> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.eat-now.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Filtering negative reviews
> How EatNow sends your happiest guests to Google and keeps disappointed ones in a private conversation with you.
This is the heart of the feature. When a guest rates their visit, EatNow decides — instantly, based on the rating — whether to send them to a public platform or to keep the feedback private.
## The rule
The guest is redirected to your **Google** (or **TripAdvisor**) page to write their review there.
The guest is asked to explain what went wrong. The comment stays in EatNow, visible only to your team.
The threshold is exactly **5 stars**. A 4-star rating — however good it looks — stays private. That's deliberate: your public rating only goes up if only 5-star guests post.
## Choose your channels
Go to **Settings > Notifications > General**, **Guest** tab, **Restaurant** sub-tab, then find **Review collection channels**.
| Channel | What it does |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Internal reviews** | Collects the rating inside EatNow first, and only redirects the 5-star ones. This is the filter. |
| **Google Reviews** | Sends 5-star guests to your Google Business page. Requires a connected Google integration. |
| **TripAdvisor** | Sends 5-star guests to your TripAdvisor page. Requires a connected TripAdvisor integration. |
A greyed-out card with **"Connect Google to activate"** or **"Connect TripAdvisor to activate"** means the integration isn't ready. Connect it in **Settings > Integrations > Integrations list** first.
## The three possible setups
Every guest lands on your private form, whatever their rating. You collect honest feedback, but no review is ever pushed to Google or TripAdvisor.
**Best for:** a restaurant that wants to listen to its guests without touching its public rating yet.
Every guest rates first. 5-star guests are forwarded to the platform to post publicly; everyone else writes to you privately.
**Best for:** almost everyone. This is the setup that raises your public rating while giving you the negative feedback in private.
With **Internal reviews** switched off, the guest is sent to the platform **as soon as they open the message**, without rating anything first. Every guest, happy or not, ends up on your public page.
**Best for:** nobody who wants protection. Only use this if you specifically want to drive all traffic straight to a platform.
In this setup there is no filter at all. A disappointed guest goes straight to your public page.
If both **Google** and **TripAdvisor** are enabled, EatNow alternates between them at random for each 5-star guest. That spreads your new reviews across both platforms instead of piling them on one.
## What happens on each side
They're taken straight to the review form on Google or TripAdvisor, already signed in to their own account. They write and post the review themselves.
In EatNow, the feedback is recorded with a **Redirected to Google** badge. No comment is stored — the guest wrote it on the platform, not on your form.
A comment box opens: *"What did you think of your experience with us?"*. They write, they submit, and it stops there — nothing goes public.
In EatNow, the feedback appears in **Reviews > Internal feedback** with an **Internal** badge, and your team is notified.
## Is this allowed?
Yes — with one important nuance. You are **not** buying, faking or filtering reviews on the platform itself. You are choosing who you invite to review you, which every business does. What matters:
* The review is always written by the guest, on the platform, in their own words.
* No incentive, discount or gift is offered in exchange for a review.
* Guests who are unhappy are never blocked from reviewing you publicly — they can still go to Google on their own at any time.
EatNow never posts, edits or deletes a review on Google or TripAdvisor on your behalf. The only thing it can publish is **your reply** to a Google review, and only when you click send.
## Next steps
Answer your Google reviews and your private feedback.
See how many negative reviews you intercepted this month.