The problem
Unanswered reviews sit on your listing for the next diner to read, and a hurried reply can make a complaint worse. If you get 25 reviews a month and each reply takes 8 minutes to think through and write, that's 200 minutes, about 3.3 hours a month.
What the AI does
Copy the review into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini without the reviewer's name and ask for a short, polite reply in your house voice that mentions one specific point from the review. For a complaint, add what actually happened from your own side and what you will do. You edit the draft, add your name and post it yourself. Never use an assistant to reply to a review that mentions an allergy, illness or food poisoning: the owner replies personally, records it under your complaints procedure and takes advice from your local environmental health team or insurer where needed. The assistant doesn't know your menu, and must never state what dishes contain.
A worked example
A 38-seat restaurant in Brighton gets about 25 Google and TripAdvisor reviews a month. The owner pastes in each one, edits the draft, and posts replies on Monday mornings.
Before
8 minutes per reply to think and write: 25 x 8 = 200 minutes, about 3.3 hours a month
After
About 3 minutes per reply to paste, edit and post: 75 minutes, about 1.3 hours a month
What it's worth
About 2.1 hours a month saved (5 minutes x 25 = 125 minutes), worth around £52 if your time is worth £25 an hour. The free plans of ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini can do this; a paid plan is up to about £20 a month for one person if you hit usage limits.
How to set it up
- Write 5 lines on your tone: friendly, brief, no excuses, sign off with your first name.
- Paste each review, minus the reviewer's name, into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini with those lines and ask for a reply under 70 words.
- Check every fact in the draft against what happened. Delete any apology or promise you don't mean, and any offer you can't honour.
- Set aside any review that mentions allergy, illness or injury and reply to it yourself after checking your records.
- Post from your own business account, and note any complaint in your complaints log.
What goes wrong
- Drafts can promise things you won't do, such as a free meal, or admit fault too early. Read every line before posting.
- Don't let an assistant comment on allergens, ingredients or whether a dish is safe. That comes from your recipe and supplier records and a trained person.
- Don't paste reviewers' full names, booking details or phone numbers into consumer AI plans; use the review text only.
- Free plans have usage limits; if you answer a month of reviews in one sitting you may hit them.