www.viamichelin - has it been down downgraded?

[hughw]

I have used www.viamichelin quite a bit but haven't for about 6 months to search for restaurants and hotels as well as plotting routes. It had a nice search feature where you could filter your results for things like type of hotel, "stars" and "good meals at moderate prices." When I went to use it today, I could find any way to do this. Have I forgotten how to navigate to wherever I need to be, or have they eliminated those functions? Too bad if they have.

Edited September 11, 2007 by hughw (log)

[John Talbott]

I think you're correct. One can pick among Distance | Name | City

but I don't see the old designations either.

I'll be darned. It was a nice way of finding Bibs, etc.

[JudyB]

I have used  www.viamichelin quite a bit but haven't for about 6 months to search for restaurants and hotels as well as plotting routes. It had a nice search feature where you could filter your results for things like type of hotel, "stars" and "good meals at moderate prices." When I went to use it today, I could find any way to do this. Have I forgotten how to navigate to wherever I need to be, or have they eliminated those functions? Too bad if they have.  

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Yes, I think that they have effectively downgraded it: I found the same problem a while back.

We have also seen problems with the map locations: a search for restaurants in Brive la Gaillarde includes a restaurant at #2 (by distance) which is actually about 5km away. However, I think that I have seen misplaced restaurants before, so I don't think that is new.

[markk]

I know exactly the feature/filter you mean, and I used to rely on it all the time to search for "bibs" myself.

For a while recently, you had to find the "site map" link at the bottom of the page, and then choose "restaurants", and you could still do it. Now, if you go that route, you can show "michelin-chosen" or "other" restaurants, but you can do no additional filtering.

I can't tell you how many times I'd re-filter a list and print it out for a trip! Maybe they want you to buy the guide now. (hmmmm.)

[hughw]

I just sent an email to Michelin complaining and asking them to restore. Will anyone take bets whether I'll get an answer from them?

[Gary Marshall]

A while ago i emailed them to ask where the online restaurant rater had gone - and they added it back.

there's definitely been a change, the info is harder to find, you can still search by star category though.

Whether its a conscious decsision to make it less user friendly as it competes with the physical guides or an oversight who knows?

[JudyB]

A while ago i emailed them to ask where the online restaurant rater had gone - and they added it back.

there's definitely been a change, the info is harder to find, you can still search by star category though.

Whether its a conscious decsision to make it less user friendly as it competes with the physical guides or an oversight who knows?

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It's definitely less friendly if the feature is really still there. I just had another look as markk has said, the only option I can find is to search for "Michelin Restaurants" or "Other Restaurants" (which rarely seems to find anything).

Can you tell the rest of us how to search by star category?

[Kropotkin]

The search facilities on the site seem to have been up-graded -a little- just recently. A search by town or city now indicates those restaurants with stars amongst all the places listed to the left of the map. No sign of any bibs, but a little more helpful than it has been for a while.

Edited September 14, 2007 by Kropotkin (log)

[JudyB]

The search facilities on the site seem to have been up-graded -a little- just recently.  A search by town or city now indicates those restaurants with stars amongst all the places listed to the left of the map.  No sign of any bibs, but a little more helpful than it has been for a while.

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Yes, they do seem to have made some changes but as you say this is very recent. I just repeated a search I did mid-August before going to Bordeaux and now it does show the starred restaurants on the list. The bibs are only visible when you open individual entries, and have been for a while.

[hughw]

I receieved the following reply to my email to Michelin. It seems like a boilerplate reply that means nothing"

Dear Mr Weisman,

Thank you for your interest in ViaMichelin's Internet site and products. We have passed on your feedback to the department concerned to ensure that the necessary attention is given to your requested corrections during the next update of ViaMichelin's website. Your feedback is extremely beneficial for our website and mapping update process and we thank you, in advance, for all the suggestions you are able to send us.

However, although our site is updated frequently, it is difficult to define a minimum period between a change being brought to our notice and the subsequent updating of the data. Please note that ViaMichelin works continually to improve its services. We recommend that you visit our website regularly in order to ensure that you remain updated on new releases. In addition, we recommend that you visit the "Help - FAQ" section accessible via the link situated at the bottom of the Home Page on the ViaMichelin website.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any other questions or suggestions.

Kind regards,

- The ViaMichelin Customer Service Team -

[ameiden]

I find it quite sad that the hotel ratings aren't visible any more on Viamihelin but have been replaced by a hotel booking system that is clearly advertisement-based. Does anyone know of a list of all European Hotels that Michelin rates with three red houses (such as the Ritz or Plaza-Athénée in Paris)? As lists of three star restaurants are available online, why can't we have a list of the best hotels? I am hesitant to buy all different European guides to find out.

[markk]

I've had complaints with the site as well, but of course, in all fairness, I can't really see a reason that they'd want to give away everything free online, because then they'd never sell any guides. I mean, I'd rather get it all free online, AND, I used to find that the ability to do "sorts" would let me print out information organized in ways that you could never get from the books. But sometimes I just break down and buy the guides... or go to a Barnes and Noble and browse through them and make notes...

[hughw]

I've had complaints with the site as well, but of course, in all fairness, I can't really see a reason that they'd want to give away everything free online, because then they'd never sell any guides.  I mean, I'd rather get it all free online, AND, I used to find that the ability to do "sorts" would let me print out information organized in ways that you could never get from the books.  But sometimes I just break down and buy the guides... or go to a Barnes and Noble and browse through them and make notes...

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That may be the reason, but there are many other sites that "give" away their content even though they have a paid hardcopy version, advertising being the usual reason. Michelin to the best of my knowledge started publishing their guides to encourage motorists to drive, and of course wear out their tires faster. For a company the size of Michelin, I can't imagine that their publishing division contributes a significant portion of their profits. However, it creates name recognition and still encourages people to drive. So to me, taking utility out of their website is counterproductive. WHile it may allow them to sell a few more books, it creates ill will and reduces the traffic to their site. And if they really were concerned about revenue loss, they could always charge a nominal amount for a yearly subscription to their online enhanced content like Zagat does.

[markk]

I've had complaints with the site as well, but of course, in all fairness, I can't really see a reason that they'd want to give away everything free online, because then they'd never sell any guides.  I mean, I'd rather get it all free online, AND, I used to find that the ability to do "sorts" would let me print out information organized in ways that you could never get from the books.  But sometimes I just break down and buy the guides... or go to a Barnes and Noble and browse through them and make notes...

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That may be the reason, but there are many other sites that "give" away their content even though they have a paid hardcopy version, advertising being the usual reason. Michelin to the best of my knowledge started publishing their guides to encourage motorists to drive, and of course wear out their tires faster. For a company the size of Michelin, I can't imagine that their publishing division contributes a significant portion of their profits. However, it creates name recognition and still encourages people to drive. So to me, taking utility out of their website is counterproductive. WHile it may allow them to sell a few more books, it creates ill will and reduces the traffic to their site. And if they really were concerned about revenue loss, they could always charge a nominal amount for a yearly subscription to their online enhanced content like Zagat does.

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I'd subscribe too, but I really don't know if what's going on with the site is the desire on their part not to give everything away, or just great technical disorganization trying to make changes to a website after it was conceived one way originally.

In the old days (3-4 years ago?) you could do such tricks as pick a region, and ask it to show you all of the "Bib Gourmand" restaurants, further sorted with a qualifier like "salon non-fumeur" !! It was a highly sophisticated search, and it saved my life on many a trip. I was completely saddened when the site stopped doing tricks like that. I think they'd need to rebuild it from the top at this point, which may be something they don't want to do.

[John Talbott]

In the old days (3-4 years ago?) you could do such tricks as pick a region, and ask it to show you all of the "Bib Gourmand" restaurants, further sorted with a qualifier like "salon non-fumeur" !!  It was a highly sophisticated search, and it saved my life on many a trip.  I was completely saddened when the site stopped doing tricks like that.  I think they'd need to rebuild it from the top at this point, which may be something they don't want to do.

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I agree, and while they're at it, they should restore the agglomeration maps printed before big towns in the Red Guides that showed starred and Bib restos in concentric circles around the cities. These were most helpful when driving or trying to find a B&B (eg Table d'hote/Gite).

[julot-les-pinceaux]

We're all flabbergasted by the downgrading of the Michelin site, but, in my case, it reached its probable objective: I bought the book again.

Does anyone know whether those search features we all miss are available on the Michelin GPS?

[hughw]

So Michelin's reply to me (see Post #10) is either a lie, and they have no intention of improving the site, or they are throughly screwed up. Either way, they don't look good. And if you think about it, if all they want to do is sell books, why have the info on the web at all?

Edited December 19, 2007 by hughw (log)

[fresh_a]

I miss their entertaining chef "profiles", that seemed to start and stop again with no reason...

[Brian]

We're all flabbergasted by the downgrading of the Michelin site, but, in my case, it reached its probable objective: I bought the book again.

Does anyone know whether those search features we all miss are available on the Michelin GPS?

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The search features and filters are available on the Viamichelin GPS. e.g. you can search for all restaurants or hotels in a location, and then filter the search by key criteria (e.g. stars or bibs for restaurants, and black and red houses for hotels etc.)

You have to pay to download the updated guides (if you want them) every year.

[hughw]

I have used  www.viamichelin quite a bit but haven't for about 6 months to search for restaurants and hotels as well as plotting routes. It had a nice search feature where you could filter your results for things like type of hotel, "stars" and "good meals at moderate prices." When I went to use it today, I could find any way to do this. Have I forgotten how to navigate to wherever I need to be, or have they eliminated those functions? Too bad if they have.  

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Well, I looked at ViaMichelin today and was happilly suprised that they have upgraded the site and you can now search with results filtered for things like type of hotel, "stars" and "good meals at moderate prices."