Wine bar owner discovers a hidden reservations button – and now he’s charged for every booking through Google: ‘Didn’t ask for this’
A wine bar owner is furious after discovering that Google had placed a reservation button on his online listing without his permission.
Stuart Knox of Fix Wine Bar in Sydney was furious when he first saw the booking button – and even more furious when he realized he was expected to pay for all bookings he made.
He told Ny Breaking Australia to add to the confusion, the ‘booking system’ didn’t actually display available numbers and let people ‘book’ even if the restaurant was closed for a private event.
‘It’s frustrating. And the nice thing about being in the restaurant industry is people blame us,” he said.
The bar owner, who has owned his establishment for 17 years, said the issue was “quickly resolved” by Google after he made a fiery Instagram post and responded to an email from a potential reservation.
A wine bar owner is furious after discovering that Google had placed a reservation button on his online listing without his permission
Stuart said booking numbers for restaurants are important and that while they can accommodate a party of two or four people with some shuffling, it gets “really exciting” with larger bookings of 10 or more.
“The worst part is I went through with a fake booking and it feels like you’re making a booking,” he said.
Explain that the restaurant will then receive an email with a booking request for consideration.
The initial form ‘reads very well’.
But if the booking is declined for any reason, even if the restaurant is fully booked, it looks like they ‘don’t want your booking’.
Stuart said the booking engine Google uses did call to ask for ‘permission’ to use the service, but he felt the request was sneaky and that they had not spoken to him or any management.
“They spoke to an employee on the floor who was looking for an email address for bookings,” he said.
When they received the reservation email from the restaurant, they considered it as authorization.
“It wasn’t pretty from start to finish,” he said.
Some suggested that Stuart cancel the reservation button using his work Google account, but when he took a look he was told to contact his provider, the third-party company that set up the system.
“I emailed them replying to the booking email I received,” he said, adding that they moved quickly to delete the email.
“I did a quick Google search for restaurants in town and some had the button and some didn’t. “I’d like to know how many people know they have them,” he added.
Some of his followers recognized that the same thing had happened to them and were ‘enraged’. Others said it was a waste of money and time.
Stuart’s main issue was how authentic it looked – and how it didn’t reflect the restaurant’s actual capacity to take a booking.
“It’s an ugly business practice,” he said.
Stuart’s only other run-in with Google was when Maps had his business in the wrong location, but that was seventeen years ago.
He said it’s frustrating because people see Google as a source of reliable information and it can have a huge, negative impact on businesses if that basic data is wrong.
Google was contacted for comment but did not immediately respond.