davie355

So long as we know such practices exist, they are not so bad. Win-win for the reviewer and the hotel.

As for the rest of us consumers, we're reminded to remain vigilant and skeptical.

invisible

Most likely it was not in Thailand particularly in Phuket where I got this kind of response on my review for so called 4* hotel where hotel personnel is scamming guests for 'broken and missing items' in the room:

BTW, the clear indication of fake reviews is that if you see bunch of 4*/5* reviews coming on a short period of time and all these reviews are only for that particular attraction/hotel. Above hotel is the classical case of such fake/bought reviews - it opened in February and already has bunch of such 5* reviews. Clearly a red flag for any savvy traveller.

Sealink

TLDR/

TripAdvisor is of course part of Expedia/Hotels.com so it's in their interests to get good reviews so that they can then get the booking, for which they receive enormous commissions. So it is somewhat of a symbiotic relationship...

On the other hand, I have stayed at hotels (and even B&Bs) with the key card emblazoned with the TripAdvisor logo, and with me being urged to leave a review - these tend to be hotels who do the right thing seemingly all the time and are confident in what they offer.

osamede

Similar case here. I wrote a bunch of reviews and curiously the only one not published was the one where I gave a restaurant 1 star and was highly critical. They did not publish it for several weeks - and not until after I threatened to stop submitting any more reviews to them and start publishing them on other websites.

VivoPerLei

For whatever reason, they are obviously trying to discourage the posting of negative reviews. My last negative review that did post sat pending for a week.

deniah

There is a restaurant in England called Hedone known for its chefs immaculate procurement of ingredients. If you want the most carefully selected fowl, bovine, crustacean, mollusc, etc, you go here.

The 1* and 2* negative reviews are almost exclusively from gluten-free msg-adverse non-fish eating raw food vegans who are baffled the restaurant couldn't cater to their chosen dietary restrictions.

These people should be dragged out in an alleyway and shot. Or at least slapped around a bit.

Nothing against those with true , involuntary food allergies. Or even personal preferences. It's just that I won't step into a dance club to complain that the music is too loud.

VivoPerLei

+1

The sense of entitlement some people have is staggering. I've also seen those 1* reviews for great restaurants that 'refused to create a separate tasting menu on the spot to accommodate my vegan, gluten-free, lactose-intolerant diet, etc., etc.'

I also hate the ones who will write a review for say, Hedone, and say (with no detail whatsoever) something like, 'there's so much better food to be had in London'. Really? Where did you find better food? What was wrong with what you had?

macdo

Following this thread I was looking at some local restaurant reviews on TA to see hwo they squared with my experience. I found a lengthy one very critical of the service somewhere I had thought of as OK but average. Talking about this at dinner my daughter recognised the story - coincidentally she had been eating there at the same time as the reviewers. Her view, they were drunk, obnoxious and abusive and it was a relief to all when they left. Just goes to show.

B0gdan

Doesn't Booking.com have a better review system? It only allows people that booked the hotel through their website to review it. While I may not always book a room through them, I do use them for the reviews.

Calliopeflyer

To me, that's a bad review system -- it implies the only reviews worth reading are from those people who use a 3rd party booking engine.


FWIW, I just had several of my reviews published, and one was a pretty bad review (2 stars) of a H.Inn and another was a "meh" average review.

Kagehitokiri

it has always been very easy for properties to have reviews removed
that does not mean there is not (any) data to be found on tripadvisor

booking.com is priceline, which is expedia's competitor
priceline did a deal with tripadvisor after expedia spun it off

newaarondavidson

Proof? What you are saving is patently false without hard definite proof.

I am also a top contributor and have never had a review rejected.

Caulkgun1

I used to be a fraud analyst at TA. You guys are wrong- while some bad reviews do get through the filters, TripAdvisor does not protect certain listings from bad reviews. Believe me, I have no love for this company after the class A ***** that took over my department got me fired for calling her out on questionable management practices, but the company (which is no longer related to Expedia by the way) does their best to maintain the integrity of their content.
Property owners can pay a fee for a higher level of service with TA which gets them a heightened level of response from the moderators when they want a review removed from their listing, which might be the reason some of your reviews get gummed up in the works, but if the disputed review meets the community guidelines, the review will be posted. Period.
And believe me, the behavior of the owners who make these disputes is tracked for abuse/fraud just as closely as as the members who submit reviews.
Yes, there are organizations out there trying to game the system and sometimes bad reviews get on the site but the next time you see a 'computer generated' review, instead of complaining about it on here, simply use the reporting tool on TripAdvisor (located right in the review itself) and if it's truly a fake review I guarantee you it will be dealt with.

ibling

TripAdvisor has decided to stop selling tickets to attractions where humans come in contact with wild or endangered animals held in captivity.

This decision was based on rigorous consultation with animal welfare groups and associations. While the sale of tickets will be suspended, site users will still be able to review these attractions as per current policies.

TripAdvisor consultation group and partners include, among others, organizations like PETA and Association of Zoos and Aquariums that have locked heads consistently over animal welfare. Walking a tight rope, TripAdvisor has decided to continue selling tickets to zoos and aquariums. It will also include exemptions for domestic animals, supervised animal feeding programs, children’s petting zoos etc.

While TripAdvisor undertakes this big change it will also establish an appeals process for establishments that have been excluded through this update but can provide evidence and prove otherwise.

For those interested, a complete coverage with media release link is on my blog - http://travelupdate.boardingarea.com...elling-policy/

PFSHero

Yes, I agree with you. I use TripAdvisor to determine hotel rates, read traveller reviews, and list down top-rated places to visit. It's one of the most helpful travel sites, I think. ^