Restaurant listings in the guide

I brought this up in the Manali guide based on a restaurant owner adding their restaurant after it had been removed once already.

Quoting Sam I Am

There has been a member adding a restaurant twice to this article which has subsequently been removed. What's our policy on this? I think we should allow listings of at the very least the name of a restaurant/hotel/hostel and in the case of a restaurant what they serve. Of course it shouldn't be overly promotional (this description would need some work), but to have the most accurate guides we kind of need to allow listings, no? Even if it is the owner actually listing the restaurant...

What do you guys think?

To which Herr Bert replied;

Quoting Herr Bert

I think we should discuss this on the forum, as it is more visible. (is it possible to move this?)

It is a bit of a tough one. I have less problems with travellers recommending a restaurant, than the owner. For me the latter is just clearly advertising. The fact remains that the restaurant is there.

If we allow this kind of advertisement, it should at least have no links, and we should consider to list restaurants alphabetical, to avoid people moving their place to the top of the list.

My other idea would be to get listings, like we have for the Hotels. This could be created for many countries, in cooperation with e.g. Sodexo, Gourmet, Ticketrestaurants. etc. And also have the possibility to add manually.

What do the rest of you think? I lean towards allowing anyone to add a relevant restaurant or business listing, provided it is actually based in the location they are adding it. That would mean that we'd also allow owners to do so, but that is okay by me as it's nearly impossible to ascertain otherwise anyway if someone tries. I very much agree that we should then be listing them alphabetically though! And obviously writing a promotional description to go with your business isn't going to be allowed.

Thoughts?

I think the link to the website is good because it helps with looking at menu's and things. I do agree the description can't be too promotional. I like the idea of listing them alphabetically but for larger locations it should be done considering geography.

A bit late to the party, but yes, I agree that listing your own restaurant is ok provided it is done in an objective manner.

I agree with Herr Bert's view that pulling in listings from somewhere else is also a good idea. Ranked by popularity like the accommodation ones are makes a lot of sense to me. Very hard for an owner to bump theirs to the top then. But this obviously involves more effort to achieve, so might not be an immediate solution.