We’re hoping for a bigger and better year this year.   RAYV will continue to operate as a business review directory for Sydney and Brisbane and we’ll also be walking into new cities and ‘maybe’ even a new country or two.

We’ll also be adding a slight twist to the site later on this year with a completely new offering to the small business world.

We’re busy wrapping up a couple of new features now (including our iPhone app) and once those have been released, we’ll reveal the plans for 2010.   But only if you continue to share with us your awesome reviews

We love to hear feedback (positive and negative) so if there’s things you’d like to see, or things you’d like maybe improved – we encourage you to drop us a mail and spill your thoughts.   It helps us to grow and it helps us to provide the service you want….and need.

Here’s to a great RAYVn new year!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all of us at RAYV.   Stay safe, have fun, eat lots, party hard and come back to tell us all about where you went over the holiday period.

Thanks from us and the rest of Sydney and Brisbane for all of your quality business reviews over the past year.    You sure have been busy!  We look forward to reading more reviews and discovering new businesses in 2010.

Have a RAYV’n good time!

Ian & the RAYV team.

One of the biggest features is the release of the RAYV service into Brisbane.   We’ve been looking at new areas to launch RAYV for a while now and Brisbane is the first of many.  We have other locations sitting in private Beta – so if you’d like to know about them and would like to be one of the first to review across those areas, let us know.  For now – let’s go check out Brisbane!

NEW LOCATIONS

You can view RAYV Brisbane in a couple of ways.   A direct link is http://www.rayv.com.au/bris.    OR you can use the Location Selector sitting in the new masthead of the site.  Simply click on the city drop down menu and select either Brisbane or Sydney.   We’ll remember your location for the next time you visit the site.

REAL -TIME RESTAURANT BOOKINGS

The 2nd major enhancement to RAYV is our partnership with Dimmi.   For the region of Sydney (Brisbane coming in 2010) you can select from over 250 of your favourite restaurants and make your reservations in real-time using the booking gadgets across the RAYV business listings for these restaurants.   The booking gagdet allows you to view the booking calendars of restaurants in real-time and insert your own booking.   Confirmation of your booking will be sent to you via email.

Real-time bookings are being added to new restaurants on a daily basis.   You can identify a restaurant with the online booking capabilities as you’ll see a blue ‘book online’ icon next to their name within the search results.

You can view a list of all participating restaurants by clicking on either the ‘Real Time Restaurant Bookings’ banner at the top of the site, or the yellow ‘Book Online’ button on the homepage.

A direct link to this page is: http://www.rayv.com.au/restaurantbooking

For each participating restaurant you’ll see a change to the business listing page.   The booking gadget can be found to the right of the page above the Google Map.

TAKE THE POLLS

We’ve partnered with SMS Poll (the innovative solution to real-time Web and SMS polls) to now bring you live polls on a variety of topics.  Currently we’re asking you:

SYD: Who makes the best Pizza in Sydney?

BRIS: Who makes the best Coffee in Brisbane?

http://www.rayv.com.au/polls

We also have these polls integrated into the new blog (that you’re looking at!).   You can also add your comments on the polls here:

Sydney Poll | Brisbane Poll

KEEPING UP TO DATE

Keep up to date with all of the latest news and reviews from RAYV by following us using your favourite method:

Facebook – RAYV Australia

Twitter – Sydney

Twitter – Brisbane

RSS – Sydney

RSS – Brisbane

Yup, that’s right folks – “real-time” online restaurant bookings are now available on RAYV Sydney – with bookings coming to RAYV Brisbane real soon.  Keep your eyes peeled.

From a selection of over 200 of Sydney’s finest dining establishments (with new restaurants being added daily) you can now not only review your past dining experiences on RAYV, but also view the restaurant’s booking calendar in real-time.    If you’re looking to make a booking, simply navigate to the business listing on RAYV and access the booking calendar to the right of the screen.    Select your preferences (number of people, time etc), view the availability and make your  booking live from RAYV.  Could it be any easier?

For a full list of current participating restaurants – click here and get booking!

Now you can select a RAYV face to accompany your review on the homepage.  Simply pick the one you want from the ‘Write a Review’ page.  Whether it’s a smile, wink or look of horror,  pick a face that matches your thoughts and express yourself further!

If you’re listed below – check your email as we’ve sent you a note informing you of your win and how to collect your prize.

BEST REVIEW (All Categories) - Prize $250 Strike Bowling Bar voucher

Winner: Kristy L
Review:  “Simply amazing for fashion! Has all my favourite labels plus some new ones i haven’t seen b4!”
Business:  Dress Me Darling

BEST REVIEW (All Categories) – Prize $250 Strike Bowling Bar voucher

Winner: Katja C
Review:  “Great value for Money”
Business:  Rhindedorf

Congratulations to Kristy L and Katja C!  Enjoy the bowling and we look forward to reading more of of your reviews.

More great competitions coming soon!  Keep an eye on the blog and the homepage for announcements.

Happy RAYVing!

Due to the success of the last Bowl Us Over competition, our good chums over at Strike Bowling Bar have come up trumps again with another stonker of a prize with $500 in vouchers for use at any one of their Sydney locations. There’s 2 prizes up for grabs. x2 $250 vouchers.

That’ll get you and your friends a good few games of bowling (enough for your arms to be sore), some food in your bellies and some drinks from behind the bar.

The competition runs throughout the month of March 2009.   What do you need to do?  Just get reviewing!  The more reviews you plug in, the better your chances are of winning.

For all the details on how to enter – click here.

Good luck and hey…. bowl us over.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Bowl Us Over – Strike Bowling Competition running throughout the month of October.    We’re pleased to announce the following RAYVers are the winners of some heavy spend vouchers courtesy of Striking Bowling Bar.

If you’re listed below – check your email as we’ve sent you a note informing you of your win and how to collect your prize.

BEST REVIEW (All Categories) - Prize $500 voucher

Winner: Lauren G
Review:  “Simply amazing for a great day out”
Business:  Vaucluse House

BEST REVIEW (Active Life) – Prize $500 voucher

Winner: Nic T
Review:  “Simply amazing for a suburban gym”
Business:  Energize Health Club

RANDOM REVIEW LUCKY DIP – Prize $250 voucher

Winner: Luke D
Review:  “Simply amazing for fantastic dining”
Business:  Tradewinds Restaurant

RANDOM REVIEW LUCKY DIP – Prize $250 voucher

Winner: Therese C
Review:  “Good for drinks and nibbles”
Business:  Cafe Lounge

Congratulations to Lauren G, Nic T, Luke D and Therese C.

More great competitions coming soon!

The latest RAYV Gossip went out today.  If you’re not a member of RAYV or don’t subscribe to the newsletter, you can check out the latest edition here:

RAYV Gossip – October 9th 2008