Rating Toledo's Amenities

This site, http://www.yelp.com/, was recommended on http://www.toledotalk.com/ by TheTalentedMrC. A thread, http://swampbubbles.com/promotion_or_denegration, on http://www.swampbubbles.com/ was taking Mayor Carty Finkbeiner , Toledo, OH to task for paying a company for "secret shopper" reports about our downtown hotels. One, http://www.hotelseagate.com/, came through rather badly on a report which was published on the city administration's website, http://www.ci.toledo.oh.us/, so that prompted a question in my mind: how do we as citizens of Toledo make our services better? I too believe that the "secret shopper" is a cost that should be avoided. But are there practical alternatives?



How do you get information about a place before you commit to stay there. Sometimes it is not always practical to "see the room" before you commit to it. For example, if you show up late on a popular night you might have to accept this place (especially if you have reservations), and maybe try for a different room, or a refund of, at least, part of the cost.



An idea is forming in my mind that may or may not be practical. There are various sites such as http://www.yelp.com/ that allow people to rate places they live near, or have visited. Now what would be the mechanics of using such a system?



You'd want to make it convenient to people to use the system. Perhaps a workstation (or multiple workstations) in the lobby of the hotel to be used during the persons stay, or as they check out, to register complaints, or rate the services being provided.



Now, how do we get people to use these workstations? Perhaps a coupon could be made available to the person at the end of their stay good toward so much of a discount at participating restaurants. Maybe the coupon could be good nationwide for those who can't use local services, or even an added value if they use the coupon in Toledo or northwest Ohio. If we make it valuable enough then Toledo's administration would have a constant flow of information that people could log onto to find out how the services are before they take a trip. And if the flow is constant then the information would be "fresh". Toledo's administration might even to "partner" with various services so that costs to the city would be minimal.



Now how do you get services to participate (since a company with consistently poor service might not want to participate). Perhaps we could get the website where this information is accessed to list those companies by category that refuse to participate, perhaps with the title "Caveat Emptor ('Let the Buyer Beware')". Of course, there might be better ideas out there. I am hoping for comments.

Problems with this idea: 1. People may not be honest in their answers. This is the one that would have proprietors leery of this proposal. How do we keep a bunch of cranks from not drowning the system? I like to think that most people are honest in their dealings, but then you have people (who for whatever reason) want to twist the noses of others. How could people rely on such a system? Would the city, or owner of the website, have the "right" to preview, or edit, responses or comments about bad service? Or would we just rely on the "wisdom of crowds" to winnow out the "good advice" from the chaff?

2. Some owners, or managers, might find it worthwhile to "bribe" customers. For example, if a customer writes a bad review can the owner give him/her enough to make it "go away". Is it worth the owners' resources to offer more of a "bribe" than the city offers an "incentive" to give "honest" reviews. Could this system be "gamed" on a practical basis so that it becomes worthless?