Two thirds of UK consumers now check online reviews before booking a fine dining restaurant, according to new research from guest experience management specialist HGEM. The study, which surveyed 2,400 UK adults, also found that Google Reviews has overtaken TripAdvisor as the primary review platform for restaurant research — a shift that has significant implications for how operators manage their online reputation.
The research, published in HGEM's annual Hospitality Sentiment Report, captures a meaningful change in pre-booking behaviour at the upper end of the market, where operators have historically assumed that brand reputation and word-of-mouth carry more weight than aggregated online scores.
The platform shift
For the first time in the survey's eight-year history, Google Reviews was cited as the primary research tool by more respondents than TripAdvisor — 41% versus 34%. Instagram and dedicated food platforms including OpenTable and Resy accounted for a further 18%, with traditional media and editorial reviews cited by just 7%.
The shift reflects Google's growing dominance as a single-screen research environment. Consumers searching for a restaurant by name now receive a knowledge panel that includes rating, review count, recent reviews and photos before they reach the restaurant's own website — making Google the de facto first impression for a significant proportion of potential customers.
What this means for operators
For fine dining operators, the findings carry a practical challenge. Google's review ecosystem is both more visible and harder to manage than TripAdvisor's — responses to reviews are public, rating scores are algorithmically prominent and the volume of reviews required to maintain a strong average score is considerable.
HGEM's research indicates that the average Google rating threshold at which fine dining consumers begin to feel uncertain about a booking is 4.1 out of 5. Below this figure, conversion from profile view to reservation drops significantly regardless of the underlying quality of the operation.
The report also highlights the disproportionate impact of recent negative reviews. A single one-star review published within the past 30 days has a measurably greater effect on booking conversion than several equivalent reviews published more than six months ago — a finding that underlines the importance of real-time reputation monitoring.
Key findings from the HGEM report:
- 67% of fine dining consumers check reviews before booking (up from 58% in 2024)
- Google Reviews is now the primary platform for 41% of reviewers (vs 29% in 2023)
- Average acceptable Google rating: 4.1/5 for fine dining, 3.9/5 for casual dining
- 54% of respondents say they have abandoned a booking intention after reading a recent negative review
- 38% say a restaurant's response to negative reviews influences their decision more than the review itself
The response rate gap
Perhaps the most actionable finding in the report relates to response rates. HGEM's data shows that fewer than 30% of UK restaurant Google reviews receive a response from the operator — a figure that rises to just 45% even among the top 100 UK restaurant groups.
Given that 38% of consumers say an operator's response to negative reviews directly influences their booking decision, the gap between response rates and consumer expectation represents one of the more straightforward improvements operators can make to their online reputation performance.
HGEM provides guest experience and reputation management tools for over 1,200 UK hospitality businesses. The full Hospitality Sentiment Report 2026 is available via the HGEM website.