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Trip Advisor - Sort Yourself Out Once and For All!
Recently there was a link posted on facebook by Balmashanner B&B, regarding a story of a couple who posted a fake review on Trip Advisor, because of a disagreement with the hotel
I commented that these people should be prosecuted and another comment was posted saying, 'how?'. Well quite simply they should be done for defamation of the hotel's character. Although I happen to really like Trip Advisor and wholeheartedly agree with it's 'wisdom of the masses' philosophy, it's time the company grew up and took its responsibilities more seriously.
A review like the one mentioned could be very damaging for the hotel and even if it had 10 good reviews, this one was so bad it would have certainly put me off the place. I'm sure many read it and been put off, which has lost the hotel money.
The blame has to lie with Trip Advisor for not having a good enough system to monitor reviews. This review was done 10 months after the stay, which certainly shouldn't be allowed.
It seems as if while Trip Advisor, along with many other review sites are happy to profit from the sites' popularity through advertising, they fail to ensure companies, who pay their wages (indirectly) are being given a fair account.
What's infuriating is that a company the size of TA could, without a hurculean effort, deal with the problem.
Why don't Trip Advisor give each hotel a list of codes to give to their guests, which they must use to log in before posting a review. The code is unique to the hotel, so proves that the guest has definitely stayed there. The codes are time-sensitive and must be used within two weeks of the stay or they will not be able to be used.
Though the hoteliers wouldn't know which guests wrote the review, Trip advisor would be able to find out their email address and the time they stayed at the hotel. The very fact that they are entering a code would certainly make people think twice about what they are writing.
