The New York Times reported earlier this week that American hotels are looking to take legal action against accommodation and restaurant review websites such as TripAdvisor, given the often unsubstantiated and libelous comments and claims made by guests, with damaging effects on the reputation and income of such establishments.
A class action lawsuit is being planned in the USA against TripAdvisor , which has 35 million guest reviews posted for almost every hospitality business around the world. Guests can have a free-for-all and report their views without any proof presented to TripAdvisor or input sought from the owners of the hospitality establishment. This leads to an unbalanced perspective presented, and it is clear that there are many more negative than positive reviews posted, and that most negative reviews are about a dispute about money, often relating to a walk-out and refund demanded but not paid due to a cancellation or booking policy.
TripAdvisor does allow the management of hospitality establishments to respond to such reviews, but has very strict guidelines about such response, in that one may not even mildly disparage the guests who have posted the review (for example, describing the state of inebriation of the guest!), no matter how true it is, one may not use the same words as used in the guest comment, and one may not mention the guest by name, if one knows who the complaint comes from. TripAdvisor does not remove negative reviews of a property that has been sold, and will not remove reviews identified by the management concerned as being dubious. TripAdvisor has clear guidelines that guests may not be incentivised in any manner to write positive reviews.
In the past year TripAdvisor has been lambasted for the false positive reviews that many accommodation establishments have posted about their businesses, to raise the average rating, and to ‘suppress’ the negative reviews to a next page. In addition, negative reviews have been posted by competitors or ex-staff members who wish to settle scores. TripAdvisor does not validate the accuracy of the reviews posted, does not screen the content, and abdicates legal liability for the content of the reviews posted on its site via the USA Communications Decency Act. Yet TripAdvisor sends owners of hospitality establishments regular summaries of its listed properties, and it is a recent e-mail that highlighted “Hotel horror stories” that showed that TripAdvisor was endorsing its reviewers’ opinions, and thereby no longer was protected by the Act.
Hospitality businesses say that many reviews are “unsubstantiated, inflammatory claims”. “The world of the Internet and particularly social media has pretty much outstripped ethical guidelines, and some legal ones as well”, says the founder of KwikChex, an UK reputation management company that is managing the lawsuit against TripAdvisor. Reviews that claim that staff stole money, assaulted guests or discriminated against clients may not be legal on such review sites, as they allege criminal actions, argues KwikCheck.
It will be interesting to see what the outcome of the lawsuit against TripAdvisor will be, and what affect it will have on greater fairness and balance in guest reviews.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage
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funny how you can “share” this article by any means possible EXCEPT for email..
Hi “Sakmaz”
I will speak to my web designer and check why one cannot share by e-mail. Thanks for the feedback.
Chris
If the hotels & other establishments gave good service then they would have nothing to fear from TA. I’ve used it for years & enjoy both receiving & giving advice. I imagine it’s been the saviour of many businesses in SA.
Dear Nick
You know that no matter how hard you try, some guests just cannot be pleased. They would be the ones who would run to TA or similar sites, and greatly exaggerate the negativity or even fabricate details, in some instances. Also, some guests are so venomous that they cannot find even one positive thing to praise – such feedback is no longer balanced or constructive.
I do think that regular readers of TA can judge whether the feedback provided is constructive, or just destructive ‘pay back’ (or so I hope, at least)!
Chris
Tripadvisor is an opinion former. It receives 42 million entries per month – 80% of them are positive. This is the new way people are travelling – relying on the opinions of their friends and the online community. If establishments (especially SA establishments) took more care in responding to Tripadvisor entries – both positive and negative – it would have been much better. Online reputation management has become critical for sustained business success. I would encourage all businesses to spend time on Tripadvisor – it is not going to go away. Rather manage negativity constructively.
Don’t forget that this class action began in the USA where coffin chasing is a major industry. I don’t think that TA has too much to worry about.
Like many other Social Network sites, most of the comments on Tripadvisor is opinion based one one solitary experience, and it can be hard to distinguish fact from emotion. I often battle to find the truly helpful comments between extremely disgruntled guests, and false “reviews” by the owners of the Establishments offering overinflated self-praise- but then again, this is very much the same situation on many local websites and blogs.
Perhaps we should all remember to beware as readers, as much as buyers.
Dear Johan
There is a third option – accommodation competitors posting false negative reviews about other establishments.
Chris
Chris, has this happened to you or your establishments? How do you address the valid (or invalid) complaints from an irate customer who will not be placated?
As for Tripadvisor, I see that there are now companies who will idetify these false reviews and trace the culprits, in the UK specifically. Perhaps it is time that we follow the same route here.
Your question is a very valid one Johan.
If the complaint is about money the customers become very irate, and then the comment on TA becomes very angry, emotional and over-exaggerated. We have tried to respond calmly, but TA makes it very difficult to address the specifics of the complaint, not allowing us to mention the name of the complainant, nor any descriptor that could be deemed to be degrogatory. However, TA allows any description of the staff and management by the guest without censure. For example, we had an inberiated guest once, who fell and claimed for a new iPod and Blackberry, blaming us for them no longer working, rather than her state of drinking. We were not allowed to mention this in our reply.
Unfortunately I have not heard of an agency in South Africa that identifies false reviews – we would welcome such an agency.
Chris
we’ve just had a awful review. libelous in nature and not a single shred of truth in it, so obviuosly a another agenda is being sought here. TA has done nothing about it, i have emailed and reported this review every single day this week, and not one single reponse or comment from TA. we have contacted kwikchex, for advice, and are considereing taking legal action, against the reveiwer, and hopefully shaking up TA as the libelous nature of the comments by this reviewer cannot stya on the site. does TA now support ilegal unsubtaitated drizzle. which is not helpful or productive for business or comsumers..
Dear Helen
Thank you for sharing your experience with TripAdvisor. Please let me know the outcome via kwikchex, as I am sure there are many of us who would also want untruthful reviews removed.
Chris
Thought you might like to see an article on trip advisor from the UK
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2025751/Can-really-believe-read-TripAdvisor-How-poor-hotels-make-way-charts.html
Thank you Brandon.
Chris
Chris I own Abbey Rose Greyton,got a terrible review which so obviously comes from someone that was not at my restaurant at all!! Is thereany forum in SA we can use to report faulty and abusive reviews,can we sueT/A?
Unfortunately there is no such forum Andre, although I think we would all like to start one.
You can protest/contest the reviews, but TripAdvisor is biased to its ‘review’ writers! I am not sure how you would send proof to them of the false reviews.