Earlier today, we told you about the Texas hotel that offered guests up to $5 if they posted positive reviews on any number of popular travel sites. A rep for the hotel has since responded to say that this was a case of an overzealous employee acting on their own. [More]
Hotel Claims Overzealous Employee Posted Sign Offering To Pay For Nice Online Reviews
By December 14, 2012
Dallas Hotel Blatantly Offers To Pay Guests For Positive Online Reviews
By December 14, 2012
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Here’s a tip to hotel managers around the world — Paying for reviews is bad enough. Advertising that you’re willing to pay for positive feedback is only going to communicate to your guests that you run a bad hotel and that you expect them to not have anything nice to say about your establishment. [More]
TripAdvisor Smacked With $80K Fine For Violating Fare Advertising Rule
By July 13, 2012
TripAdvisor has fallen afoul of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s rule about fare advertising, resulting in a fine of $80,000. The rule went into effect in January, and stated that ticket agents and airlines must display fares as the total of what a consumer will pay, taxes and fees included. [More]
TripAdvisor Gives Up On "Dirtiest Hotels In America" List
By January 9, 2012
Well, this is depressing. Travel review site TripAdvisor has chosen to abandon the genius idea of releasing a “Dirtiest Hotels in America” list. Why? They want to “focus on the positive.” What the hell? Who wants to read about a bunch of clean hotels full of happy people? Bah humbug! [More]
Hotel Openly Advertises For Fake TripAdvisor Review Writers
By June 16, 2011
It’s no secret that hotels put bogus user reviews of themselves on sites like TripAdvisor, but usually they’re more discreet than this. TripAdvisorWatch found an example of an owner of several hotels in Hanoi posting on freelancer.com under his real name asking “if anyone can teach me the way to write reviews on this forum in which my reviews can not be found as fake and be removed.” [More]
TripAdvisor E-Mail List Hacked
By March 24, 2011
A lot of TripAdvisor users have received a somewhat alarming message from the company’s CEO advising that part of its e-mail list was compromised over the weekend. [More]
Resort Owner Shows How He Games TripAdvisor
By February 25, 2011
A guy shows TODAY how he posts fake glowing reviews for his own resort and restaurant on TripAdvisor, and trash talks the competition. This doesn’t mean that customer review sites like TripAdvisor aren’t worthwhile, though. Just take his own advice and throw out the best reviews and the worst. The ones in the middle are the most likely to be from real people reflecting their real experience. [More]
Someone Actually Wanted To Book A Vacation At Schrute Farms
By March 30, 2010
The folks at travel site TripAdvisor.com recently had to put a warning on their listing for Schrute Farms, the “number one beet-related agrotourism destination in Northeastern Pennsylvania,” not because of bad reviews or because the innkeepers would regale them with detailed descriptions of the various bears found in the region. No, it’s because Schrute Farms only exists in the magical world of TV. [More]
How To Avoid A Bad Hotel …Review
By September 6, 2009
Finding a bad place to stay can ruin a trip, or even your entire impression of a city. Lacking personal recommendations, you may turn to online reviews to help you find a place to stay. But how can you tell shill reviews from real ones? Other than an air of general fakeness, AOL Travel tells you what to look for in hotel reviews specifically.
