TripAdvisor ruined our business, say B&B owners. City Guides. Your views: the reliability of TripAdvisor. I have found that some hoteliers do put pressure on guests to write good reviews. One hotel in which we stayed in Milan was, frankly, very substandard. The rooms were small and dingy, the loo was coming away from the floor and the breakfasts were sparse. Yet the staff were pleasant and as we left one embraced us and asked us to write a good review, which of course we did. Had she not been so amiable, I am sure we would not have done so. Jennifer Lunn, by email Keep it frank Why would it be mean and disloyal not to write a good review about a ‘frankly, very substandard’ hotel for which you have paid (Jennifer Lunn, see above)?
Lyn Hastings, by email A hotelier writes We run a motel in Swindon and, like thousands of other establishments, we never asked to be listed on TripAdvisor. Thanks to the Telegraph, the message is getting out there. Bob Feal-Martinez, by email As does another Bookings collapsed almost overnight. Flirtygerty, website comment Own up Fairbridge, website comment You be the judge. TripAdvisor under fire over fraud detection. Kwikchex, which has frequently criticised TripAdvisor’s approach on behalf of disgruntled business owners, said the evidence provided further proof that screening procedures were inadequate. “Such case studies blow apart TripAdvisor’s claims about sophisticated filtering systems, and illustrate how unreliable its reviews are,” said Chris Emmins, founder of KwikChex, which – since 2010 – has been campaigning for TripAdvisor to accept only reviews from authenticated patrons rather than anonymous users. A poll carried out by Telegraph Travel earlier this month suggested that nearly 90 per cent of our readers would support such a policy.
Mr Emmins said the ease with which Kwikchex had manipulated the site exposed “the ridiculous nature of [TripAdvisor’s] 'Popularity Index’ and the rankings system that is so important to businesses.” A hotel or restaurant’s rise or fall in the rankings on TripAdvisor is said to have a huge and often immediate impact on business. A Fair Deal for Travellers. Advertising Standards Authority calls out Tripadvisor and Skytrax for fake user reviews. The Advertising Standards Authority in the United Kingdom has found user review sites TripAdvisor and Skytrax have made unsubstantiated claims in their advertising. TripAdvisor allows users to review and rate hotels, restaurants and tourism destinations, while Skytrax enables users to review airlines on its site AirlineEquality.
Both companies have come under fire in Australia for hosting fake reviews which are malicious or not posted by real users. It's a common problem across user review sites with restaurant review site Urbanspoon attracting criticism this week after ratings were given by "users" to Melbourne café St Ali North, which has not even been opened yet. In the UK, "reputation management" firm Kwikchex has been leading a campaign against the authenticity of user review sites which culminated in a finding by the ASA against TripAdvisor earlier this year and a finding against Skytrax last week. "No system, verified or not, could provide this. "