linda

 

[Rich Owings]

Thanks Linda. Yes, I figured deleting probably wasn't the best option. Hopefully someone can provide some guidance.

 

[Rich Owings]

Just a brief update... The client did the same thing to their Facebook and Open Table pages. Thankfully the latter apparently suppresses reviews of the previous restaurant!

Can anyone offer guidance on the best approach for the Google business page? I've looked though all the threads in this section but didn't find a situation quite like this.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Have you tried contacting support by phone? That's usually the 1st step for any problems these days.

Reviews are in a separate database from the listing, so you just need to have the proof and build your case that it's a totally different owner and restaurant and user experience now.

 

[Rich Owings]

Thank you Linda. I have not called as this is an out of the area client, but I will pursue that next. You have been so generous with your time that I hesitate to ask, but what would be an expected positive outcome here, for them just to suppress reviews that pre-date the change?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Yes, if they believe the total user experience has changed and it's a complete new owner, not a rebrand - they should remove all.

So don't talk about ranking, or wanting to get rid of old bad reviews. Talk about a whole new user experience and have proof of change of ownership and would not hurt to point out if the menu is different or there was remodeling as well.

 

[Rich Owings]

Very helpful. You rock, Linda! I've added "Today's Posts" to my set of pages I check each day and should I see something I can assist with, I will chime in.

 

[Rich Owings]

Here's an update -- The owner made the call, and followed the guidelines you provided. The Google rep ended up saying that the owner should flag the older reviews as off-topic. Is there another way to report these where there is the option to provide more info and say that the older reviews represent a different business than the current one?