Confused About a Revamped Cafe: Seeking Moderator Guidance

[teenywriter]

I need some advice on a perplexing situation with a local cafe in my town!

The cafe, previously known as “Rush & Crush,” was a well-established business for years until it closed down completely in 2018. However, just recently, I noticed that it’s back in business with the same name, same owner, and same location, but everything else has changed!

The cafe has undergone a complete transformation - the ambience is new, they’ve shifted from an underground location to the ground floor, hired an entirely new staff, introduced a new menu, and the taste of the food has changed as well.

As a customer who visited the cafe recently, I’m thrilled that it’s back, but I’m stuck in a quandary about how to leave a review for this revived establishment. When I opened the maps, I found the old page of the cafe with all the outdated details, which is causing confusion.

Now, here’s where I need guidance:

1. Should I upload new images of the revamped cafe on the old page, even though everything has changed except for the name?
2. Or would it be better to suggest to the cafe owner to delete the old page entirely and recreate a new one from scratch, reflecting the current state of the cafe?

Since I happen to know the cafe owner personally, I want to offer them the best advice to avoid any misunderstandings or false information. It’s essential for the cafe to have a fresh and accurate online presence, especially considering the major changes they’ve undergone.

@DeniGu @TusharSuradkar @MortenCopenhagen , your insights would be immensely valuable in resolving this dilemma and helping me provide the right guidance to the cafe owner. I’m sure expertise from you all can shed light on the best course of action in this situation.

Thank you in advance for your assistance!

#HelpNeeded #LocalCafeConfusion #ModeratorGuidanceNeeded

[MortenCopenhagen]

Hi @teenywriter

Your question is relevant and interesting, but it relates a lot more to the Google Business profile program than the Local Guides program.

So you should seek help on such issues in the other forum.

Normally, I would consider what will be more valuable for the owner. To most businesses having a lot of positive reviews is an important asset. Alone for that reason, he might want to keep the old listing. On the other hand, if the old reviews are not very good it might be in his best interest to start over with a new pin.

It also depends on how effective Google Maps is in attracting customers.

We can argue what is most helpful and important for Maps users, but in these cases, I think the interests of the owners should be considered first.

Cheers

Morten

[TusharSuradkar]

Hello @teenywriter ,

This is a situation that has happened to me several times.

Sometimes I found that a place has gone major or complete transformation just because I visited it after a long time, but it has turned out that it was a gradual change that I did not notice. It does not matter, however.

In your case as long as the name of business and location is the same, I’d suggest editing your review and writing about the current state and latest experience.

Also remove all old photos that you may have uploaded to Google Maps about the place and add new photos representing the current status and ambience and facilities. IMO that would be the right thing to do and I have done this several times with several places.

Afterall people using Google Maps ‘today’ would be interested in knowing how the place looks like and the service they are providing currently, whatever the past or history may have been.

[ErmesT]

@teenywriter

This is exactly the function of the “update” tab of Google Maps: adding an update about the business.

Also editing the review, as suggested by @TusharSuradkar , is a good practice, to reflect the new status of the business.

Normally, if your Location is on, Maps is suggesting this activity automatically, like in the screenshot here below.

As the business is the same, I don’t see any reason for removing the old (historical) photos, but of course this is up to you