Thanks Sean for a thought-provoking post.

It's not surprising to see Tripadvisor jumpy about this, though on the whole I feel they do OK.

The downside of the breadth of coverage you get from user-generated content is the extra work consumers have to put in to sort the wheat from the chaff.

I predict there will always be room for quality reviewers like Frommers as well as blogs which "review the guest reviews" and help consumers to perform their own due diligence, like Budget Travel and London Hotels Insight.

Posted By Rajul on June 11, 2009, 10:33 AM

I always thought that some of those reviews are almost lawsuit worthy.

Posted By Green Earth Travel on June 11, 2009, 12:09 PM

When I am narrowing down a hotel choice on Tripadvisor, I always look at the whole profile and all the other postings, comments, and forum replies of any particularly extreme reviewer. If someone has a variety of travel experience and has been routinely posting about hotels/restaurants in several cities - then it is quite likely that the review is legitimate. The profile may show, however, that the reviewer routinely nitpicks every hotel stay or hates B&Bs or is a student who usually stays at roadside motels so has different standards than I.

Posted By Emily Thomas on June 11, 2009, 3:46 PM

I have been burnt badly 3 times by reviews in Frommer publications, so no longer use them. I now consider that anything listed there are bogus.

Posted By elizabeth mead on June 11, 2009, 3:48 PM

If the review is too well written (sounds like it comes from a PR firm), I usually dismiss it as a fraud. In line with what Elizabeth is saying, some travel books have nothing but great things to say about everything hotel they mention. I usually read Lonely Planet to get a more accurate review of a hotel. If the place sucks, LP will be honest and tell you.

Posted By Steve on June 11, 2009, 4:37 PM

I have recently noticed a couple of new tripadvisor phenomena. One is where a hotels invites you to review their hotel which is a little presumptious and will probably lead to more middle of the road review from those who have little to say but have been pushed to say it. The other is where a website for a hotel has a link to their (good) reviews on Tripadvisor. This is fine so long as trust remains. One thing that Tripadvisor is strong on is photo's of rooms in hotels. Hard to fake and very informative.

Posted By Owen Hudner on June 11, 2009, 4:39 PM

No, I don't trust user generated reviews or the sites that . I would have fewer qualms if we could move away from using the term review as a whole. These comments are most often user generated feedback and that,IMHO, does not qualify as a review until the user has experienced multiple visits at the very least. Feedback can be taken with a grain of salt -- a review implies expertise and experience.

Posted By Tracy on June 11, 2009, 8:57 PM

User generated reviews saved me a boat-load of strife and money when I got stranded in London in February due to the snowstorm. While hundreds of people queued up at the hotel desk at Heathrow, I was on my laptop toggling between Tripadvisor, this site and a London hotel booking site. Reading through reviews from all three sites, you could easily pick out the duds and I found a great, small place that met my needs.

I agree with Emily that it helps to see who's written the review, where they are from and their general attitude about travel, especially if they are super critical.

Posted By Rachel Ernst on June 12, 2009, 12:13 AM

I check a variety of sites before booking but my favorite is Fodors forums. The site is regularly visted by locals, frequent travelers and novices looking for advice. I especially like to read tales of peoples' trips which often offer dealed descriptions of the hotel or apartment the people stayed in. If the place sounds interesting, I then check Tripadvisor.

Posted By Jean on June 12, 2009, 3:13 AM

TripAdvisor reviews enabled me to find great hotels in Paris, California, and New Orleans' French Quarter. I felt misled, however, by the glowing reviews of a New Orleans Garden District B&B.

The accommodations were fine but the owner was controlling and overbearing. At the end of our stay he pressured us to either give his B&B a 5 star (5 dot, whatever) review on TripAdvisor or not review it at all. He said we had a duty to help New Orleans' recovery by not giving him a rating that would lower his overall score. Um, manipulate much?

I submitted a review to TripAdvisor warning other travelers of the B&B owner's manipulation attempts and advising them to think carefully before taking all of his B&B's 5 star reviews at face value. Unbelievably, TripAdvisor refused to publish my review, saying that I was accusing the B&B owner of fraud and therefore was violating their terms of service.

I still check TripAdvisor when I'm researching an unfamiliar hotel, but I don't trust the reviews as much as I used to and I doubt that I will ever take the time to submit another review to them.

Posted By Kim on June 12, 2009, 9:07 AM

Always be suspicious of a reviewer with a single review in their profile. I believe more when there are several reviews in different areas spread out over time.

Posted By anemdee on June 12, 2009, 9:59 AM

Correction:

The B&B I mentioned is in New Orleans' Uptown area, not the Garden District. We're former residents of the Garden District and staying in that area would have been preferable. We only stayed at this Uptown B&B because the Garden District B&Bs were full.

I think TripAdvisor provides a great service. As mentioned in my previous post, TA enabled me to find charming, reasonably priced hotels and inns in several cities. However, given my experience when I tried to submit the B&B review, as well as the information contained in the article above, I no longer consider TA to be completely unbiased and reliable.

Posted By Kim on June 12, 2009, 11:00 AM

TripAdvisor provides a valuable research tool for travelers. I also believe it has helped improve the quality of the product and service at most hotels.

TA has a policy of de-listing hotels that manipulate reviews in ways that go against their policy. Looks like they have identified a few hotels that they strongly suspect, but can't quite confirm a violation - putting suspects on notice. Good for them.

Ultimately, not being listed on TA is far worse for a hotel than having an occasional bad review. A good shot across the bow of offending hotels should be enough to get them to knock it off.

Good way to help keep the reviews honest. I think this was a smart move by TA.

Posted By Madigan on June 12, 2009, 2:07 PM

I am sad that we have to ignore the best and worst reviews, although generally speaking if one stands out against all the others - I would ignore that one!

We own a BnB and have really great reviews from REAL guests. We work our buns off to get those great reviews too! Unfortunately there are those dishonest people who ruin it for the rest of us!

Any place that has 150 reviews in a short period of time, beware, or if there is no mgmt response, beware. Everyone knows there are jerks out there in this world who are never happy! So please realize they stay places like you do and review on TA.

Posted By Joe Bloggs on June 12, 2009, 2:54 PM

As an innkeeper I've seen it all in reviews, both mine and places I've stayed. The majority of my reviews are from guests who have never written a review before and may never write one again. It doesn't really make them reviewers whose opinions should be taken lightly.

We don't tend to get 'rave' reviews, I think we have a lot of teachers stay here who never gave an 'A' in their lives!

I've been to places with almost all 5 star reviews and wondered where the heck those guests stayed! One place that wouldn't turn the heat on for us even though it was snowing, burnt the breakfast but served it anyway and barricaded us in our room to tell their side of this pitched battle they were having with the town.

We weren't even the only guests there so I'm guessing the other people were cold and in the dark (15w light bulbs) as well.

Que sera, sera, we're still laughing about that one. No, I didn't write a review. Why not? Well I didn't believe the 2 reviewers who had a similar experience to mine, so why would my review make a difference!

Generally, guests who mention having read the reviews online, say they liked the overall 'feel' of the reviews. They say the reviews sound 'real'.

To me, that means they may have been burned before as well as also saying that the reviewers who have stayed here are writing from the heart. THIS was their experience, even if it was the only review they ever wrote.

Posted By MJ on June 12, 2009, 3:40 PM

I have seen hotels write their own reviews and wondered why trip advisor did not catch the fact that the consumer is stating the specific brands of liquor as top shelf, and specific exercise equipment, and specifics that the general public would not write to that detail....hope they can eliminate that AND also when a person writes that the HOTEL has placed on their DO NOT RENT list and that coverage is damaging and a new consumer does not realize the angry review is from a guest that has been restricted from the hotel due to their behavior that is another problem they need to resolve.

Posted By N Keenan on June 12, 2009, 4:41 PM

When I am traveling, I don't put a lot of faith in TA reviews. I usually try to solicit a recommendation from someone who has been to my destination before.

I think that you can get a feel if the reviews are legitimate or not. A high number of glowing reviews written in mushy over the top language for a small place with a few rooms should tip you off to fake reviews. Another tip off would be a number of good reviews in a short period of time following a bad review. Likewise if the reviews are spread out over time, varied in nature and in writing style then they probably are real.

That said, as an inn owner a number of my past guest have mentioned reading our reviews as part of their decision making process. We don't have a vast number of reviews, but we don't fake them either. We have a lot fewer reviews than many of our competitors. Which gets me wondering if potential guests view high numbers of reviews as questionable.

Posted By Thomas on June 12, 2009, 4:54 PM

Social Media is young. FB beat out myspace because it is better at replicating and verifying the real world (although it can't actually do anything more meaningful than provide a wonderful marketing data gathering opportunity for FB, coupled with a nice phonebook)... but it was verifying that the person was the *reality* based person, which quickly attracted people to it. If you aren't relevant to any networks, or aren't genuine... you quickly become invisible.

As user generated review sites follow a similar path, these things will stabilize. It is very young, and still in the myspace period of fake profiles and people... but as twitter adds verification services (http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology/2009/06/12/twitter-verifying-celeb-tweets-115875-21435555/), & FB starts considering verification due to trademark infringement issues with it's new URL program: http://www.stoel.com/alerts/trademark_June2009.html, it will be obvious for UGC to authenticate, across the board. I am not sure if open ID and attaching account to mobile phones is the simplest way, but if something doesn't happen quick the sites will implode. I am sure Tripadvisor has seen the start of accounts closing due to the breach in ethics.

We will wait until services like Yelp and TripAdvisor grow into awareness of what they have created: a massively powerful tool that completely reorients the consumer model, putting control into the hands of the people for the first time in capitalism's history. The message cannot be managed, and PR doesn't work anymore. You are only as strong as the advocates and endorsers that believe in your brand. Ethics is paramount.

The only way for this to continue to work is if it is completely transparent, authentic, accountable, and earnest. They might need to take a huge dip in registered users, as well as delete a lot of existing content. This will undoubtedly sacrifice trust in the short term.

It will hurt... but this is an opportunity for them to emerge leaner and more valid than ever before. Most people saw this coming. Let's hope it isn't something they try to spin away or ignore... instead of doing what is right and being honest, while doing everything they can to curb the problem.

I do like the warnings they put on some hotels, but it could be markedly arbitrary? We'll have to see.

Posted By @hhotelconsult on June 12, 2009, 7:21 PM

Who on earth takes the reviews serious? When you buy from a cheap site you are going to get a cheap room period! Who on earth has been put in the best room, with the best views, and the best service with a cheap website? You get what you pay for. If you want a great room and great service pay the regular rate you cheap bastards!

Posted By Jason on June 12, 2009, 11:53 PM

Some guests have a bad visit at a hotel and then take great pleasure at slamming the property.
To them I say....Please get a life.

Posted By Sunny on June 14, 2009, 12:14 AM

I was just looking for a hotel in Tennessee today that was in a safe location, and I consulted Trip Advisor. When I told my Mom, who I'm traveling with, about the site, she questioned, "Is it legitimate? Couldn't hotel owners leave comments saying that the place is wonderful when it isn't at all?"

I'm glad the site is starting to address this (probably) possibility. Thank you for the great blog!

Posted By Amy Scoggin on June 14, 2009, 9:57 PM

We own a full service inn (rooms and restaurant). Over the years we have gotten some great comments from folks on TA and other consumer review websites. But of course we have had a few crazy ones too - thats only normal. In fact if you dont see one or two bad reviews, be suspicious. I have only once been threatened by a guest that they would write a bad review if they were not upgraded (so of course we upgraded them)

We do not solicit reviews - but I know that there are many properties that solicit very aggressively. Any small hotel/inn with hundreds of 5 star reviews is obviously stacking the deck. My advice to anyone using these websites
1) Use the reviews as a guideline only - check other sources and make sure they agree
2) when you are 'reviewing' be fair and if you have a significant (or even small) complaint talk to the owner first and see if they can remedy it BEFORE you leave the property. TA and other sights are not a revenge tool.

Posted By Jane on June 15, 2009, 8:47 AM

I use TripAdvisor for every trip I take. I read through all the most recent reviews, including the most positive and most negative. I haven't come across any that sound suspicious, but I appreciate TripAdisor putting the warnings up...I wish they would do more (like verification of reviewer identity).

However, TripAdvisor has never failed me. Carefully considering all the reveiews and where people are coming from (i.e....were they angry with one employee...do they sound like they have low standards?) has given me a very accurate sense of what to expect. I have to admit, I was nervous about rave reviews of a ridiculously low-priced Super 8 (for an on-the-road stopover), but darn if it wasn't clean and perfectly acceptable.

Posted By Terry on June 15, 2009, 11:22 AM

I have used trip advisor for years and have found it to be very accurate for all the properties, I have stayed at. I have found some great places to stay with trip advisor! I will continue to post reviews to inform my fellow travelers of my experience. It is hands down my favorite website for planning travel....And in case you were wondering, "No, I do not work for trip advisor" -:}

Posted By Kevin on June 15, 2009, 11:30 AM

Thanks for all the wonderful comments!

--Sean
Blog editor

Posted By Blog Editor on June 15, 2009, 11:30 AM

Generally I learn more from the unfavorable reviews in TripAdvisor, but overall I've had good luck with TripAdvisor recommendations looking across a -set of hotel options- for a given locale. I also check reviews on other booking sites, but TripAdvisor is where I start.

We recently stayed at a property that was very highly rated by TripAdvisor and almost every guidebook/magazine, and we found it disappointing. Maybe we just got the crappy room, but overall the problems with the property outweighed the "charm". (Climbing 3 stories up a narrow spiral staircase might have been quaint the first time, but by the 4th day it got -really old- and hard on the knees!)

Posted By David Emery on June 15, 2009, 12:11 PM

I have used Trip Advisor quite a bit in the past and will continue to do so. There have been several reviews that I have read that make me wonder if they weren't bogus and planted by the hotel. In general, I always read quite a few of the reviews of a hotel and kind of 'average them out'. I am also concerned that people will write a review when they have had a less than positive experience at a hotel, which can happen at any hotel, and won't necessarily write one when they have had a good experience.

Posted By Paul Sachs on June 15, 2009, 12:22 PM

I never plan a trip without tripadvisor.com. If I have questions about the review, I contact the writer. I have gotten great travel tips and specific hotel info from writers.

My first trip to Europe was flawless and we had great hotels every night (18 of them).

I used tripadvisor for this years trip to Great Britain.

While some reviews may be fake, I strongly believe in the site and recommend it to everyone I know.

Until otherwise proven, I intend, and prefer, to believe in this site and its reviews.

Posted By Karla on June 15, 2009, 12:56 PM

I don't trust Trip Advisor anymore than I trust Zagat. Both are manipulated by users. When I find a reviewer I trust and agree with, I stick with that person.

Posted By lawthomas on June 15, 2009, 1:10 PM

Trip Advisor is taking the right precautions by issuing language to discourage and prevent biased postings that alter the ratings system. I do believe that most postings are authentic, but a careful study of even legitimate critiques could reveal erroneous or passion-inflamed postings--generally towards the negative--by inexperienced, over-indulged, or just plainly careless travelers. As an experienced traveler, I always check multiple sites, consider the sources, and even examine language across raters for similarities that may lead to more conclusive evidence of honest or falsely-generated content. I work with marketing teams and generally sense when language has been lifted verbatim from a hotel's brochure or other sales pieces.

Posted By Adrian on June 15, 2009, 1:18 PM

Overall I think Trip Advisor is a good idea and well executed. Guests that do not follow common courtesies and interfere with other guests comfort or the quality of their stay and are called on it sometimes seek retribution and put faulty or overstated "flaws" of properties. I have had several comments from guests that were patently untrue and hope that the general public will see through the faulty ones as the supportive and rave reviews are much more numerous and indicative of what you find at my property. We work very hard to maintain an historic structure and constantly upgrade - inappropriate comments will cost innkeepers many thousands of dollars in sales. The very best thing about Trip Advisor is that since it's inception you have to think about what a guest would say so you go above and beyond to insure they have a good experience at your property.

Posted By Charles Tomajko on June 15, 2009, 1:21 PM

As a vacation rental owner (Sanibel Island) and vacation rental customer (internationally), I place some value in TripAdvisor. I do not pressure my vacation rental guests to give me reviews, but when they ask if I would like one, I certainly don't turn them down.

When vacationing with my husband, I do look at vacation rental accommodation (and hotel) reviews and toss out the glowing as well as growling ones to come up with some average.

At one time, TA indicated to me that they checked with the managers of properties to authenticate a stay, and maybe they did. But in looking at some of the reviews on other condo units in my complex, it is clear to me no follow up was done by TA. Some of the comments totally lack credibility.

Think about the veracity of a review in reading it. Vacationers are not going to take their time to write a review on a unit they did not even stay in (nor should such a review be allowed to be posted) or get into a dozen intricate details about the VR where they stayed. They don't have the time or inclination to get that detailed or wordy.

A smart consumer will see the obvious frauds and TA would gain much more credibility if, indeed, the administrators did the meticulous follow up they once claimed they did.

Posted By Sylvia Guarino on June 15, 2009, 1:22 PM

Tripadvisor is owned by Expedia. Expedia makes some of their money by taking a kickback from hotels that are booked through them. Conflict of interest anyone?

A little more insidious is that way TA sets up "Local Experts" for each forum who are often ex-pats who are running booking services. Say anything bad about one of their client hotels and they are all over on the forum, working to discredit you and protect their livelihood. It ain't pretty.

Posted By Dave on June 15, 2009, 1:25 PM

I love TripAdvisor. I've used it for years to determine the best choice in hotels. Of course, I view the Tripadvisor rating in conjunction with the ratings on Hotels.com and / or Expedia and Orbitz - just to double check. I have found Trip Advisor to be right the majority of the time for me.

However, I was burned once by TripAdvisor. A Motel was rated as the 2nd favorite in Sandusky Ohio with over a 4 rating... There were all sorts of glowing reviews about the motel. When I arrived there, a mouse ran over my foot in the room. The room smelled like mildew, and you could hear plumbing and even quiet talking from the other rooms... The Motel was RIGHT NEXT to the train tracks, and the train came by about 20 times during the night and tooted it's horn and kept me up all night. I HATED This hotel, but it was the 2nd favorite in all of Sandusky (Cedar Point). I just checked Trip Advisor, and now it's the 3rd favorite. It's called the MAPLES Motel. There are more accurate reviews of the motel listed now, although it overall still has a great rating of 4.0.

I guess my moral is to take EVERY Rating with a grain of salt... I did rate the hotel, but gave it a 3.0, which is the worst I've ever rated a hotel. The inn keepers were VERY Nice, and I think people don't want to disappoint them - hence the great reviews.

Thanks for listening!!!!

Posted By Aimee on June 15, 2009, 1:33 PM

another good reason to use the services of a good travel agent!

Posted By Phillip Allen on June 15, 2009, 1:40 PM

I use Trip Advisor when researching hotels. As with most review, you need to use common sense. I would imagine that there are some false reviewers, many of them are overtly positive or negative. Most of the real reviews have some positives and negatives. For the most part the reviews have been accurate and helpful.
I have recently had a hotel ask me to do a review with a link to Trip Advisor. I do not like that hotels have that link.

Posted By Chris on June 15, 2009, 1:55 PM

I love trip advisor and have used it often when planning on where to stay. Most hotels have a lot of reviews and you can generally get a good feel for what a place is like and also see traveler photos not just the professional ones. Of course, you still need to use common sense but it gives you a much better idea of which place to choose when deciding on a particular location.

Posted By rebecca cosgrove on June 15, 2009, 2:40 PM

I was threatened with legal action from a hotel that I had posted a review about. I had my purse stolen by an employee there and the hotel did nothing about it. They didn't even offer to help me contact the local police. I posted a review and a few weeks later a letter from the hotel's attorney arrived at my house threatening to sue me for defamation if I didn't remove the post. Of course I removed it, it wasn't worth legal fees or a possible law suit.

Later, I noticed that this particular hotel had a real increase in GLOWING reviews after my incident, with each having a "response from management" of "Oh, we're so glad you liked the hotel! We try really hard to make sure our customers are satisfied, yadda yadda yadda". Believe me, those reviews are FAKE. Even if my purse HADN'T been stolen by an employee, I wouldn't have ever recommended that place to anyone.

Overall though I have used Trip Advisor many times in booking trips and have been generally pretty satisfied. If I'm not satisfied, I usually have myself to blame for being too cheap!

Posted By Jessica on June 15, 2009, 2:41 PM

We have used Trip Advisor quite often and found it to be very accurate. Of course you don't totally consider the extremes of comments-both high and low- but you can generally form accurate impressions, especially when there are a decent number of responses. I remember planning a driving trip in Ireland. All places were right on the mark, including a B&B in a very small town. It had a lower rating as to accomodations, which was exactly correct, but comments on Trip Advisor indicated that the on site restaurant and pub, while spartan in appearance had a great chef. Needless to say, it was the best meal we had in Ireland. Don't ask me why this chef from France was in this tiny town.

Posted By Dick on June 15, 2009, 2:44 PM

I write a lot of reviews for Trip Advisor, and read them regularly too. I share the concern over authenticity, however, and I'm not sure how they can control that, given their system. After doing several reviews on a recent trip I started getting "Is this you?" emails from TA before a review was posted; I took that to be one hopeful sign.

The best key, in my view, as to whether a review is useful is less the rating given than the coherence of reasoning behind it. A review that tells me *why*, in a sensible way, a restaurant gets two or three stars instead of something higher tells me much more about it than a broadside comment -- positive, or negative -- and might still make me want to visit. My own reviews tend to skew toward the positive, primarily because those are the ones I remember best; unless an experience is abysmal and my review would constitute a useful warning to others, I don't write up many of the duds. I would hope, therefore, that TA can keep up its credibility so that some places I've visited receive the credible praise they deserve -- from this one reviewer, anyway.

On hotels: "no stay, no review" makes sense as a rule, up to a point. But sometimes a review that tells others *why* a person decided not to stay can be useful. I recently posted one, for example, about a hotel where no notice had been given that extensive renovations were in progress and the promised restaurant was not in operation. The issue, as I saw it, was not the renovations as such, but the fact that the owners/managers did not see any need to inform the public of what they'd be getting into. That's a point worth making, as I see it --

Thanks for an interesting article.

Posted By Michael Johnston on June 15, 2009, 2:50 PM

Interesting article and observations, thanks!! I found this particularly intriguing because over the past winter, bored, I went on TripAdvisor and posted 6 reviews of places I had stayed. Out of the 6, TripAdvisor did scrutinize one of my reviews and sent me an email asking me to verify myself further. I had no problem doing that but it did make me think of the fraud potential they must deal with.

Overall I do like having review sites such as TA to look at when planning a trip. Based on the places I stayed at and reviewed, most of the other reviews very fairly spot-on, I thought.

Posted By KC on June 15, 2009, 2:58 PM

I also use Trip Advisor for every hotel I book online. I then go to other websites like Travelocity or Expedia and see if they compare in reviews. I have never made a mistake booking because of any reviews. I think they do a great job, and yes, there are always a few who complain about every little detail like not having a coffee maker in the room. Really??

Posted By Marilyn on June 15, 2009, 3:02 PM

Trust in lodging decisions is so paramount, and that is why we released a new vacation rental Facebook app called "Rent & Trade Vacation Homes" by Second Porch. We believe that sourcing getaways through your friends and connections will become an important additional channel and valuable resource. By building this in Facebook, we immediately put the Face with the Place, but also, put the face with each comment, recommendation just by how Facebook works. http://apps.facebook.com/secondporch/

Posted By Brent Hieggelke on June 15, 2009, 3:12 PM

I use Trip Advisor all the time and have written three reviews of hotels over the years. I write them only when I have something to add that I didn't see in the reviews prior to booking the hotel.

I have found most of the comments relating to this blog post -- positive and negative -- to be on target. However, I nearly swallowed my gum when I read Jason's comments. Since he sent them around midnight, I can only assume he was drunk at the time.

To use his own parlance, lots of people take Trip Advisor reviews "serious." They do - seriously! Otherwise, why would Trip Advisor have so much traffic? As for his comments regarding discount hotel bookings not being as good as booking through the hotel, the last time I checked, Trip Advisor was not a booking site. You can link to booking agents through Trip Advisor, but the search feature often points one to the hotel's proprietary website. I was checking hotels in Europe two weeks ago and got a room quote from the Accor Hotels group (along with Travelocity, Venere, Orbitz, etc.) when I used Trip Advisor's date search feature.

I am often suspicious of certain reviews in Trip Advisor - especially the ones for hotels in countries that have a language other than English as the primary language which are written in poor English (not poor native-speaker English such as Jason's but poor non-native-speaker English...it's easy to tell the difference). But most of the reviews seem to be genuine. I am sure that greater screening of reviewers will make the site even better. But, even now, I would not dream of booking a hotel without checking Trip Advisor first. I can't recall if it was the original blog post or one of the comments posted that made the most astute point about using Trip Advisor -- the user-submitted photos cannot lie.

I love seeing what hotel rooms actually look like versus what the "model room" on the hotel's website looks like.

Posted By frequent traveler on June 15, 2009, 3:13 PM

I continue to use Trip Advisor to get some inside information on a particular hotel that I may be staying. However, when I see "whiny" comments (i.e., front desk staff/door man was rude to me) I just dismiss the review and move on to the next one. Personally I'm more concerned with room conditions, outside area surrounding the hotel, as opposed to "I paid a whopping $45 for hotel parking" (especially when the reviewer has stayed in a major city!).

Posted By Charlie on June 15, 2009, 3:44 PM

As a reference point Tripadvisor is valueable resource. I often crosscheck with Travel Guides to see if the comments match up. Plus I have a look around the hotel/hostel website. So far 9 times out of 10 Tripadvisor hasn't let me down so I will continue to use it and recommend to readers of my blog (www.europebudgetguide.com)

Posted By Kash Bhattacharya on June 15, 2009, 3:50 PM

Smart shoppers know you NEVER just read reviews from one site. Reading reviews on multiple sites is always best as just because it's posted doesn't make it true. Good rule to live by with anything learned from the internet...

Posted By Jodie Atlanta on June 15, 2009, 3:51 PM

Tripadvisor my have some bad entries but volume can compensate to a certain extent. Cross check where possible but it also depends on what you're doing. Are you looking for one night off the highway or a romantic, once-in-a-lifetime week? That will influence how much, and how critical research is. I like a lot of what Frommer does but my experience has been they ain't necessarily good because they're in a Frommer Guidebook. I'll go with Tripadvisor as best available for most situations.

Posted By Greg on June 15, 2009, 4:23 PM

I have used TripAdvisor for many years - both researching hotels and reviewing them. I have been contacted by them to verify whether a review I had posted was "mine". I found it a little strange because I had written it nearly a year before! However, I, too, weigh the good with the bad and then have to make a decision on whether I think we should stay in a particular hotel. Have really own had one experience in San Juan that wasn't stellar.

Posted By Nancy on June 15, 2009, 5:08 PM

I did try to do a review on a motel that I admitted I had not stayed. I did this because the motel does advertise quite a bit and having driven by it many times would not recommend anyone stay there especially children. Basically a dump in bad neighborhood and across street from railroad tracks-front not back. Well---to trip advisor credit---they would not print it because hadn't stayed there. But, I had also been honest.

Posted By paba on June 15, 2009, 5:20 PM

Frequent Traveler - I laughed out LOUD when I read your post! You were right on target about Jason's comments. Too funny!!! Thank you! Jason's cheap bas$ard line was hilarious... My jaw dropped about two feet when I first read it...

I personally love getting good hotel deals from Hotwire, and then trying to cross check with Trip Advisor to see which hotel it might be... I'm right 90% of the time... I never book from Hotwire unless a Trip Advisor rating is listed at 3.5 or over.

Take Care, and thanks for the great article! I love Trip Advisor!!! Well - except for the hotel with the mouse and the loud train that I mentioned earlier... :)

Posted By Aimee on June 15, 2009, 7:00 PM

I stayed at the WORST hotel in San Diego. The hotel had high ratings on Trip advisor so I was suprised to find the place was a smelly dump. Upon check out I was offered $50 cash to put a good review on trip advisor! This place was paying people to say good stuff about their dump!!!

Posted By Susan on June 15, 2009, 7:13 PM

I love Trip Advisor. It's one of the first sites I look on when planning a vaction. I also look on other sites for hotel reviews, like Yahoo and Hotels.com.

Posted By Robin on June 15, 2009, 11:24 PM

Hello there. I've been a hotel manager for a long time and now teach college-level hospitality management. One of the classes I teach is called "Managing Quality Guest Service" which trains future hospitality managers how to listen to guests, evaluate current service, refine, improve, etc.

For me, I reached out to join a committee on rankings of travel products through the American Hotel & Lodging Association for members. I've been interested in this for years and years.

For me, I still hold the AAA rankings and Mobil Travel Guide as the preferred. I've never liked Frommer due to my own personal variances encountered. However, my study of them was not scientific.

What scares me is the newer sites that the third-party travel agencies have - like Expedia, Travelocity, etc. I've seen some of these with 4-star, 5-diamond, 6-pineapples, 7-flags or WHATEVER type logo they utilize. Plus, who on earth said it was okay to increase the range from 5 to 6 or 7???

To be safe, I always encourage my students to be rated accurately and effectively with AAA and Mobil travel guide. As a traveler I also rely on these.

As for TripAdvisor, I've found their information to be accurate, honest, and viable many, many times. I can't even count the number of times.

Of course, if a property is writing its own "fake" reviews, it will throw up a flag to the professionals at TripAdvisor and they will remove the property if it continues unabated. The contacts I've personally had with the leadership at TripAdvisor and from using it myself, really makes me comfortable with them as a professional, honest, and forthright company. I have no reason whatsoever to disagree. And, that's both as a traveler, hospitality educator, AND former hotel general manager. They would be foolish to let dishonesty prevail in their ranking system.

Thanks for the opportunity to banter about this format.

Peter

Posted By Peter on June 15, 2009, 11:35 PM

I've used Trip Advisor, used to check it a lot before trips, it has alerted me to some bad hotels & vacation rental homes. But Like someone else here said, not everything on the internet is true. Even Frommers or Fodors aren't 100% accurate. Not everyone is going to be 100% in agreement on the quality of a hotel, etc.
Also, I've had a really bad experience at a vacation rental home in bahamas, and i posted a review on TA. I tried to post / reply to others messages about the same property/location, on other "threads", and TA's "moderators" removed my messages, claiming it violated their 'rules'. So therefore TA does NOT promote free speech, they definitely don't allow users the freedom they should.
I've heard also from other posters on TA, directly, that if a disgruntled owner of a hotel, etc contacts TA and threatens legal action, TA will remove the Bad review about their place.
How is that fair to other travellers or users of TA ? Seems that TA is not really trying hard enough to allow the truth to be told. Travellers have to work really hard to avoid being ripped off by unscrupulous hotel/motel/rental home owners.
It's a shame that travellers can't easily sue hotels / motels that lie about the quality of their accomodations, or aren't honest in their advertising.

Posted By Mike on June 16, 2009, 7:05 AM

I used to have a high opinion of TA, although I did read the reviews with a sceptical eye! But I had a really bad experience in Marrakesh, in a riad (Dar Silsila) that had many glowing reviews, and discovered a major flaw in the TA system. After I posted my review, the owner responded. Fine, except that he flat out lied (claimed I complained that the room was too small, and that I threatened a bad review if they didn't give me a refund - neither true), and did not address my complaints. But I found that the owner gets the last word - I wasn't allowed to comment on his response.

Also, both I and another reviewer contacted TA about the multiple single-postings with high ratings for this place, and TA did nothing. I posted photos with my review, and it was immediately followed by several with high ratings and photos, so that my photos disappeared from the first page. I still look at TA, but even more sceptically, and I no longer post reviews myself. At least they now show the number of reviews against the reviewers name, so you can see it immediately.

Posted By Kathy on June 16, 2009, 10:34 AM

I swear by TA I have sent reviews and always read them before booking. So far all of the reviews have been right on and I have not been disappointed.

Posted By Uncle T on June 16, 2009, 2:01 PM

While this article is slanted towards hotels writing fake reviews; equal consideration should be given to reviewers writing fake reviews and it is not.

If TripAdvisor has terms of service that prevent a reviewer from accusing a property owner of fraud, then I sure haven't seen them. It seems that anything goes with them as long as it generates business.

I had a reviewer who hadn't even stayed at the property post a completely fraudulent review that was designed purely to denigrate my business. TripAdvisor refused to remove it even when I appealed to the MA Attorney General, who begged off by saying she would only act if enough complaints were received.

I guess if legal action is the only thing that works; perhaps it should be the next step.

Posted By Betty on June 16, 2009, 6:05 PM

I've used TripAdvisor for years - for details about hotels and resorts around the world. It's been a great help! I don't believe everything I read, but TA has helped us avoid some resorts and steered us right to others. By looking at a number of reviews you can get a pretty good idea if it's a place you will be happy at. I try and leave a review after the visit - it's generally a good review because I've done my homework and have gone to a great place!

Posted By Ruth on June 17, 2009, 3:32 PM

I've used TripAdvisor a lot, both for hotels & B&Bs and also for advice from fellow travellers. I tend to trust most the ones that have some excellent and some very good; if someone has judged a place poor or terrible, I always read the entire review and the response. The best part of TA in looking for B&Bs is getting a good list of them with photos. In obscure towns that really helps.

Posted By Marcia on June 17, 2009, 5:57 PM

I used trip advisor and stayed at a delightful &
Cheap ($25/night with breakfast) place in Sanur,
Bali. We are returning this summer and I wanted to check it and it is listed under Denpasar not
Saunu....but that is OK more room for us!
I used to own a B& B and needed to UP the wattage of the reading lights. I like trip advisor but don't know where else to go for reviews. What other sites are there?
Pat

Posted By pat hazlewood on June 20, 2009, 9:47 PM

I own a B and B which owes Trip Advisor a great deal for all of the business they have sent our way. I know that we provide really good accomodations and service and that's why people take the time to write in, but I also know that if we had to pay for that advertising it would be a whole different business for us.
As a result, I use TA all the time when I am planning trips. I think you can read right through the reviews to the sincerity underneath them, and that if a place is consistently rated highly by many people you can trust the rating.
Trip Advisor is very removed from contact with the property owners other than to allow us to respond to reviews and to give details of our properties.
I have now volunteered to be a destination expert in the area where my B and B is because I think this site does a very good service to the travelling public.

Posted By Judi on June 21, 2009, 10:37 AM

It would be foolish to just use one site and review as the basis for your decision. I will often start with the Trip Advisor hotel reviews and read them rather than just relying on the end rating number. Sometimes a bad review is based on an unreasonable demand by the reviewer (hotel was not luxurous enough, didn't have room service at 1 AM...)or a unique situation (it was crowded during an international festival and the staff were busy..). Same with some of the raves, anything that sounds like the standard summary of the hotel on that and other sites gets ignored. Also pay attention to the breakdown of the reviews. I tend to avoid hotels that have some 4 star reviews and also 1 stars, but little middle ground. Those bunched in the upper middle usually have more reasonable and helpful reviews. I also compare these to other sites to check that there is no suspicious redundancies.
I also check the Forum sections to see if anyone has asked about good hotels where you are going, there you can tell who is doing the recommending. That's how we found the hotel we used recently in Old Sydney and it was pretty much what everyone described it as.
The worse we were burned was at a restaurant in Oaxaca that was higlly praised in the NY Times and Frommers. Unfortunately we ignore a couple of warnings in a Oaxaca food review discussion group, and went, only to find it filled with Americans and nowhere near the quality of the dinners we had at places named by other travelers. I've always felt that once a place gets high ratings in a travel book and gets popular, it may be time to avoid it.

Posted By atp2007 on June 22, 2009, 11:52 AM

It's really easy to tell when tripadvisor reviews are real - when the majority of the reviews for a certain property are from people who have actual profiles on tripadvisor, who participate in the forums, and generally let you know something about themselves, how they prefer to travel, and what they're looking for out of a hotel. I tend to disregard reviews from people who have only ever posted one review.
Much like book reviews on amazon, you can also tell a lot from the way the review was written. I also tend to disregard the opinions of the obviously illiterate.
I nearly always choose hotels based on tripadvisor - and I don't feel like I've ever been led astray.

Posted By e.vill. on June 22, 2009, 12:09 PM

I'll take the negative comment from Frommer about TripAdvisor with a grain of salt since I've been burned more than once by Frommer hotel reviews. As for TripAdvisor I've long been following Christopher Elliot's suggestion of tossing out the best and worst. I also find the comments on TripAdvisor to have offered additional hints to the property surroundings. I hope they keep up the good work and continue to try to keep the fraudulent postings off their site.

Posted By Pat on June 22, 2009, 6:07 PM

I agree with "frequent traveler's" response on 6/15 @ 15:13, (You get what you pay for?) I have traveled throughout the World for some 40 years now and I heartily recommend TA. With a little work, you can spot the fake reviews as well as those from total fools like the business gal who was pissed off because the DoubleTree she routinely stayed at didn't always have her free cookie upon checkin. She attributed this to miserly management and still gave the hotel 4 stars. She admitted in the end that the rooms and cleaning standards were superb. What an idiot! As though, others would choose another hotel because of her experience. Another fav of mine are those who downgrade the property because kids make noise in the hallway, for example, or one individual on staff was rude to them. DUH! Grow up!!

Posted By HalB on June 29, 2009, 2:35 PM

LOVED this post!!
Fake reviews have been a problem forever with TA. They have taken measures to improve this process, but there is always going to be motivation to try to manipulate the system. Why you ask? As a manager of 4 and 5 star hotels, I cannot begin to tell you how many times I have been threatened by travelers into giving them what they want or they will ¨destroy us on TripAdvisor¨. Guests that want $ back because it rained (we are in the Tropics!), all their food free as it was inedible (even though they ate it and continued to go to the restaurant), discounts because a light bulb burned out, the list is endless!! Most of the time we are inclined to give them what they want, as honestly the majority of our clients admit that they check TA before booking, and even reviews with mention of the smallest thing have brought inquiries to the property, so its obvious travelers are reading these posts!
There should be a site that you can complain about RIDICULOUS guest claims and situations, but of course THAT would be libel and we are not allowed to fight back! Every hotel/vacation rental/tour operator/etc. totally understands the hypocrisy of it!!
One other gripe.....how does TA really determine their popularity index? There is one hotel near us that is average at best, the reviews reflect that and yet it ranks high in the rankings of TA. My hotel has 90% exc reviews (except for the 2 repetitive resentfull ones from a forementioned ¨destroyer¨ that TA kindly removed for me after reviewing the case), and yet my hotel is 11 slots lower than the average hotel I mention. When I ask TA, they say it is accross all reviews on the internet. I challenged them to find a bad review of our hotel, as we have software to monitor what people are saying, but I am still waiting for an explanation from TA, meanwhile I continue to sink down in the mediocre zone of hotel listings.
Woe is me!!
Sometimes the Hospitality Industry tests your patience, thats forsure!!
KB

Posted By K Barron on June 29, 2009, 3:54 PM

I refer to Trip Advisor as my "bible", and I have been completely satisfied over the years, especially when researching alternative lodgings, such as B & B's and condos. I agree you must read through a sampling of reviews. I also agree that the pictures travellers post are extremely helpful.I faithfully post reviews after my stays, trying to be as objective as I can, and I believe most other travellers do the same.

Posted By Alexandra on June 29, 2009, 4:11 PM

I use trip advisor or yelp all the time to gather information on hotels, restaurants and tours. It is a good idea to throw out the best comments and the worst, but i have found some terrific recommendations and suggestions that i never would have even thought of asking about. Look at the BIG picture and not the little complaints but there is alot of good information on both sites.
And I likewise try to post my comments, being truthful and objective, with photos. We have almost always been happy following recommendations on trip advisor.

Posted By Rob on June 29, 2009, 10:55 PM

I have an other side of the coin experiencce with TA. I have been trying to post a management response to a review for months now, have submitted my response FIVE TIMES!!! Now, and each time it has come back with one change. Their folks never get back to you on email, or the phone, and I really believe that they are supressing owner feedback. I can appreciate that it is an open forum for cunsumers, but there are two sides to every story. Their respnses are really automated, so I get the feeling I;m emailing a wall. To post anything from a reviewer and nothing from an owner is unfair. I have had a terrible experience with this website. Any other owners out there feel the same way? TRIPADVISOR SUCKS!!!!!

Posted By Rob P on July 2, 2009, 12:30 AM

I think it would be quite easy to manipulate reviews for people with interest in doing so but as you said you can spot them out a mile away.

Posted By Drimsynie House Hotel on July 14, 2009, 3:42 PM

Trust people who have had multiple reviews its that simple. I feel bad that one cannot trust someone who does not have a lot of reviews, but thats the way it is.

Posted By Rob on July 18, 2009, 1:44 PM

We have been experiencing a problem at my hotel with bogus negative reviews. I can only assume that some unscrupulous competitor is trying to slam our hotel with negative reviews. We contact trip advisor, they research, and ultimately remove the false reviews....shame we have to go through that exercise just to keep our reviews honest.

Posted By Renee on July 19, 2009, 5:47 PM

I have just the opposite problem I have tried to post a bad review of the Quality Inn in Bedford NH and I can not get it posted on hotels.com which is the company I booked through. The hotel is UNSAFE especially for women traveling alone and I have tried to warn people and even wrote to hotels.com to advise them while I was IN the hotel but to no avail.
They verified who I was and told me to post my review but instead they took pieces of my post and posted what THEY wanted to post. It wasn't my review.
I will NEVER book through this company or any other company for that matter again. I will book it MYSELF like I usually do.
Live and learn.

Posted By Suzanne on August 19, 2009, 9:33 AM

Trip Advisor is joke right? The whole site is nothing but spam. Most of the posters are spammers. The whole site is an eye sore, it reminds me of a spam porn site but for travel. Spam sites generate lots of links in the search engines. They don't care, they just want lots content. Anyone who takes travels advise from here is well... naive to put it mildly. It is beyond me how people would feel a kinship with such a spam site and post personal details etc. lol!

Posted By dave on August 29, 2009, 6:31 AM

There is another issue here. What if TripAdvisor itself manipulating ratings to benefit certain Hotels? What if it has a vested interest in the success or failure of certain properties? What has happened to me certainly points to that direction.
My wife & I are avid travelers. We like to consider ourselves retired though I'm 39 & she's 30 because our love for travel is so great that it is all that we want to do for the rest of our lives.
One of the most important tools that aid us in our journeys is (was) Tripadvisor.com. It did happen a couple of times that we read rave reviews about certain hotels & decided to stay there only to find the place terrible. Whatever might have been the case I, being a loyal tripadvisor follower felt it my duty & obligation to post my own reviews to help my fellow travelers in their choice of hotels.
We stayed at one such highly recommended hotel in Rome called Welrome based on the amazing tripadvisor reviews & recommendations. When we actually checked in this property was so terrible that there are no words that I can use that would be strong enough to elucidate our horror. We promptly checked out & moved in to a better & cheaper property across the road.
Upon returning home I felt duly obliged to post our review on this terrible hotel on tripadvisor so as to warn other unsuspecting travelers about this hellhole. I received the confirmation of my damning review having been posted by tripadvisor.com.
When we had a similar experience at Tongsai Bay in Koh Samui (Thailand) last week where I found the reviews much more glorifying of a non-deserving hotel I had a niggling and worrying doubt, was tripadvisor manipulating reviews to suit their interests? It was out of this curiosity that I accessed the reviews of Welrome Hotel & to my horror I found that my review had been deleted. Why?
I could understand if certain cronies of Welrome had posted fake reviews to unjustifiably glorify this sad & disgusting property. What baffles me is that why would tripadvisor delete a genuine review from a regular patron of their website like myself.
This episode has shattered my faith in Tripadvisor & I would like to share my increased suspicion with everyone that reviews on Tripadvisor might need to be taken with a sackful of salt.

Posted By Bijay J Anand on September 30, 2009, 5:38 AM

I have a bit of a different take on this. We were just recently listed on tripadvisor and sent out an email to recent past guests to see if they would participate in reviewing our cabins. We received several immediate responses and they reviewed our cabins on the new listing.
I first have to break from the consensus that "all good reviews" mean that something isn't right.......we have had 2 rental cabins in the Smokies for 10 years and have never once had a negative review written in our guestbook that we leave in each cabin, nor have we ever had a guest complain about anything to do with our cabins.
They may not like Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge, but it seems like their stay in our cabins are always great.
The cabins are extremely well equipped, we put Champagne or sparkling cider on ice for their arrival, Godiva chocolate on the bed, flowers (in season) and other treats are all included in our reasonable rates. .....and we call them to tell them the cabin is ready for an earlier arrival than our normal check in time.
We make it a point to speak to every guest during the reservation process and also on their arrival to the cabin. We make sure they are happy with their choice and ask if they have any questions about anything in the cabin.
They are always extremely happy with the cabins and so we can say for sure that we have never had an unhappy guest. We call them on their departure day to make sure everything was great and that is a sure fire way to know that we did a good job.
I realize that large hotels and companies that "manage" many cabins would never be able to supply this level of service, but we are very small and are the owner/managers and cleaners of these cabins, so we know that we have done everything we can to make their stay enjoyable.
Enter Tripadvisor....our guests that responded wrote glowing reviews. We have a large repeat business and it is evident that they are very happy with our cabins. All 5 stars.
A few days later, our reviews begin to disappear and POOF our listing is gone.
So, I just want to address those "doubting Thomas’s" that think if a place has too many great reviews, it must be a scam..........not true.
I am sure there are many great businesses out there that deserve 5 stars and it is a shame that you have to have something bad written about you to be believable.
Our number one priority is our guest’s satisfaction and we can't be the only ones out there that try to do our best.

Posted By Susan on November 4, 2009, 11:39 AM

I use Trip Advisor and usually look at the worse to see it there is any common complaints. I've found that when there are common complaints, they're true. I also suspect hotels with ALL positve reviews, those with absolutely nothing to change or improve. The think I trully dislike about Trip Advisor is how they let reviewers remove negative reviews. I know of an inn owner who contacts those who write negative reviews and somehow has the reveiwed take them down. I don't know how he does it but I'm sure its a monetary incentive. I've seen it happen twice. I think Trip Advisor should pay closer attention to removals vs postings. The management will surely contact Trip Advisor is they have vindictive people posting reviews.

Posted By Frank on November 16, 2009, 11:26 AM

A combination of several solutions talked about here should work well to ensure that the vast majority of TripAdvisor reviews are genuine. TripAdvisor could:
- Only allow reviews from guests with an original photo (verified using online photo checking tools meant ot protect image copyrights)
- Implementing the Amazon Real Name feature - I'm shocked they haven't done this as well
- Asking that guests scan their booking form or receipt and upload to the website to be human-checked
- Forgoing any of these requirements for people who have booked at the hotel through the Expedia site
- Actually soliciting reviews from people who have booked and paid through Expedia to increase real-review volume on site
Didn't have time to read the other 78 comments - so sorry if I've doubled up :-)

Posted By Lucy Atkinson on November 29, 2009, 6:46 PM

hello friends,
i have been reading and writing reviews for trip advisor for years. recently i wrote a not so great review for maggianos restaurant in boston. i was then harassed via messages on trip advisor by maggianos staff. i tried to post the harassing messages using cut and paste on trip advisor. trip advisor did not post AND deleted my harassing messages beware .....trip advisor is not safe.

Posted By pat on December 19, 2009, 10:14 PM

Trip Advisor CANNOT be trusted. I've seen bad reviews for hotels that I've know personally to be dumps with bad service that have disappeared shortly there after. A word to the wise: use google instead.

Posted By Tom on December 28, 2009, 12:43 PM

I am a hotelier who had the temerity to challenge trip advisor on the integrity of their service. As result I am banned from being able to respond on their site and they appear to have cybersquatted my domain. I am now invisible on their site, but anyone googleing my hotel gets the reviews first.(check it out) www.oldbreweryguesthouse.com
There is value in the service they provide, but only if it is 100% transparent, which it patently is not at the moment. If only one hotel in the world is unjustifiably damaged by TA's activities it is one too many, and legislation is needed to control all review sites. We are talking about peoples jobs and livelihoods here and that is no trivial concern!
TA or should I say their parent Expedia has acheived a virtual monopoly and there is a significant conflict of interest between a number of sites that are ultimately in the same ownership.
My own experience of TA is that they behave badly. Why are they totally uncontactable by phone or email? What arrogance they display in dealing with genuine complaints.
I run another company that has a database of 4000 hotels and offers users a review service similar to TAs. In addition my drivers visit all of these hotels on a regular basis and know the properties and the personalities that run them. I am therefore in a unique position to assess the accuracy of TAs information in my area. I am not impressed.
My hotel in Yorkshire is in a town that bears the same name as suburb of London 240 miles away,where I happen to live. Both towns have the address THE GREEN. I wonder if the lady who rang to say she was on the green, but could not find our hotel (because she was on the green 240 miles away) used TA, who listed the hotels in both towns on the same page.
This excellent forum is but one of hundreds on the web voicing the same concerns, and unless TA becomes a little more humble, accountable, and able to take the criticism they so readily dish out,they will as one commentator said above implode, or succumb to the inevitable legal test case that must come soon. We dont have a first ammendment in Europe.

Posted By Frank McCready on December 30, 2009, 4:39 AM

Diamonds by AAA) have generated as of this date 449 reviews, all of which give the highest ratings, and, with one or two exceptions, represent the one and only time the reviewer has ever commented on anything. Predictably, no mention is ever made that the cottages are small or that the facility is across the street from the emergency entrance to a hospital.

Now compare the Fairmont Chateau Whistler. It has 550 rooms, but only 231 reviews.

Query: How is it possible to generate 449 perfect reviews with only 5 rooms?

Another example, also in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, see the torrent of postive reviews posted for Evening Shade. No mention is made that it is on the main road and outside of town.

Suffice it to say, that this undeniable proof that Tripadvisor is playing favorites.

Posted By Bob Jasinski on January 26, 2010, 1:33 PM

For two exampes of questionable "POSITIVE" reviews, see the reviews for Rock Cottage Gardens, Eureka Springs, Arkansas (rated 3-Diamonds by AAA. As of this date it boasts 449 reviews, all of which give the highest ratings, and, with one or two exceptions, represent the one and only time the reviewer has ever commented on anything. Predictably, no mention is ever made that the cottages are small or that the facility is across the street from the emergency entrance to a hospital.

Now compare the Fairmont Chateau Whistler. It has 550 rooms, but only 231 reviews.

Query: How is it possible to generate 449 perfect reviews with only 5 rooms?

Another example, also in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, see the torrent of postive reviews posted for Evening Shade. No mention is made that it is on the main road and outside of town.

Suffice it to say, that this undeniable proof that Tripadvisor is playing favorites.

Posted By Bob Jasinski on January 26, 2010, 1:45 PM

I recently went to a hotel based on Trip Advisor reviews. Not only were the posts flat out fraud and lying, most of the posts were that way. In addition, the second hotel recommended also had fraudulent posts. I'm incensed a Trip Advisor for allowing this to continue.

It was a huge waste of my time in staying at these hotels - not to mention a loss of money. I posted an article about this on Trip Advisor, but they haven't made it live yet. I wonder if they will.

In the future, I will use Trip Advisor for info about different places, but I'll never trust their advice. I'll check it out for myself first, if possible.

I commend you on this post. Trip Advisor will be well advised to listen to your recommendations. What I read of their approach sounds like a bit of a dodge.

Posted By Nathan on January 28, 2010, 9:11 AM

Just want to add my disapproval of Tripadvisors methods. A great idea ruined by a mendacious and uncaring management. The picture represented here at www.ihatetripadvisor.org.uk represents an international disgrace.

Posted By Frank Mccready on February 26, 2010, 1:12 PM

4 days ago I have posted a negative comment on trip advisor about one hotel . My review has been erased without warning !
A friend of mine at the same problem. Apparently they are financed by some hotel .....

Next time I will just post on priceline who's is actually more serious

Posted By jean on March 8, 2010, 11:28 AM

Trip Advisor love to use negative views on accommodation etc. However, if someone posts a good review it does not appear. You apparently are not allowed to use personal insults, although many of their reviews do so and when you email them about this there is no respose. The last place I would ever look for information on a hotel or anything else is Trip Advisor Do Not Use Them

Posted By Mi chael Martell on March 20, 2010, 1:27 PM

Disgruntled guests can ruin your business - drunk - undesirables - that do damage, make a reservation for 2, try to sneak - they get evicted - what do you think your chances are for getting a good review? Would a bad review from people like that be fair?

Trip Advisor Stinks.

Posted By Pam on March 20, 2010, 9:50 PM

As a vacation home owner I am also frustrated with the accuracy of Trip Advisor. We had two very nice reviews and because the reviewers only had one rating, other reviewers stated that *we* posted the reviews which is false and very damaging to our business.

Hotels.com and Expedia allows our guests to put reviews in but they actually verify the guests with the original email they went through for their reservation. With them, we are a 4 star out of 5 and go way out of our way to make sure every single family has a great vacation experience.

I'm going to be taking our link to tripadvisor off our website as they won't remove the reviews claiming that we did it ourselves. I can't believe that people can post anything like that, and I would rather they delete everything, including the good ones rather than leave the inuendo ones questioning our credibility. I'm very very frustrated about this. It is very unfair.

Posted By PV on March 25, 2010, 3:54 PM

Local owners can be done a lot of damage by single tripadvisor users. I know of one establishment that from what I can tell has been targeted unfairly for a few years now. If all the owners had to worry about were potential customers deciding not to stay based on their review, that's bad enough, but not the worst that can happen.

I spoke with the owner of the above motel, and found she was denied membership in a local hospitality organization. Their reason? Bad reviews on the Internet! Specifically? Tripadvisor.com!

She has looked into bringing a law suit, and was discouraged from doing so by her lawyers. The reason? Sites like that have way more money than she does, and would simply bleed her dry fighting them.

Here's my response to tripadvisor's supposed fail-safes:

1. Every review is screened prior to posting and a team of quality assurance specialists investigate suspicious reviews

Uh-huh. Right. How do they explain then, that every review I've posted so far has appeared instantaneously? (see point two.)

2. Proprietary automated tools help identify attempts to subvert the system

Yeah, THIS is what REALLY checks the reviews. A program that can't think or see what a human being CAN. Read a lot of the reviews of smaller establishments. TRUST me, the program is missing a LOT.

3. Our large and passionate community of more than 25 million monthly visitors help screen our content and report suspicious activity

Yup. Okay. Uh-huh. Right. What they give you is a report link that only allows 200 characters (that's CHARACTERS, not words!) to explain why you think a review is suspicious. Hardly enough space to explain a series of attacks.

NOWHERE on tripadvisor is there a place to request reviewing a trend in reviews for a particular establishment.

Worse, there is no allowance for removing reviews when establishments change hands. If the owner before you is still being attacked, congratulations! You've just inherited your predecessor's troubles in the form of begrudged customers that no longer even come there!

And trip advisor does nothing about it, because according to them, "Our users aren't complaining."

HEY TRIPADVISOR! ARE YOU LISTENING? I'M A USER AND WOULD LOVE TO COMPLAIN, BUT THE ONLY METHODS YOU GIVE ME TO DO IT, ARE CRAP!

On a final note, any business associations basing their membership qualifications on online review sites have their heads where the sun don't shine.

The idiots that run these sites don't "DO" anything at all about this stuff. Not where the most damage is being done anyway, where the small establishments are concerned. Sure, if they are threatened by Hilton or Marriott I bet they jump right on it. Mom and Pop though, are screwed.

No, they don't "DO" anything. They just brag about their God blessed, almighty wonderful proprietary algorithms and how infallible they are, while they sit back and collect the checks.

"It's not our fault you got bad reviews. Our users are all honest. To hell with Mom and Pop! We're doing just fine!"

Yeah. Right.

Posted By CR on April 16, 2010, 8:26 PM

Tripadvisor needs a GOOD lawsuit - like YELP had - they are a vehicle for libel - things that never happened - and promote themselves thru the misery of others. They do not even reply to certified letters - the best that can happen to them is for every little inn in the world to sue them in small claims court - so that they have so many flies to swat that they start living by the rule of law - like they expect the innkeepers to live by.

Posted By tropicall on April 27, 2010, 9:38 PM

Tripadvisor's former head officer is now head of Expedia. Expedia and Tripadvisor are owned by Barry Diller. This is no longer a unbiased forum. It is a tool to manipulate travelers. Prior to 2005 I trusted Tripadvisor. Barry Diller purchased it in 2005. Mr. Diller is the ultimate manipulator.

Some vacation destinations are owned by them. Does anyone see a conflict here.

Also you can not reach them directly except email.
Why? It is safer to have that buffer. So they can not be confronted.

This is no longer a forum it is a scam. Barry Diller did not get to be a billionaire by being stupid or honest.
Why would it not be required to prove you stayed at a destination. That would be to simple? They should be sued and sued and sued. Think about it. How do they make their money? They make it by directing traffic to their higher commission contract hotels.

The smaller family owned hotels get slandered to move them to Tripadvisor's favorite hotels. How do I know. I worked for Tripadvisor (2004 through 2006) and I have seen it first hand.

One other thing. If you book through Expedia check the real room rate card at the front desk of the hotel or on the hotels website. Chances are they are the same. 50% off is bull.

Hotwire is also owned by them. That is also a scam.

Posted By david broland on May 7, 2010, 1:12 PM

I used TA for years until I stayed at a great hotel in S.Spain, the reviews for this hotel on TA where excellent and whilst I stayed there I could not fault the hotel.
One day a couple were at reception and I actually heard them trying to blackmail the owner using TA as a weapon, the owner refused to cave in and the "guests" left.
A week or so later I checked TA and noted that they had left a real bad review for this little hotel, I contacted the owner of the hotel explaining that I had heard the blackmail attempt and that if there was anything that I could do then I would, the hotel owner explained that he had everything on CCTV and was going to contest it with TA through the "Management response" section of TA website, I then emailed TA explaining that I had seen everything and included dates etc, the hotelier was asked by TA to send footage of the CCTV and to this day TA have refused to remove the review.
The hotel has asked for the hotel to be removed from TA but TA have refused.
The treatment of this great little hotel has been shoddy and I will never trust TA again as I now feel that they can so easily manipulate things to suit themselves.

Posted By Sidders on May 16, 2010, 6:33 PM

I travel frequently but I never use Tripadvisor.

For me, being a traveler carries with it an ethical dimension. Therefore, I couldn't in good conscience use that website as I know how damaging it is to the travel industry, whether it is to the hotel owners or to the misled guests.

Tripadvisor is for people who either don't know what they are doing, don't care what they are doing, or for those people who are somewhat petty and like a feeling of power.

I'd be embarrassed if I used that site.

Posted By Traveller on May 17, 2010, 7:35 AM

I use Trip Advisor regularly in conjunction with forums such as the Rick Steves or Lonely Planet web sites. I have posted several reviews of hotels or B&Bs where I've stayed on trips, and in each review I try to specifically and objectively describe the pluses and minuses of the lodgings. I would never take a single review as exemplary of what I should expect, and I'd never stay at a place without a decent number of positive reviews unless I had obtained a recommendation from someone I know who had stayed there.

I think you can safely assume that virtually every hotel that cares about its reputation helps ensure a positive ranking by "salting" the Trip Advisor reviews with some by their staff. That's to be expected. One hotel I've stayed at in London monitors the Trip Advisor reviews and posts responses to negative ones, and the manager told me he has actually invited negative reviewers to accept a full or partial refund if he can find a way to contact the reviewer.
I dont' know if there's any way Trip Advisor could minimize the false or hotel-planted reviews. I can only do what they suggest: take the reviews with a grain of salt, contribute honest reviews of my own, and be ready to deal with the occasional unexpected negative experience.

Posted By Edward on July 16, 2010, 10:04 PM

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

Posted By Nawar Alsaadi on July 31, 2010, 2:22 PM

I'm a general manager for a property that has received some bad reviews. Some of those reviews were authentic, but some were completely false. When you are a middle of the road hotel most people don't run out and write a review about their amazing stay., but they do write a review if they are angry or have had a problem. Which makes things tough as we have many happy satisfied customers who return regularly yet they do not review, I so wish they would. My problem with Trip Advisor is when someone makes untrue, negative, and harmful statements, and the property can do nothing about it.
I have personally contacted people who had a problem, and gone out of my way to make amends and asked merely that they not change there review but to just do an update saying what steps had been taken to correct the problem and they would say Oh yes, we'll do that and then they never do.

I'm totally frustrated. I think guest reviews are very helpful for the most part, but they can also be very misleading and harmful in some situations and it doesn't seem like there is anything you can do about it.

Posted By Heather Ferdinand on August 1, 2010, 10:29 AM

Interesting article. Many thanks for posting

Posted By Lenora Troha on October 4, 2010, 6:06 PM

Hi, I have spent the last two days trying to understand the whole issue of
slanderous remarks on the internet. In the United States slander is a crime.
One day very soon it will also be enforced for internet users.
If I make a slanderous statement about my neighbor, and others hear it, even if it is true, it is subject to verification in a court of law. I am held liable for my comments. In a simple case as this one, where I know my neighbor, and my neighbor knows me. On the internet, the reviewers are as anonymous as the reviewers want to be. Ex employees who were fired for not cleaning rooms properly, etc. Or customers who did not get their way.
I recently had a customer who was going to stay for three days. She decided she would create a rate for her stay @50 off. After much conversation about what I had quoted her, and what she was willing to pay, I realized she was a con artist, and I was not going to stand for it, I called to police, and asked them to mediate. i asked her to leave since she was not willing to pay more than $40 for her room. She left, and soon after wrote a short but very damaging review. The site on which she posted her review would not remove her review, even though her words were clear slander. None of what she said was true, she was just peeved
because she did not get her way. If any of her comments were true why did
she spend one hour telling the police why she should be allowed to stay with us? Think about it guys. Many, many slanderous reviews are written by
people who are either on a power trip, or can never be made happy.
I consider myself a kind, generous person. I have had many guests tell me
they would come back and send me business because of my hospitality.
I want people to feel at home. But I will not allow customers to blackmail me
or slander me.
Most of you travel quite a bit, think about what it would be like if hotel owners created a very public site where they reviewed guests, their cleanliness, manners, neatness, dress so on and so forth, a sort of black list.
I have a feeling you would all consider that slander.
I am a person, I have children, a mortgage, I work very hard to make an honest living. I even have a very sick child who requires multiple surgeries.
When anyone at all can in flick of a button, do such damage on my livelihood, I feel i am living an Orwellian world, and I wonder if there is any
way to let people realize the harm they are doing to folks like me.
Oh and by the way I would rather put money into my ,motel then buy myself or my children a very needed new car, or even take my family on a three day vacation. So if the general public needs to give advise to motel, and hotel owners, they should live the life first, then see if they have the same opinions.

Posted By cloe on October 21, 2010, 8:56 AM

Tripadvisor selects what reviews get approved...I have made repeated attempts at a bad review for Sea Captains Rest. in Myrtle Beach SC and they never publish it. My review wasn't all bad, but, went there based on tripadviser reviews and is sucked.

Posted By kenny on November 3, 2010, 5:30 PM

I do enjoy the way you have framed this particular problem and it does present us some fodder for thought. Nevertheless, from what I have experienced, I really wish when the actual feedback stack on that men and women remain on point and don't get started upon a soap box of some other news of the day. Still, thank you for this exceptional piece and though I do not necessarily concur with this in totality, I regard the standpoint.

Posted By Belts on March 28, 2011, 10:13 PM

We own a b&b and have been listed on TA for many years. We have around 55 reviews over 6 years. Our reviews are 99% positive. Recently we were approached by an "optimization" company which told us, among other things, that they could bump us up the search ladder by writing reviews on TA. Wow, what a surprise. Our competitors (who have only owned their inns for about 2 years) have over 100 reviews with 100% positive. This is just a crock. I hope big search engines like Yahoo, MSN & Google will realize the data to be obtained on these sites is manipulated and tainted.

Posted By shantal goodwin on April 14, 2011, 11:21 PM

look at to take huge discount

Posted By Ordidaareheli on June 13, 2011, 7:54 AM

Posted By louptHoatte on February 6, 2012, 7:24 PM

Posted By louptHoatte on February 6, 2012, 7:24 PM

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Posted By louptHoatte on February 6, 2012, 7:25 PM

Posted By louptHoatte on February 6, 2012, 7:25 PM