TripAdvisor Warning Travelers of Fake Hotel Reviews
Last month, the blogosphere started noticing new warnings on the site:
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.
TripAdvisor spokesman Brooke Ferencsik told the AP, "The 23 million reviews and opinions are authentic and they're unbiased and they're from real users." In June, BeatOfHawaii.com, a Hawaii-centric travel site, found over 90 hotels sporting the warning label. Currently, only 16 of the warnings remain. Jeff Tucker, co-author at BeatOfHawaii told the AP, "I'd really like to see TripAdvisor deal with the public in kind of an openhanded way, talk to people [about] this issue."
Despite misleading reviews, the review compiler is one of the biggest travel sites out there, and our friends over at Gadling wrote a quick guide to cutting through the sketchy comments to find the gems. [From: AP/AOL News]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
BeatofHawaii said 4:31PM on 7-16-2009
Thanks for writing about this undercovered and important story. TripAdvisor seems to be beyond reproach at this point. But as was true with companies like IBM and Microsoft, in the end the consumer will decide.
Thanks and Aloha,
Jeff
http://beatofhawaii.com
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linda said 9:28AM on 7-17-2009
I am dismayed after hearing about this several weeks ago. I love to write a review when I return from a vacation. I also rely on those same reviews. I believe Tripadvisor is a quality site and I hope they find some way to screen (I read there are measures they can take) to keep the reviews honest. I have even had emails sent to me asking what room I stayed in etc. Overall Tripadvisor has been my go to site to check out hotels, and so consequently I'll write a review upon my return.
Linda S./No. Calif.
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Todd said 10:05AM on 7-17-2009
It's not all that hard to spot a fake review or one that isn't as "true" as it might be. An over the top glowing review and a wish you could burn the place down tone are usually dead give aways.
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niemann said 10:13AM on 7-17-2009
Trip Advisor.......overall is the best site re: travel. The in's as well as the outs. ALL sites will have a bad seed once in a while............ just be careful and look on there web site also. I write review, honestly, and while a hotel may enjoy some, others are not as happy. So be it, for we are the consumers. Behave and we will be kind, other wise fix the problems and those who try to deceive.........in the long run will loose customers. There is no publicity better than: WORD OF MOUTH
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DMcCurdy1966 said 10:27AM on 7-17-2009
I have always researched my vacations through trip advisor. And like any posts you have to use your own judgement when choosing a vacation spot.
I agree with Todd that a too perfect review or one that bashes the place horribly is probably not a genuine review.
I too have always posted a review on trip advisor upon my return from vacation. I love to write a review and post my photos of that resort so that people can see for themselves what the resort looks like and they may write me with questions and yes, I do take the time to write them back.
As with any site, if it sounds too good to be true, then it usually is. Places may boost their website by putting fabo reviews and once you get there it is a dive or they may have someone go in and put horrible reviews to stear you away from what may really be a nice place to go.
If there are photos and comments from an every day person then I take that post to be genuine and everything else, I take with a grain of salt ....I'll take my chances, how bad can it be when your in paradise.
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Loves2Travel said 10:37AM on 7-17-2009
I read reviews online about places I haven't stayed/visited (motels, restaurants, water parks, etc) before I stay somewhere or visit. Usually, if a great number of people review a place and say it's bad, it's bad. I can't speak for anyone else, but I find it to be very helpful and accurate. I love returning from a place and write a review about it. I remember what I may not like, someone else out there may not mind, so I keep that in mind when writing a review.
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Rodney said 11:51AM on 7-17-2009
My wife and I have recently retired and started to do a lot of traveling. To make our money go further we tried booking our trips online. We grew up in a time when most people were honest and sold a house on a hand shake. I have been disillusioned by "fake" reviews and posts on TripAdvisor and others but I was and still am very new to this whole type of thing (technology/internet)so my advice for anyone thinking about travel is to realize that not everything you read is true. We recently registered for free as preferred travelers at www.jii.rovia.com and have found that I can see the room before I book it and have not been disappointed. We have saved a lot of money by booking through this site never need to read reviews or use TripAdvisor.
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bmg379 said 12:53PM on 7-17-2009
I use trip advisor over any site for reviews,just almost stayed in a not great hotel in Toronto
untill i saw their negative reviews.
there are so many reviews on most hotels the percentages usually overcome a cpuple glowing reviews
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Bob said 1:08PM on 7-17-2009
This doesn't surprise me at all. For years when looking at product reviews or reviews of restaurants/hotels etc., I have always wondered how many of the reviews were from true users rather than employees trying to attract more people through glowing reviews or trying to cost a competitor business through posting lousy reviews. Well this article confirms what I thought was going on. As always....caveat emptor! Let the buyer beware....do your homework, and use your network of co-workers and friends to get recommendations rather than depending solely on website reviews.
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Inkling said 1:21PM on 7-17-2009
That is nothing new, but if you read the reciews carefully you can usually detect which ones are written by the hotel.
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Dave said 8:50AM on 7-20-2009
As someone that works in the hotel industry, I would like to see more scrutiny on the other side of the reviews. They have no mechanism in place to prevent a disgruntaled ex-employee or guest that was kicked out for smoking in a non-smoking room from posting a scathing reply. Perhaps these hotels that are posting fake positive reviews are simply trying to even the field. Sites such as Amazon and Ebay have checks and balances in place to verify only valid customers are able to post reviews why can't TripAdvisor?
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blakstarr357 said 8:03PM on 9-05-2009
I am strongly motivated by the comments of the majority...especially if there are specific incidents that relate to staff, management or conditions of the room! I just dont think too many people make that stuff up, especially if they talk about bugs, dirty sheets, poor service (well that one can be ambiguous, depending on the situation) broken elevators, poor air conditioning or heat, and security issues, then I am on alert. Then, sometimes, out of the clear blue sky, in the midst of 50 bad reviews, this lone review, talking about how wonderful the stay, the hotel, the staff was will pop up. Followed by 50 more bad reviews...
No...no...no...I trust the public opinion....
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