Restaurant marketing in Hurghada: get found on Google Maps and fill more tables

Picture a couple walking along Hurghada Marina at eight in the evening. They’re hungry, they don’t know the town, and their phones are out. They type “seafood restaurant” into Google Maps, look at the first few results, open the photos, check the reviews and glance at the menu. Five minutes later they’re sitting down — somewhere.

Whether that somewhere is your restaurant depends less on your food than it should. It depends on what they saw in those five minutes. We work with venues, hotels and hospitality brands on the Red Sea on design, social media, photography and websites, and this is the checklist we’d hand any restaurant or café in Hurghada, El Gouna or Sahl Hasheesh.

Your Google Business Profile is your real front door

For a tourist, your Google Maps listing is often the first and only thing they check. Treat it like your shop front.

• Pick the right categories. A primary category that says exactly what you are — seafood restaurant, Lebanese restaurant, café — plus secondary ones if they fit.
• Keep the hours right, including special hours. Ramadan timings, Eid, Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Nothing loses a customer faster than a closed door that Google said was open.
• Add real photos, often. The dining room, the terrace or the view, your signature dishes, the menu board. Your photos sit next to the ones guests upload, so give people a fair picture.
• Fill in the details: phone, a number that works on WhatsApp, website, menu link, reservation link, price range, outdoor seating, delivery and card payments.
• Post updates. A new dish, live music on Thursday, a set menu for the holidays.

Reviews: ask, answer, and never fake them

Reviews are why someone chooses you over the place next door. A few habits make a big difference:

• Ask at the right moment. When a table has clearly enjoyed the evening, a friendly “it would really help us if you left a review” works better than any sign. A small card with a QR code that opens your review page makes it easy.
• Reply to every review, good and bad. Thank people by name. Answer complaints calmly and explain what you’ve done about them — future guests read your reply more closely than the complaint.
• Reply in the guest’s language when you can. A German review answered in German says a lot about how you treat guests.
• Never buy reviews or post fake ones. Platforms remove them, and guests can usually tell.

Answer the questions tourists actually ask

Before choosing a restaurant in a town they don’t know, guests want quick answers to practical questions. Put them on your Google profile, your website and your Instagram highlights:

• Do you take cards, or cash only? Which currencies?
• Do you serve alcohol, or is it a family place?
• Is there a kids’ menu, a high chair, space for a pram?
• Can you seat a big group without booking ahead?
• Is there parking, and how do people get to you from the main hotels?
• Do you have vegetarian, vegan or gluten-free options?

Every answer you publish is one less reason to hesitate — and one less message your staff have to answer in the middle of service.

A menu people can actually read on a phone

Many restaurants share their menu as a photo of the printed version or a heavy PDF. On a phone over roaming data, that means a slow download and a lot of pinching and zooming.

A menu page on your own website works much better. It:

• loads fast and reads well on a small screen
• has prices that are easy to update when they change
• comes in the languages your guests speak — in Hurghada that’s often English, German, Russian and Arabic
• marks dishes that are vegetarian, spicy or contain common allergens
• shows photos of the dishes people come back for

The same page can sit behind the QR code on your tables. Guests don’t need to download anything, and you update one page instead of reprinting menus.

Photos that make people hungry

Food is sold by photos long before anyone tastes it, and phone snapshots under yellow lights rarely do your kitchen justice.

• Shoot in daylight where you can, near a window or on the terrace.
• Focus on your signature dishes, not the whole menu.
• Show the place as well as the plates: the view, the evening atmosphere, the grill, the people who cook.
• Keep a consistent look, so your Google photos, Instagram and website feel like the same restaurant.

One well-planned photo and video session can give you material for a whole season on Google, Instagram and your website. You can see examples of our media production.

Instagram and reels for a restaurant

Instagram is where people check whether a place has the vibe they’re after. A simple rhythm is enough:

• a few posts a week showing dishes, specials and the space
• stories on the day: today’s catch, tonight’s music, a table by the sea that’s still free
• short reels that tell one small story — the grill being lit, a dish being plated, sunset from your terrace

Our guide to reels for hotels and venues has shooting and editing tips that work just as well for restaurants.

Make booking a table effortless

Many guests would rather send a message than call, especially if they don’t speak Arabic.

• Put a WhatsApp button on your website and your Google profile, with a pre-written message such as “Hi, I’d like to book a table for…”.
• Answer fast, with ready replies to the questions you get every day: opening hours, prices, location, group bookings.
• For busy nights, a simple booking form — date, time, number of people, name and phone — saves a lot of back-and-forth.
• Make it clear how you handle groups, birthdays and set menus on special nights.

Plan for two seasons and two audiences

Hurghada’s restaurants serve two very different crowds. European visitors fill the town in the cooler months, while many Egyptian families come in summer and over the Eid holidays. Ramadan changes everything again: iftar and suhoor can be among the busiest moments of the year.

Plan your content and offers around that calendar. Promote iftar menus in Arabic before Ramadan starts, announce Christmas and New Year dinners in English, German and Russian well in advance, and aim summer offers at families.

A simple website still matters

You don’t need a big website. A fast one-page site with your menu, opening hours, location, photos, a booking button and links to your reviews is enough to start — and it gives Google something solid to show when people search for your name or your kind of food. If you’re weighing it up, read Instagram page or website?.

A weekly routine that takes an hour

1. Check your Google profile: hours, new photos, new questions.
2. Reply to every new review.
3. Post your specials and one reel.
4. Update the menu page if anything changed.
5. Look at which day brought the most bookings, and why.

If you’d rather spend that hour in the kitchen, have a look at what we do for restaurants and our digital marketing service, run the free website check, or request a quote.