Does TripAdvisor hotel manipulation scandal render the site completely useless?

How do I boost my TripAdvisor rating?
That’s the most common question I get from hotel executives. And even though I try to persuade them it’s the wrong question — that there’s no proven link between a good review and bookings — they insist that their TripAdvisor reviews are the be-all and end-all.
Now, two of TripAdvisor’s most vocal critics, Beat of Hawaii with an assist from guidebook legend Arthur Frommer, have delivered a devastating blow to the Expedia-owned site.
The sites point to new warning language that accompanies close to 100 TripAdvisor hotel reviews:

TripAdvisor has reasonable cause to believe that either this property or individuals associated with the property may have attempted to manipulate our popularity index by interfering with the unbiased nature of our reviews. Please take this into consideration when researching your travel plans.

Frommer suggests TripAdvisor is basically done.

Why wouldn’t a hotel submit a flurry of positive comments penned by employees or friends? If you were a hotel owner, wouldn’t you take steps to make sure that TripAdvisor contained numerous favorable write-ups of your property? Who would fail to do this? And because of such inescapable logic, doesn’t TripAdvisor contain within itself the germs of its own undoing?

Shortly after the story hit the blogosphere and the twittersphere, TripAdvisor went on the counterattack. April Robb, who staffs TripAdvisor’s Twitter account, posted a reply on Beat of Hawaii.

TripAdvisor has zero tolerance for fraud, and we have many systems in place to address it. Our red badges are just one component and they are not, in fact, new; they’ve been standard procedure for a while now. Properties that are suspect based on specific criteria have a red badge posted next to their listing to alert travelers to our concerns. Whether or not the property advertises on TripAdvisor is irrelevant; content integrity is our utmost concern.

After I tweeted about the TripAdvisor scandal, Robb pointed me to the comment. I asked her if, now that Frommer had added his opinion, she had anything else to say. She did.

We believe our nearly 25 million reviews and opinions are authentic, honest and unbiased, from real travelers, which is why we enjoy tremendous user loyalty. Also, the sheer volume of reviews we have for an individual property allows travelers to base their decisions on the opinions of many.
The integrity of TripAdvisor reviews is protected by three primary methods:
1. Every review is screened prior to posting and a team of quality assurance specialists investigate suspicious reviews
2. Proprietary automated tools help identify attempts to subvert the system
3. Our large and passionate community of more than 25 million monthly visitors help screen our content and report suspicious activity
When a review is suspected to be fraudulent, it is immediately taken down and we have measures to penalize businesses for attempts to game the system. Penalties are handled on a case by case basis.

So should you trust TripAdvisor?
Having covered the site since the very start, I think I’m uniquely qualified to answer that question. And my answer is: maybe.
Hotels and restaurants are gaming the ratings system, without a doubt. What’s significant about the recent TripAdvisor warnings is that they appear to shift their fraud-detection efforts from an unrealistic, proactive approach to a more reasonable, reactive approach. Which is to say, they do their best to catch bogus reviews as they’re posted, but in the end, they can’t stop them all. To TripAdvisor, this may seem like a subtle change, but to the likes of Beat of Hawaii, it’s a huge concession.
It’s an admission that the reviews are imperfect. TripAdvisor features more than just “real advice from real travelers” — it also has fake reviews from real hotels. And fake reviews from their competitors. And fake reviews from restaurants and their competitors.
In other words, it’s messy.
Does this mean TripAdvisor is useless? Hardly.
I use TripAdvisor when I travel, but I do so with the knowledge that the travel industry is successfully manipulating the site. I ignore the best and worst reviews (those are typically the fake ones) and whenever I read phrases like “best hotel ever” or “incomparable service” I roll my eyes and wonder about that fabled algorithm that’s supposed to catch counterfeit reviews.
TripAdvisor, for its part, could stand to tone down some of its rhetoric. Maybe losing the “real advice from real travelers” line would be a good start.

Certainly, its slogan, “Get the truth. Then Go.” needs to be revised. Or dropped.

'We're clean' pledges Tripadvisor - The hotel review website is often accused of being corrupted by 'planted' reviews - but bosses claim it's the best it can be

Tripadvisor has defended the integrity of its hotel reviews following suggestions at a conference today that fraudulent reviews are still being published.
The robust defence by senior executive Marc Charron was two-fold. Firstly, he claimed that the site is getting more sophisticated at detecting false reviews - and secondly that its readers are savvy enough to ignore bogus entries.
It’s not the first time that Tripadvisor has been called to account over its veracity. As the largest website for user hotel reviews, the site receives around 1,400 reviews a day, and in the past has been criticised for allowing reviews to be published that are not posted by genuine guests.
In its defence the site has always claimed that it has sophisticated algorithms that detect abuse, and that it carries out spot checks and investigates reports of abuse by its readers.
But going one step further today Charron, Tripadvisor's managing director for Europe, told a gathering of travel executives at the EyeForTravel conference in London that “no reviews go unmoderated”.
"We have been doing this for seven years, with millions of bits of information and no-one goes on the site being unmoderated... algorithms can spot fraudulent behaviour. We have become quite good at it, and it is a nothing issue.
"The wider issue is whether it is eroding trust? Surveys say 82 per cent trust public user reviews. Nobody trusts them all as people don't share other people's values. People realise this. If you come to the site with the right level of scepticsm, you can still go away with the information you want. People are smart."
He later confirmed to Times Online Travel that each review that is submitted is read by a member of the Tripadvisor team and a confirmation email sent to the sender.
While Tripadvisor would not divulge the secrets of how its team identify fraudulent reviews, a spokesman told Times Online Travel that the language and useage patterns of reviewers are investigated.
Further to this Charron said that Tripadvisor users are policing the site better than ever: “People come to us with the right level of scepticism but still get what they want from our reviews. If they see something suspicious they will notify us.”
Also speaking at the same event was Brian Pratt from Starwood, a hotels group that includes Sheraton and Westin hotels. He said that his staff are encouraged to post reviews, photos and videos on Tripadvisor, but added that they are told to make it clear that they work at the relevant hotel. Pratt added: “The last thing we want is to be named in forums as seeding reviews about our hotels.”
Further to this news, Tripadvisor announced today that it has bought Cruise Critic, the leading online cruise community. The site receives five million visitors per year from travellers who discuss and research cruise holidays. In addition Cruise Critic features articles written by its staff on cruise ships and itineraries.
It marks a new direction for Tripadvisor into cruises, a sector that is considered among travel industry insiders to be booming – infact, research published this week suggests that cruise websites receive more traffic from internet users aged over 55 than any other age group. The statistics from internet monitors Hitwise found that cruise websites receive 48 per cent of their traffic from over 55s, an age group which is set to overtake 35 to 44-year-olds as the demographic with the largest representation online.

Tripadvisor - Get the truth then Go or FIND the truth then Go

As a seasoned traveler who has worked in the travel industry for a bunch of years I find it hard to understand how come so many people trust Trip Advisor so much. I am not saying it is useless or that all the reviews are fake, because I know many are reliable, but it doesn't take much to understand why you should take what you read there with a pinch of salt:

- Trip Advisor is owed by Expedia Inc, which also owns Expedia.com - one of the most popular booking sites -.

- Trip Advisor has only one hotel ranking, where you can find 1,2,3,4 and 5 star hotels, all in the same ranking! As a former hotel manager, I can assure you that it is impossible to compare a 2 star hotel with a 5 star one, because the guests who choose the former have different demands than those who choose an accommodation of higher quality. This means that you can find a 2 star hotel ranked as #1 while a hotel of higher quality is ranked #50, just because there have been many people who voted for the 2 star one. You will then believe that the 2 star hotel is excellent, when it is actually mediocre.

- Trip Advisor does not verify the authenticity of the reviews. Anyone can sign up using a fake name and post fake reviews. Besides, I've found comments from people who had not stayed at a hotel or had not used the services of a travel agent, but who wrote a negative review just "based on what they had been heard".

Again, this doesn't mean that you shouldn't use Trip Advisor. Fortunately, there are thousands of honest travelers who are willing to share their experiences and who post wonderful, useful reviews. But come on, don't be so naive as to trust Trip Advisor or any other discussion board as if they were the owners of the truth.

Comments

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Submitted by Sunwave on Sat, 01/09/2010 - 10:52pm.

Totally agree with this article!

I totally agree with this article as I trusted TA reviews on a group of resorts in Mexico which their main goal is to sell timeshare/memberships.  I realized after my stay that I should have read the poor and terrible which stated mostly the same problems I experienced.  I suggest to folks out there to do the same and read the bad reviews as the resorts (and sharks) are not going to post anything bad.  You can weed out the whiners who complain of silly things like the weather being bad or no beach as that has nothing to do with the resorts/hotels.
I also agree that professional people who have a lot of experience in travelling and hotel stays should be writing reviews and begin advertising their websites it to help consumers choose their vacation more wisely.

Submitted by katie on Fri, 12/04/2009 - 5:08am.

Useful but VERY flawed

We own and run a relatively small hotel on the West Coast of Scotland, I use TripAdvisor when we choose an hotel, therefore quite simply - I can see both sides of the coin.
But PLEASE can someone tell me where can I go if I want to complain about a shop, bank, doctor, dentist, lawyer, gym - or any other business?
And I dont mean through some official ombudsman, I mean, where publicly can I say what I want about a rude shop keeper, an incapable lawyer or a bank that just isn’t up to the mark?  Can I say what I want (sometimes on a very personal basis) about anyone?
The answer is a definite NO!  And rightly so, because it is called libel unless I can prove it.
On TripAdvisor, a person can pretty well say what they like, truth or lies, it has happened to us and its terrible, almost all of our reviews are really fantastic, but a couple state really horrible and personal remarks.
Our business is not only a business, it is a very much loved home, we work incredibly hard to give each guest a great level of quality whilst they stay, how would you feel if a person then leaves (saying absolutely nothing about some small aspect of their experience) and then slates you publicly and quite dishonestly.
How would you feel if you were slated in a review by a person who had never in fact stayed, and trip advisor knew this but refused to remove the review?
How would you feel if your national dress was mocked publicly on a website and you made the obvious comparison that if this was an Indian wearing a turban comment it would not be publishable, but this site still refused to remove what we feel was a racist and offensive (a bad taste joke) comment.
Bizarrely, we are currently in contact with them because as an hotel (top end 4 stars with our tourist board and clearly stated on our website) they are telling us that unless we provide certain criteria, which by the way we are not required to do with any proper and official grading system) they will not categorise us a hotel, it is ridiculous as that is what we are - the things they want us to prove we provide are all listed on our website but they want us to send a copy of our official grading to them or else we have to remain a bed and breakfast!  Nothing wrong with bed and breakfast establishments, but that is not what we are.
Who or what do they think they are?  And more disturbingly, who gives them that right?
This site is massively flawed because it does not give the names of the contributors, it does not give the public a right to respond like most other blog type sites and it does not check its facts properly. It also allows others to gripe and libel an establishment and it suggests that hotels are its only search results, its states a search option for 'city' only when in fact in should state 'location' and it states 'find a hotel' when it should in fact state 'find accommodation' or split the accommodation types.
I would so welcome any other hotelier who feels as I do to contact me directly as I intend to take this whole matter through every channel to try and expose them for what they are - Perpetrators of lies with no professional status.

Submitted by Usama3 on Sat, 11/21/2009 - 7:45am.

TA offers the same

TA offers the same opportunity of when you speak to a fellow traveller in a lounge, terminal, or in transit, about a hotel, restaurant, city, area. You may not be able to vouch for this person or call him/her your brother, but at least he offers a new angle. Almost never can you tell the full range  around a hotel by the hotel's photos or advice.  TA allows visitors to comment on the location, security, etc. so at least a traveller has an alternative viewpoint besides the biased hotel.  As well, one can better gauge prices for things, rather than appear to be the buffoonish Westerner throwing money around.
The consumer is perpetually bombarded and overcome by marketting and corporate interests in the West.  Every venue and mechanism that enables consumers to be empowered against the billion dollar onslaught is a plus for everyone.    

Submitted by kreampuff on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 7:01pm.

common sense

When a location is given only glowing review check out the people who are giving them. I worked for a restaurant group where the marketing director would go on to every ratings website and only comment on her restuarants. So you could tell something was was up. People who give short non descript answers are most likely not real guests.

Submitted by snowyafternoon on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 5:27pm.

Rooms for sale

It's common practice for my hotel company to offer discounted room rates in exchange for the promise of writing Trip Advisor with a positive review.  Is the good review actually a lie?  Maybe not.  But it's definitely bought and paid for so not really to be trusted.

Submitted by marymc on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 4:49pm.

Help us make TripAdvisor better ! or ?

It is so funny for this tittle. How can we help them if we post real idea (negative opinion)? they will delete your post or shut your account down right away.

Tripadvisor.com Complaints - reviews

They claim about their site "Reviews you can trust". It's a BIG LIE.
I posted negative review about hotel Alle Guglie on their site, wanted to warn people against this hotel.
Next 2 minuted tripadvisor.com deleted everything I posted. Do not read their site, they just cover terrible hotels what paid them.
Good luck!

Comments	Sort by: Date | Rating
31 days ago by   JTD2000 0 Votes Tripadviser is full of lies, just google tripadvisor lies or tripadvisor fake reviews and see!  117 days ago by   Marusya 0 Votes Tripadvisor is a new mafia - if hotel does not pay them, they will destroy it!  117 days ago by   Marusya 0 Votes Agree!! You're welcomed on tripasvisor only if you leave positive comments for their hotels what bring them money! And they just cover them if hotels abuse visitors!! Scammers!  152 days ago by   Mark Langton +1 Votes They protect their own hotels, don't forget that Tripadvisor are owned by Expedia, why do you think that your reviews were removed, it was because it would not have earned them so much money in commissions. Tripadvisor is a scam and the sooner the members of the public realise it the better.

Knowingly allows fake reviews, deceiving the visitors to the website and defrauding hotel owners

The short version:

Tripadvisor has a review system which allows anyone to post anything about any hotel, regardless of whether they have even stayed there. This allows all sorts of people to abuse the system.

An example: a hotel was blackmailed and told that if they didn't give a former guest some money, the guest would write a false malicious review to harm the business. Tripadvisor would not take down the false review nor would they allow the hotel management to respond properly to the review. The result is that anyone reading the review will get a false idea of the hotel and the hotel will lose bookings as a result.

Also, their copyrighted slogan "get the truth" is a complete lie. How is it possible to get the truth from a review system which is full of holes?

Comments	Sort by: Date | Rating
31 days ago by   JTD2000 0 Votes Tripadvisor Lies! It posts negative reviews without checking and when you report to them they stop guests from posting positive reviews! heck positive reviews go missing!  73 days ago by   Alla Dolce Vita 0 Votes Expedia owns Tripadvisor. Tripadvisor it's an ILLEGITIMATE web-site already reported to the court in EUROPE ( waiting for the judgement on next 2011 ). USA, after 11th Setmber 2001 has paid great attention to terrorism and ANONIMOUS behaviours. It's unbelivable that nobody in the USA has already reported Tripadvisor as an ILLEGAL EDITOR which protect anonimous reviwers who most of the time, being protected by this unlowful system, they produce libellious contents. It's unbelivable that the AMERICAN JURIDICAL system is NOT protecting turism enterprises from this UNFAIR competition system created, owned and managed by EXPEDIA! Expedia-Tripadvisor don't reveal the true identity of the writer, if they are asked, in ored to protect the on-line reputation. REVIEWS are a good value to protect travelers from being cheated and to promote the hotels and B&B which DESERVE, but...ONLY WHEN TRUE, RELIABLE, linked to a real traveller and to a real paid booking and generated by someone who is responsible for what it's written in the review! EXPEDIA-TRIPADVISOR are abusing the real value of the reviews and are damaging the free and fair market. Alla Dolce Vita  102 days ago by   laurabell 0 Votes I totally agree that Trip Advisor is an appalling site that is so unfair. It is unbelievable that they can get away with it. When I owned a hotel a guest reported a gold and diamon necklace had been stolen. They were abusive aggressive and out of control. It was eventually found in a vacum cleaner and it was the cheapest piece of tat you can imagine. The horrible things they said on Trip Advisor is still there 5 years later and the new owner cannot get rid of it. And has since her some nasty and completely untrue comments on her site. This is so wrong.  117 days ago by   Marusya 0 Votes "Reviews you CAN NOT trust' this is their slogan that suits to tripadvisor best! They are dishonest, they cover bad hotels that paid them. Hate tripadvisor and hotel Alle Guglie that real scam!  152 days ago by   TheLoveFist II 0 Votes Ironic that you are whining about fake/troll reviews on a site notorious for fake/troll complaints.  152 days ago by   Yeqqo +1 Votes Don't get mad, get even! At www.yeqqo.com we are fighting back against these reviews sites! Get the good comments out of your guestbook and put them on the review sites, where they belong with Yeqqo! Simple to use, give it a go.  154 days ago by   Mark Langton +1 Votes I am an English hotelier in Spain, I had a guest try to blackmail me using Tripadvisor as a weapon, I caught the whole thing on CCTV, I refused to give in to these demands and within a couple of days the bad feedback was left on Tripadvisor, I then complained to Tripadvisor and was asked to send a copy of the CCTV, Tripadvisor refused to remove the review even though they could see what was going on. I am now in the process with the police and Guardia Civil in Spain of taking this couple to court for blackmail, the couple have now offered me money to stop the court case which I cannot do as it is criminal not civil, I am going to take this to the end and then let as many media know as possible how easy it is for a guest to manipulate Tripadvisor who allow anonymous reviews from anonymous people without any verification whatsoever. tripadvisor is owned my Expedia, Expedia deal with hotel groups so Tripadvisor do their best to ruin the reputations of as many small hotels as possible. 400 hotels are getting together to take out a class action against Tripadvisor, Tripadvisor are heading for a fall and I can't wait. This week alone they have refused good reviews for my hotel because it keeps the bad review at the top of the pile. I am very vocal on the web about my distaste for Tripadvisor and because of that they are now targeting me.  189 days ago by   mooyai 0 Votes I can not trust triadvisor at all. There are many fake reviews and unreasonable reviews in it. How can I prove that the review is true and really sincere?  189 days ago by   mooyai 0 Votes I can not trust triadvisor at all. There are many fake reviews and unreasonable reviews in it. How can I prove that the review is true and really sincere?  197 days ago by   Catherine6Canada +1 Votes Absolutely agree. I do not think that tripadvisor.com should allow posting of any personal names and personal attacks. Unfortunately even if they claim this to be their policy names are there. I recently posted a very negative experience about scam by Victoria Group, Sunny Beach, Bulgaria with involved Hotels4U, Med Hotels, HolodayHotels.com and the hotels Chaika Beach and Victoria Palace, Sunny Beach Bulgaria. I was directed by support to post on the forums. We booked with Hotels4U and our credit card was charged and booking confirmed. We asked disability accomodations. On arrival the Bulgarian hotel Guest Manger said we have no booking, we asked our money back and he said to get the money from UK. The merchant was unreachable and we were placed in a flooded moldy room where the AC did not work. All critical comments on tripadvisor Sunny Beach forum are heavily bullied. I complained and support did not take any action. On asking the users to stop with the personal attacks and adhere to terms of service, thripadvisor.com CSR did bully me . I feel this is done to manipulate social media. The users making personal attacks and excuses for the hotel never been guests of the hotel. I add a picture of the moldy room we had to stay - this is a 5 star hotel. A picture says 1000 words. Any critical to the resourt comment on the Sunny Beach, Bulgaria forum was received with strong attacks. Further the Distination Advisors who were very loud on the attack do not even master Bulgarian language, which is like redicule.  213 days ago by   Nawaralsaadi +1 Votes I know for a fact that Trip Advisor does not verify the validity of reviews on their website, this is what they wrote me when I complained about a fake review few years back: “We determined that the review does meet our review criteria and will remain posted on the site. Since reviews are posted by our members on our open forum, and we do not verify the information posted in them, we are unable to provide you with proof that this member ‘reserved, stayed or actually visited ideal hotel’.” here is a summery of that incident: http://www.elliott.org/blog/we-are-not-crooks/ Regards, Nawar ex-hotel manager  263 days ago by   DumanK 0 Votes I hate tripadvisor now  302 days ago by   bluedesert +1 Votes I am at a loss for words. After fighting with Tripadvisor about a review posted about our hotel by an abusive guest who threatened our staff and was asked to leave the property because he would not abide by the Muslim laws of his own country and produce marriage papers in order to share a room of the opposite sex, this was the response: "We have looked at the review in question and determined that it does meet TripAdvisor's listing criteria. Therefore, it will not be removed. Please understand that TripAdvisor is not an arbitrator of disputes between guests and hoteliers, but is merely an open forum for guests to express their experiences. In order for us to maintain our integrity as an open forum, we must allow our members to freely express their opinions as long as they meet our listing criteria. Our decision to allow this review to remain on the site is not an indictment of your hotel or the situation in question in any way; we are simply staying consistent with our policy." They then go on to say: "Bear in mind that members are encouraged to take the whole of a property's reviews into account when judging a property. If the majority of the other reviews are positive, they are likely to see a negative as a mere aberration. We encourage you to submit a management response and allow our members to draw their own conclusions." How are these said "members" supposed to know that TripAdvisor allows fake, biased, rude, defaming, backstabbing lies to this site as all over the site it goes on about "30 million trusted traveller reviews & opinions" I have since then had another couple try stay in the hotel under the same circumstances and when told they had to have seperate rooms (this is not our rule but the law in this country) they too went to this "trusted" site and posted another pack of lies about our business. Again - I was forwarded the standard reply to any review dispute = see above... In other words - even when the guest has abused the staff of the hotel, named names of the hotel staff, lied about circumstances which led to events at the hotel and tried to break the law in a religious country they may still go ahead and harm the reputation of this business. I find this preposterous and absolutely against the rights of the hard working, rule abiding hoteliers. I would now like to remove my hotel from their site (as I never even put it there in the first place) AND apparently I am not even able to do this?????? I am stunned and beg any other business owner who may in any way be able to help me fight this ridiculous scandalous site to help!!!  2010-01-12 by   Manwerk01 +2 Votes The trip advisor is the most abusive review site. The business being reviewed have no say at all. There is no way to verify who is writing the reviews. I am in the hotel industry and whenever I had written a response to a review, it has always been rejected saying "it does not meet our posting criteria". Their word is final.The reviews never get dropped no matter what. Their attitude is stubborn and authoritative. They are ruining the reputation and livelihood of most of the small business owners who have no resources to fight back. It is hard to believe that in a country like USA, there is someone out there destroying your business and you can not do anything about it.  2010-01-02 by   Concerned80 +2 Votes At this very moment I am in an emailing back and forth with Tripadvisor because our "Rival" is posting their OWN reviews! While we know that the site is looked at by some with the same understanding that we have, and that it that it is not as honest as it boasts, we value the fact that some people read it as truth. In going there we saw that 90% of the rival business reviews were all posted by people with the company. Another tell tale sign is that the reviewers that claim to have had such a great stay, have also reviewed the same exact properties as one another. So you mean to tell me 5 people from all over the world all stayed at the exact same 4 properties, and wrote the exact same reviews for each one?! I have emailed them and they have not responded even after I sent proof of the abuse. How is this fair to anyone? Not just to the businesses but also the travelers. Its very disappointing to not have a better way to fight this.  2009-12-17 by   Ethical_Innkeeper +1 Votes The whole TripAdvisor experience is such a double edged sword for we travel business owners. The site is such a huge and powerful resource for attracting guests we crave the attention it brings us, but we have no power to help influence the integrity of its processes. Despite adding many millions in revenue through commissions paid to its parent company by offering rooms on its reservation system, we are utterly at its mercy on having to bear the brunt of any impossible to please or ax grinding customer. Especially those who know about its process and total lack of accountability for the customer side of things. A guest or customer can basically write nearly anything in a review true or not and the only option for the owner is to craft a management response that will fit through the eye of a needle, criteria wise in order to be posted. It is highly doubtful to me that most or even many of its users are aware of how the site works, its guidelines, biases towards the reviewer side of things, its manipulation by owners, competitors, etc. Even if 100% of its users were savvy enough to reject what are the reviews of lying, mean spirited, punitive, vindictive type people, that doesn't vindicate the flaws in the system that allows untrue or fraudulent reviews to be posted in the first place.  2009-11-23 by   Modys +1 Votes This is the Reply made by tripadvisor !!! What "Criteria do they have? They publish anonymous defamation and they don't accept our reply (NOT Anonymous!) Dear Giloc, Thank you for taking the time to write a management response on TripAdvisor. Unfortunately, we cannot publish your response because it does not meet our posting criteria. We look forward to receiving your edited and resubmitted response through our management response form. Please see the management response guidelines posted on our site at: http://www.tripadvisor.com/pages/userrev_mgmt_rsp_rules.html We do not post management responses that contain quotations from reviews "Anonymous Traveler .you wrote that Hotel Facilities are fine (free pick up, good breakfast, place, free Palermo tours, Free trekking tours and Free day trips we add) but "it was the worst experience you had"Pity you didnt write your name so we could check if you really stayed at xxxxx or you just looked at our website. Anyway we have a huge photo guestbook that shows the happiness of our Guests :o)". Please let us know if you have further concerns. Best regards, Dan TripAdvisor Hotel Relations Team  2009-11-22 by   Modys +1 Votes Hello to all...We are very tired of Fake comments cause our business is not to control them but to make our Guests happy... A question if you can give us an advice...Do you think I can take a lawyer against Tripadvisor? I mean...In Europe you cannot publish anything that offends someone or you must pay a lot of money but Tripadvisor published a very offensive comment . In this comment the anonymous wrote: "xxxxx treated us terribly. He lied to us, stereotyped us, screamed at us, and worst of all - threatned us. It was insane and scary. xxxxxx cares so much about his reputation, it's a little crazy. You can even find part of his website online where he literally finds every negative review ever written about him, and rebutts the negative points. I'm sure this one will be there soon, and I'm sure he will make up some crazy reasoning like he does with everyone else. " This is of course totally false and should be considered VERY OFFENSIVE in Europe and for this reason not legal you cannot publish that. In Europe we call it: DEFAMATION...especially if it's made by an ANONYMOUS person...Do you think I should take a Lawyer? Tripadvisor accepts this kind of ANONYMOUS comments made by anonymous persons that cannot prove they really stayed in the places (that has a name and an adress...so no anonymous) they reviewed.This is bad I think and not really legal Tripadvisor publishes without investigating these type of comments and anytime a hotel or a Guesthouse want to reply...we have a lot of problems cause "we don't follow their Criterias"!!!..WHICH Criterias if they accept this type of offensive comments made by some Anonymous?...We also received some Fake comments by persons that were supposed to be with us in the period of our Seasonal Clousure!!!...We wrote that to Tripadvisor and Tripadvisor didn't want to move away the comment!!!...We needed 1 month to demostrate that we were closed!!!...But I mean...they consider more comments made by ANONYMOUS than reply made by HOTELS with NAME and ADRESS!..This is terrible! What's your advise? Thanks a lot to all Giorgio's House Palermo If you want I can also give you the link of this comment  2009-10-05 by   mr restaurant +3 Votes Tripadvisor what a nightmare, as the other post says when you post a reply to a negative review tripadvisor does not post them, we have a restaurant in a busy town with lots of restaurants, and sabotage is rife, y dont they make the site positive reviews only that way people will only put on what they like.  2009-08-03 by   Modys +1 Votes A person that was NOT our Guest wrote a very bad comment about us and he wrote that he stayed with us on March (WHEN WE ARE CLOSED!!) so we answered that: Hello xxxxxxx... You wrote that you spent a weekend at our etablishment on March...well...We are closed on March ..and that's for the local regulation...so...next time...before writing something so bad about us, choose a period we are open :o) ... WELL...Tripadvisor sent us an el.mail (today) and they wrote us that they couldn't publish our reply cause it didn't respect their criteria!!!...:WHICH CRITERIA? :o) I think that Tripadvisor is becoming just a commercial site...they were bought by Expedia so they cannot be independent any more! Pity cause when they started they were pretty well.

2009-02-22 by   Betty	+1 Votes
I couldn't agree with you more. The BBB has listed them as not an accredited business and given them a grade of C+. The BBB complaint list gives a false impression since they won't take a complaint unless it involves a financial transaction which invalidates all of these type of complaints. However, the Massachusetts Attorney General will take complaints and has said she will take action against them if she gets enough complaints. Also contact Clark Howard at ClarkHoward.com and post your comments as he is always plugging them.

2009-02-07 by   hujambo	+1 Votes
Never a truer word said. The whole site is filled with fake reviews either created by the accommodation providers or by a rival accommodator. To post a fake review, all you need is a hotmail account and away you go. Just looking at most of the reviews on the site, you'll see that a lot of reviewers join, post and never return. If you write to Trip Advisor and ask them to comment about obvious fake reviews, they won't return your emails.