Deleerious

Yep - same left a slightly controversial review, nothing bad and it was rejected for various reasons. Just left it in the end. Trip Advisor is the only place I would value for an opinion since.

darthbimmer

I have never expected to find fair reviews on a vendor's own website. Never.

Just think about it.... User reviews are the modern form of a testimonial ad. What vendor is going to spend their ad dollars to support negative recommendations?

It's tough enough finding third-party sites with fair reviews. Running a website costs money, and that means sponsors. And those sponsors are generally the same businesses being reviewed; it's advertising. There's a natural tension between publishing all reviews, however negative, and keeping the advertisers paying. Sadly, some review sites actually exploit that tension as their business model.

N1AK

Absolutely true but that doesn't make it effective behavior. You can bet that reject negative reviews has a number of potential consequences:

• Possible negative press about the censorship
• Further anger a customer
• Increase the chance of a VERY negative review on independent review sites

And particularly determined negative reviews are quite likely to find a way of getting a negative review of some form through even if they get rejected initially.

None the less, I think you're view is correct so, I still ignore official sites and go by tripadvisor etc.

kathiel

Until I saw this thread I never thought to check on a review I left for the Holiday Inn York, England. It was deleted or not posted I guess because I had put in it that it was in poor taste to sell bottled water at the check-in desk while notifying the guests that there was no water currently in the hotel. They were having work done on the water system and nothing came out of the taps. There was a large bucket filled with ice and bottle water on the front desk with a sign on it selling them for one pound each. Obviously I bought a couple, but when I got the email to review my stay, I noted it. Just checked, not posted.

highaction

Had the same thing happen to me after a stay in Charleston, SC... I posted a picture of the threadbare towels and about 3 days later it was rejected as "inappropriate".. haha.. little things like this certainly change the way I feel about the brand in whole.

StevensFirstPrints

Tripadvisor, Yelp, Google reviews. Only those are the ones I use because IHG does censor our reviews.

chrism20

Would that be THIS Holiday Inn by any chance?

IAN-UK

Seems to be they feel justified in censoring reviews that cite some types of "one off" incident rather than more general reasons for dissatisfaction.

At the end of the day, it would be naive to expect any organisation to willingly publish the negative reviews of the type occasionally seen in tripadvisor.

RTW1

Exactly... same here.

chistery

Maybe, but I'm more likely to stay somewhere when if I read a negative review I see the management follow up with an appropriate comment either apologising, or explaining and wanting to rectify it. Too many people say nothing on the day then complain on review sites in the hope of getting some reward.

Dazedwards

Well I have just posted a negative review on trip advisor, IHG website and emailed and tweeted IHG Direct. I will see if it makes it to the IHG website and inform of the progress. Just sent it in. It was well worded and totaly factual with no names or prices listed.

kathiel

That's it. I wouldn't say it was dirty though. It was worn in some areas, yes, but not dirty. Like I said, I found that to be in very bad taste to sell water to customers as they checked in and were notified none was in the rooms.

scubaccr

Sorry but can not accept IHG hotel using 1-off as reason to reject a review

Reason:-
If this 1-off is repeated later (as is often the case), then incident(s) are not 1-off but a pattern , whilst IHG hotel will continue to block review as a 1-off,as since nothing about that particular incident is previously posted in earlier review.

darthbimmer

I agree. Organizations must be very careful about designating a problem as a "one-off" (a unique, one-time-only occurrence) and absolving themselves of responsibility for it. The difference between being able to dismiss something as a one-off versus accepting it as an ongoing problem is generally documentation. When the argument, "Well, there's no documentation of this in the past" is used as a reason to avoid creating documentation in the present, it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. There never will be documentation, and the organization will perpetually duck responsibility.

I'll bring this back around to my previous statement (up-thread) about not expecting companies to self publish negative reviews. In a company the incentives are all wrong for that to happen. Organizations will duck responsibility because it's human nature (humans have a 100% monopoly on organizational leadership roles) and because, far more often than not, it's seen as profitable to do so. If you want to hold a company accountable, look to an external organization-- such as a third-party reviews site-- to do it. Though even then there are still some incentives for dodging problems.

ChinaShrek

Why assume that because someone posts a negative review that they are also looking for some sort compensation? That seems quite cynical. I write negative comments about a hotel in order to inform my fellow travelers what to expect. Moreover, many times I do not have the time to voice concerns while I am at the hotel but will find the time several days or weeks later in the form of a selfless post on TA.