Highlights:
- On Thursday, Zomato announced a new rating system for restaurants
- It will have separate ratings for Dine-in and Delivery
- The features has already been rolled out in India, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Lebanon.
India’s biggest food-delivery company, Zomato, announced that its application will not have two separate rating system for restaurants where users will be able to rate it separately for Dine-In and Delivery, on Thursday.
In its blog, the company said that these two experiences are completely different for any customer and hence it is only logical that they should be denoted differently on the application as well. “So when you start using the app again, you will find two different rating systems- the red one for delivery and black for dining.”
Deepinder Goyal, Chief Executive Officer, wrote on Twitter announcing, “Earlier this year, we proposed a change in our restaurant rating system. Based on the unanimously positive feedback, we are getting rid of the unified rating for a restaurant and splitting it into a separate rating for Dining and Delivery.”
Earlier this year, we proposed a change in our restaurant rating system. Based on the unanimously positive feedback, we are getting rid of the unified rating for a restaurant and splitting it into a separate rating for Dining and Delivery.
— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) May 21, 2020
For details: https://t.co/lzDRXYmy2f
In a blog post, the company also revealed that it will not disclose how the ratings are calculated as it is their most precious intellectual property”.
Aso of now, Zomato has rolled out this new rating feature in India, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Lebanon. The company may even roll out this feature in other countries as well however it did not reveal anything about the same as of now.
In the same blog post, Zomato’s Global Head of New Products, Riddhi Jain said, “You will now see two ratings on the restaurant page telling you how users have rated food ordering and dining-in experience with the chosen restaurant. The colour scheme of black and red is retained throughout our app for ease of identification.
The ratings will be contextual, i.e. when you are browsing restaurants to order food, you will only see the delivery rating indicated by red stars; similarly, when you are planning to go out, you will only see the dining rating indicated by black stars,”.
Zomato also shared the special measure it takes to throw out the paid or fake reviews in addition to the improved rating system. The company said it strives to bring trustworthiness and genuineness in the reviews and is also working on uprooting the bad actors in the system, who post reviews with nefarious intentions or demand for free meals/ cash in return of a 5 star review.
Jain added, “With the most recent change in our algorithm, we have further beefed up our systems significantly (aided by machine learning) to reflect updated experience ratings, and to identify and remove fake reviews comprehensively. Our restaurant partners work extremely hard to ensure that every guest has a memorable experience. We don’t want the hard work of our honest partners to get undermined due to a few bad actors in the system,”.
Zomato will also add a banner to label any restaurant which demonstrates “a repeated pattern of solicitation”. This will in turn help the users know that suspicious activity has been carried with respect to reviews by the restaurant.
