Trust issues with tripadvisor. Social media and SEO created a mutant in travel - Introducing Fake Review Optimization. NB: This is the first in a series of guest articles by Robert Cole, founder of hospitality and travel marketing strategy and technology consulting company RockCheetah. He also blogs at Views from a Corner Suite. Welcome to the world of user generated content – circa 2011. Headlines declare outrage on behalf of consumers and businesses alike – all wronged by egregious reviews of questionable heredity. Government trade commissions are lobbied to investigate.
At the center of the controversy stands TripAdvisor, weathering the slings and arrows of attack from all quarters about the veracity of its reviews. A decade ago, when TripAdvisor launched, it was a travel-focused search engine, explaining: “Compiling ‘the world’s opinion’ within one website provides travel consumers with the information they need to make informed purchasing decisions.” That description remains largely accurate today. “We do our best to provide you with the best travel information on the web.” and… The world changed.
Review site Feefo ready to 'hit travel in a big way' Online customer feedback specialist Feefo is targeting the travel sector, promising to bring the kind of authenticity to reviews that TripAdvisor is widely criticised for not guaranteeing. With TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel site, under investigation in the UK by the Advertising Standards Authority, the issue of fake or unsubstantiated reviews has never been higher profile. Feefo has taken a stand at World Travel Market 2011 (TT004) to promote its technology, which has been successful in sectors such as online fashion retail. Travel is the first sector to get a dedicated channel on Feefo. Andrew Mabbutt, Feefo managing director, said: “We are established in a number of sectors, but the one we keep getting drawn back to is the travel industry. “It has been dominated by TripAdvisor and just about every travel company I speak to when I am introduced to them moans about TripAdvisor.
“There are so many companies out there that have been damaged by reviews. Reevoo tips major SEO benefits for travel from authentic review service. Consumer reviews specialist Reevoo says its newly unveiled travel review service will bring significant SEO benefits to the sector. The service, which was launched earlier this week with Octopus Travel as the first travel partner, only delivers authenticated reviews from customers who have stayed in a hotel or visited a destination. Reevoo founder and chief executive Richard Anson says not only will the service help combat current concerns over fake and fraudulent reviews but also reap both SEO and SEM benefits for travel companies.
Anson says one retail customer experienced a 34% increase in organic traffic to its website and he anticipates ‘similar if not greater’ gains for Octopus. He also says there are advantages in terms of increased click-through-rates as companies integrate review and rating content within their PPC campaigns. The deal with Octopus will see Reevoo contacting customers who have stayed in hotels and asking them to submit a review. Octopus does deal for authentic reviews from Reevoo. Consumer-facing GTA subsidiary Octopus, now part of the Kuoni group, has brought in online review authentication specialist Reevoo to provide city and hotel reviews.
Reevoo is the latest third-party review site to eye travel as a potentially lucrative market as the furore surrounding the trustworthiness of TripAdvisor reviews rumbles on. This week Travolution featured Feefo, which is also hoping to make a major splash in the travel sector and was exhibiting for the first time at World Travel Market this week. In September Reevoo published a manifesto covering how reviews should be used and managed, an initiative welcomed by the UK government’s Department for Business Skills and Innovation which is working with firms on an industry charter. Richard Anson, Reevoo founder and chief executive, said: “Travel review sites have been the subject of allegations regarding the authenticity of their reviews on several occasions. New TripAdvisor complaint threatens review syndication. Impartial product reviews, ratings and price comparison - Reevoo UK. Reevoo gains Facebook's Preferred Marketing Developer accreditation.