Long and controversial discussion on the effect TripAdvisor has on businesses, opinions on both sides.
In response to: Msg #74637
Absolutely agree! There should be an anti trip advisor site. When 'reviews' are a pack of lies it would be nice to be able to say so. Most business owners are quite happy to take bad reviews on the chin when people express their own views rationally, however when you spot one that is maliciously lying what can you do?
I do hope owners start to retaliate. Maybe we should have a guest advisor site where owners rate the guests posting reviews.
Reply to this I recently had some air conditioning fitted in my hotel, the work was shoddy, every single unit leaked and I had to get the guy back 6 times to repair under his warrantee, he then refused to come back any more so we had to get another company in to put right all the 1st guys bad workmanship.
I took the guy to court to cover any out of pocket expenses and won back enough to cover this, when leaving the court house the guy told me (He is Spanish and my hotel is in Spain) that he would ruin my business on Tripadvisor and other review sites, he has left many many bad reviews on Tripadvisor and Tripadvisor will never allow me a "Management response" and each time they say that my response is "Unprofessional". Defending your reputation is regarded as unprofessional according to Tripadvisor and they will only allow responses like "I am very sorry please forgive me". If you respond to a bad review where the reviewer who stayed at my hotel in March stated "The pool terrace was covered in pine needles and the pool had not been cleaned for months" and my management response was"As stated on our website the pool area is only open from late May to early October so you must have climbed over the fence to get to the pool terrace and pool and had not right to be in that area during that time of year"...... Tripadvisors response was "Your management response was unprofessional and we are not allowing it to be published", another customer complained that I had "overcharged her for phone calls made from her room"....My response.... "we do not have phones in the room with the ability to make outgoing phone calls as the mobile phone signal here got to 5 bars and everyone now has a mobile phone. (The phone is still there but just comes through to the switchboard)"...Tripadvisors response was "Your management response was unprofessional and we are not allowing it to be published".
How can you deal with a company that allows anyone with a bogus email address to post a damning review when they have obviously never stayed at my hotel and do not allow a reasonable defense?.....you can´t!
Reply to this Tam. You make some interesting points, however, I would just like to clarify a few details. Here on TB the moderators are all volunteers and we do work hard behind the scenes to make sure that TB remains free from spam and commercial links or advertising. Sometimes, a day may go past where a forum post or link will go unmoderated. I admit, this does sometimes happen, although we do try to do our best to deal with them as quickly as we can 😊
As for TripAdvisor, I've personally had several bad experiences using them while I was in India and have vowed to never use their services again. I think the main gripe is that they still refuse to implement a 'trusted reviews' system, where only people who have actually stayed at the accommodation in question can actually comment. Most other sites have these (HostelWorld, Booking and Travellerspoint), yet for some unknown reason, TA refuses to budge.
Reply to this In response to Msg #153294 - if there are a vast mass of people deceived by tripadvisor or ANY reviews from anyone anywhere on the net then IMO that is a personal responsibility...cross referencing anyone??
Why read only one review? Why not do a bit of research on your destination? google a hotel name and look at more than one site. I have had one review pulled from tripadvisor - the smiling hotel in siem reap - as it was negative, but then ive also had others which were IMO far more negative published...???
For the final word, trust Travelblog :-)
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In response to: Msg #151264 I had posted several contributions on Trip Advisor way back in 2010 hoping to give some assistances to those who visited Hong Kong as I used to live and still go twice a year and each time I would stay at least three weeks there and was attacked by one particular member of the Destination Experts constantly. I had submitted my concern to TA both by email and registered mail but was never acknowledged by them. It was a very unpleasant experience I ever had. I quitted and I would never browse Trip Advisor ever since then. I do not need to be humiliated by someone who thinks he knows more than someone who was born and lived there for over forty years and speak the local diaect and customs.
The upside was I did get several positive feedbacks from people in Singapore, Australia, Denmark and the US.
It is a complete waste of time to be associated with Trip Advisor, period.
Reply to this There has been a grand furrow in the UK over the twitterati exposing a well known senior Tory grandee as a paedophile. It was totally untrue and obviously caused great distress. However although we are talking about a small B & B proprietor (for such he is now), we are also talking abou a man who was a great power in the land, well connected at the highest levels.
Senior judges have pronounced that those who tweet are as responsible for what they say or publish as any other form of media. Large media companies, not least the BBC are in the frame for substantial damages. The noble lord has suggested that even individuals should donate to a children's charity, if they wish to avoid the wrath of his lawyers. It would seem that the days of saying anything you like on social media outlets are coming to close. More importantly the outrage among the general public is at fever pitch.
When the victim entered a London restaurant this week every diner to a man stood up and applauded him.
Of course our old friends TRipadvisor are ahead of the game. They have not shrunk from ruining people with the same paedophile tag even on the say so of a semi literate fourteen year old who could not even spell the word.
His lordship has also suffered at the hands of TA to the extent that among the glowing reviews for his property,
A single anonymous review from "a trip ad visor member" sticks ou like a sore thumb.
Surely there has never been a better time to nail thes
,.?!?!?!s once and for all.
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In response to: Msg #163308 If this site had a "LIKE" button I would have pressed it Frank.
I am getting loads of emails from a website with tripadvisorsuccess in its name, and for a fee they can provide me with a glowing Tripadvisor review (or more if I pay them) they do this because they can, they explain that Tripadvisor is soooo easy to manipulate that they had just as well make money out of them.
Reply to this No friends tripadvisor is a high commercial company and make everything to money whats possible
Reply to this This feed is now getting on in years but it seems nothing has changed in the course of them. And T.A not brought to its knees. This information apparently written in a culinary magazine a while back and posted here has just happened to my tourism agency in June 2013.
"Interestingly, the article (in the culinary magazine) noted that TripAdvisor punishes those who dare to object to nasty reviews by deleting positive reviews and posting notices that the business has attempted to manipulate its standing".
Our case is slightly different in that the reviewers objected to the removal of their (highly positive) reviews being moved. T.A was with in their rights to do so because the reviews should be for Day Tours and are almost always for several days. As are those of all the other 40 companies - none of whose reviews have been deleted, presumably because no-one objected. That is except me! And then the T.A accusation of our attempting to attack rival agencies and demotion kicked in. As we were in the top three and have been in first position (superceded by an agency that advertises with TA!) and also number two why on earth or in God's name should we need to waste our time writing false reviews? We have one of the highest reputations locally and are recommended by five local Embassies. So this accusation is as absurd as it is libellous. And the usual path seems to be being trod - no replies from T.A - at least none useful. They threaten to act IF and WHEN but do it anyway and we are now at 13. So I have joined Travel blog and thank everyone for all these reports which have made me realise I am not alone and I shall not keep my moth shut on this - unless TA acts correctly (wishful thinking?!)
Reply to this I was really upset to see someone put up such a mean headline about The French Experience company @ TripAdvisor when i googled it for my parent's last vacation. My mum and dad have used the company both times they have finally visited France for holidays, staying in different romantic apartments. They are totally in love with Paris and life and I am so happy for them! I just couldn't believe such an awful link ("Do Not Use "The French Experience" Company") and so I signed up to TripAdvisor and wrote this. Then it was closed within 10 minutes. I have then posted positive reviews at TripAdvisor 3 times and they always get removed! Here is the last one I posted titled, "The French Experience company were wonderful": "The best holidays my parents have had, we used The French Experience both times, and will definitely use them again.. so I would recommend them and encourage people to not take any notice of negative reviews, as our experiences were wonderful.. Mum and Dad are happily in love with Paris and France, and The French Experience's apartments were lush, and they were a user-friendly company and very supportive. I think my parents particularly enjoyed their own space and comfort and being able to explore Paris with ease, the apartments were fully equipped and the office staff were friendly and helpful. I hope this message will encourage more positive reviews and comments here on TripAdvisor." I have only tried.. "This content has been removed".. We were so happy with our experiences we wanted to communicate our positive review ..and yet horrible reviews are up- my reason for the comments in the first place. I am happy to post here!
Reply to this Thanks mrtabby, very interesting - and welcome to travelblog 😊
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