Dutch hospitality industry lobby group KHN is to talk to food website Iens.nl after reports that restaurants are being blackmailed with the threat of bad reviews, broadcaster Nos says on Friday afternoon.

KHN says a number of restaurants say they have been threatened with a bad review on popular food review website Iens.nl unless they offer a discount.

KHN would like to ensure that customers can only leave a review on Iens if they have actually visited the restaurant. ‘That is the case with Booking.com for example,’ spokesman Joris Prinssen told broadcaster Nos.

Iens said in a reaction it would like to prevent restaurant owners being blackmailed and that 15% to 20% of the reviews it receives are already rejected because they don’t follow the house rules.

These include the use of swear words and disputes. Restaurants may also complain about reviews and this does lead to some being removed, Iens said.

The website claims to attract between 5,000 and 10,000 reviews a week.