BIG INTERVIEW: ACTING ON FEEDBACK

Collating guest feedback is one thing, knowing how to use it to drive business is another, as Luci Cunningham, sales director at guest insight platform 125 Data & Insights, explains 

How and why has guest feedback become so important to a food business?

The hospitality sector has become a very competitive space with new openings happening daily, trendy concepts launching, and a limited amount of spend from the consumer. Guest expectations have soared in recent years and are at an all time high in 2026, so it’s more important than ever to ensure you’re delivering an experience the guest is looking for in order to see that guest return – and even better – recommend a venue to peers which is the second most influential driver for choosing a venue to visit. 

What kind of insights can operators gain from analysing guest feedback data?

Guest feedback helps you understand potential blind spots in your business – a customer experience platform like 125 Data & Insights offers trend analysis that automatically tells you what emerging issues are happening in your business that is causing a guest to be disappointed by their experience, and potentially not return. Guest feedback also helps shape learning and development by ensuring your focusing on the areas that need improving and reinforcing the things that are working. 

Do you think operators recognise the importance of the information they have at their fingertips? 

I think often the challenge operators experience is the lack of accessibility to the information they want or need. Quite often ’time’ will be blamed, but ultimately if the right data or insight was easily available, in the right format and delivered to right team member to action, then businesses would prioritise improving their operation. So, I do think most operators recognise the importance of measuring the guest experience, but without the right tools to assist in clearly understanding what to do with that data, one of the many other tasks take priority. 

How can managing your online reviews help?

Having a process in place to help manage your online reviews consistently, and respond to complaints, can not only drive a higher volume of reviews online, but this will also improve your visibility with SEO. A business that can consistently keep a Google rating above 4.3*, with frequent and recent reviews, and a trustworthy volume, this will impact sales instantly, and we have seen this correlation time and time again at 125 Data & Insights. 

What kind of results can operators see when they do act on feedback?

Operators can expect to see a saving in labour hours by introducing a tool that manages reviews, responding, and analysis in real time, all from one place. They can also achieve sales growth by tracking KPIs to reinforce the steps of service that contribute to a positive experience. Guest experience is improved through one simple score that can be used to track performance and benchmark against competitors. Profitability can be increased by tracking guest feedback down to dish level, helping operators understand price sensitivity versus value for money. In addition, online visibility is driven by reviews that improve SEO and increase footfall.

How and where across a business can operators utilise guest feedback?

A sophisticated customer experience tool can identify weak spots in the operational performance, from the the a guest is welcomed or speed of service, through to the annoyance of a wobbly table, or an under performing chips due to crispiness. We’ve seen operators re-engineer their menus based on the menu insights we deliver, driving more sales and repeat orders. 

What’s the most surprising insight one of your customers has uncovered from customer review data?

One of my favourite examples is with an operator who would historically look at sales volume of individual dishes when setting price increases. The higher the volume, the more demand, therefore the more the price can be put up in line with inflation. However, a particular chicken and chips dish showed great volume, but guest sentiment was really low with trends of poor portion and quality.  This is a major blind spot for a finance director and putting up prices would have never improved the guest experience. When sales volume is paired with guest sentiment it offers a clearer, more analytical approach to price adjustments that won’t detract guests from returning. This operator adjusted the portion and recipe, along with the price, and the results were immediate in the overall sentiment of the dish with positive value for money feedback and repeat orders. 

How is AI helping with data consolidation?

AI is brilliant for assisting with automating data consolidation – within our toolkit we use AI for supporting the efficiency of responding to guests with the right tone of voice, as well as supporting the analysis of feedback data coming from multiple sources to the end user/operator can easily see trends across sites, rather than having to spend hours digging into the data. 

Is measuring the guest experience going to become even more important going forward? 

Operators that are not already measuring their guest experience are already falling behind, but the value is immediate as soon as you start. So many leading operators in our sector track guest experience at board level as one of the most important metrics for their business strategy, and that’s not going anywhere.