TripAdvisor faces ASA investigation after review complaints

[QF WP]

Same issues with mine. I have almost given up...

 

[MatF]

My recent hotel reviews (all got 3 stars or more) have been taking a week or so to post. But I wrote 6 reviews yesterday - one for the hotel (gave it 4 stars) and 5 for area restaurants and activities. Three of the reviews had no photos and were published within 24 hours. The other 3, all with photos, are still pending. Maybe photos delay the publishing?

It wouldn't be too surprising if someone had to manually check photos to make sure they're not cough, etc.

 

[PineappleSkip]

Same issues with mine. I have almost given up...

I have now given up on tripadvisor. They again lost, deleted, whatever a number of my reviews. This has been happening for a while. Four months after they sent me a 'one more review and you'll be a top contributor' email which I easily achieved. Move on and about half the reviews - already posted - had disappeared and they again sent me a 'one more review and you'll be a top contributor' email

Sent them an email and after a delay they told me they couldn't find them.:evil:

Oddly the reviews were all pretty nondescript, like the hotels. And they keep writing to me about how everyone loves the (deserved) slagging I gave the E&O in Penang. Starting to think maybe they weed out the dispassionate reviews and keep the biuquets and brickbats to make it more interesting. Who knows.

Cheers skip

 

[Berlin]

I actually still quite like TA, I find them much fairer than some other ranking website like airlinequality.com for example- the latter frequently don't publish negative reviews of certain of their "favourite" airlines which drives me nuts. Tripadvisor has been much better in this respect as far as I can tell. I contribute regularly there and would say that I'm a reasonable customer who only complains if there are real reasons for it. Not surprised that some hotel owners therefore HATE that page- wouldn't have been the first time that I book a hotel, then randomly have a look on TA and decide to better cancel and book somewhere else. The usual idiots who eat uncooked seafood somewhere in the tropics or leave their wallet visible on a hotel balcony and then rate the property as a whole badly because of that own stupidity, those you learn very quickly to simply ignore

 

[maninblack]

Plenty of fakes up there (both pro and against a particular hotel). Usually you can pick them. Sometimes I've reported reviews that sound "off" based on when I've stayed at a place, or just can't be true. They tend to get removed pretty quickly.

I'm not so sure that you can pick them, how do you know, they are apparently often well disguised and that's one of the problems.

 

[QF WP]

I have now given up on tripadvisor. They again lost, deleted, whatever a number of my reviews. This has been happening for a while. Four months after they sent me a 'one more review and you'll be a top contributor' email which I easily achieved. Move on and about half the reviews - already posted - had disappeared and they again sent me a 'one more review and you'll be a top contributor' email

Sent them an email and after a delay they told me they couldn't find them.:evil:

Oddly the reviews were all pretty nondescript, like the hotels. And they keep writing to me about how everyone loves the (deserved) slagging I gave the E&O in Penang. Starting to think maybe they weed out the dispassionate reviews and keep the biuquets and brickbats to make it more interesting. Who knows.

Cheers skip

+1. Almost exactly the same as my current issue with them (email below):

Okay, I continue to be confused by you Trip Advisor.
According to the first email (at bottom) I got my first badge on 28 October. Then somehow I got two accounts but some friendly soul merged my accounts (see 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] email below 23 November), however that seems to have wiped my first badge (and some of the reviews under it), because now I’m back to being 1 review away from my first badge.

Can you please shed some light on what the hell has happened and even better, fix it?

 

[Alanslegal]

The good things with TA is the candid photos At least I'll have a good idea how the hotel/resort will look like in 'reality' versus the professional photoshop'ed versions the hotels like to promote.

My review on the Sheraton Maldives took about 12 days to post. It wasn't a very favorable review so it probably was a reason why it took a while to post, co-incidentally the review before mine appears to have taken 14 days to post and their review was very negative. A handful of positive reviews were posted immediately and thus pushed our two reviews down the list. Sneaky stuff by TA or just pure co-incidence:?:

 

[RB]

My review on the Sheraton Maldives took about 12 days to post. It wasn't a very favorable review so it probably was a reason why it took a while to post, co-incidentally the review before mine appears to have taken 14 days to post and their review was very negative. A handful of positive reviews were posted immediately and thus pushed our two reviews down the list. Sneaky stuff by TA or just pure co-incidence:?:

So is it your suggestion that Trip Advisor stands to profit from the Sheraton being rated more highly?

 

[PineappleSkip]

Sneaky stuff by TA or just pure co-incidence:?:

I'd punt on sneaky stuff by hotel managements, where there is any sneaky stuff.

I had a friend who related the story of checking in to a bizarrely named hotel in Hanoi - something like Hotel Love Bundle. 2 people at check in, one of whom checked him in as the other sat at a computer apparently writing reviews on tripadvisor. Bet they weren't bagging the place

Cheers skip

 

[drron]

Interesting letter to the editor today in the SMH about TA reviews-
Letters: TripAdvisor, a review

 

[PineappleSkip]

Points for tripadvisor reviews anyone? heres an angle that I hadnt seen before

TripAdvisor partners with airlines to incentivize hotel reviews | Tnooz

Media articles on tripadvisor and its vagaries now so common that googling 'fake tripadvisor' or similar will yield a truckload, here's a recent sample from the UK Telegraph, out of Fairfax, possible what the letter writer was responding to

Hotels manipulating TripAdvisor reviews

Cheers skip

 

[ajca]

Increasingly I find the reviews on forums to be far more useful than TripAdvisor. In my experience the most reliable indicator of whether I will like a hotel will be the reviews on the Luxury Hotels forum on FlyerTalk. If those guys have reached a consensus about liking a hotel then you can be pretty damn sure it will be good!

It's more work to wade through hundreds of forum posts than to look at the last few reviews on TripAdvisor. But there is just so much cough on TripAdvisor that it can be really hard to get to the right conclusion. And you have to adjust for a whole lot of factors. I think the problem is fundamentally TripAdvisor's audience - a lot of whom don't stay at good hotels much and get excited about things that others would expect.

Another issue that bugs me is that people on TripAdvisor write a lot "best hotel in city X" reviews, when you really have to have stayed at all the best hotels in that city to draw that judgement. And most people haven't - unless they're Craig Thomson. As a random example I just looked at the last few reviews on the Westin Sydney: one titled "Best in Sydney", another "Best hotel ever?"

Now the Westin Sydney is an ok hotel. But in what universe does it stack up to the Park Hyatt as the "best hotel in Sydney?"

Best hotel ever? - Westin SydneyCannot fault this hotel. I am VERY fussy, but this place is superb. The room is massive, the bathroom is gorgeous, the lighting is fantastic and so EASY to use. The TV remote is perfect and works first time, every time. The shower has fantastic water pressure and is easy to adjust the temperature. The power-points in the room are plentiful and placed in appropriate positions e.g. for plugging in iron. The room was well sound-proofed even though we are right above the noisiest streets in Sydney. Staff are great. They are generous too e.g. with newspapers.
We got a brilliant deal too. The price was about half what you would expect to pay. This place is awesome.
If I had to list any criticism, I would say there are too many doormen standing around out the front, and not responding very quickly to arrivals.

A good TV remote! And free newspapers! And hot running water! And well located power points! Whereas I would see all of these things as a standard corporate five-star hotel getting the basics right (which admittedly not all of them do).

Honeymooners are the worst offenders - generally they stay at much nicer hotels than they would in their normal life PLUS they are in a ridiculously good mood. Both of which are lovely. But it means they leave at a trail of glowing reviews at properties which actually aren't that great.

As many others have said though, the traveller photos on TripAdvisor are invaluable for seeing what a hotel really looks like outside of a professional shoot.

 

[lovestotravel]

Tripadvisor is great for the photos to get a real indication of the room

The reviews in 99% of cases are great as well, you read the Excellent reviews, then the Terrible reviews and then sort through the ones in the middle

I ignore reviews with 1 post, no matter what

I also ignore reviewers who always give negative reviews to every hotel

Apart from that it's a great resource

 

[Travel Guru]

Tripadvisor is great for the photos to get a real indication of the room

The reviews in 99% of cases are great as well, you read the Excellent reviews, then the Terrible reviews and then sort through the ones in the middle

I ignore reviews with 1 post, no matter what

I also ignore reviewers who always give negative reviews to every hotel

Apart from that it's a great resource

I agree, I think Trip Advisor if used wisely is a really valuable tool.

As a TA, I almost never book a hotel that I haven't seen personally without checking the Trip Advisor reviews, but like yourself I use them as a guide, I don't pay any attention to any one review as peoples individual expectations have alot to do with the experience they have, but I instead look for underlying trends which are easy to spot.

I've also started as of last year posting reviews myself as a professional travel planner so I can give back and in the hope that they'll be a tad more useful than the one post wonders you mention.

TG

 

[Princess Fiona]

Another issue that bugs me is that people on TripAdvisor write a lot "best hotel in city X" reviews, when you really have to have stayed at all the best hotels in that city to draw that judgement. And most people haven't - unless they're Craig Thomson.

lol !! Good one

 

[markis10]

Another issue that bugs me is that people on TripAdvisor write a lot "best hotel in city X" reviews, when you really have to have stayed at all the best hotels in that city to draw that judgement. And most people haven't - unless they're Craig Thomson. As a random example I just looked at the last few reviews on the Westin Sydney: one titled "Best in Sydney", another "Best hotel ever?"

Now the Westin Sydney is an ok hotel. But in what universe does it stack up to the Park Hyatt as the "best hotel in Sydney?"

In fairness to the OP they do say they have stayed at most hotels in the past 2years, during which the Park Hyatt was closed!

 

[RB]

As with everything, we are all looking for something different when we stay at a hotel. The vast majority of the time I am not after luxury so I am not reading those reviews. Isn't it the important thing to set your own values & overlook the reviews of people who obviously (in many cases) were looking for something else in the hotel they stayed at?
I agree strongly that honymooners reiews need to be tempered (most seem to have to include their new marital status in the review for some reason-important for some but not for me).
Not sure I rank some posters on FT the way they carry on with their expectations & quickness to whinge- but again perhaps I belong to a different demographic.

 

[amaroo]

Tripadvisor is great for the photos to get a real indication of the room

The reviews in 99% of cases are great as well, you read the Excellent reviews, then the Terrible reviews and then sort through the ones in the middle

I ignore reviews with 1 post, no matter what

I also ignore reviewers who always give negative reviews to every hotel

Apart from that it's a great resource

I'm a big user of TA and found the experience to be very positive, the photos are very good at either maintaining the excitement or avoiding disappointment.

I don't get seduced by No1 rating and have found some real beauties further down the ranking chart.

I take into account the number of reviews and the % chart for good v bad review.....I always read the poor reviews.

 

[harvyk]

Tripadvisor is great for the photos to get a real indication of the room

Yeah, a few years back I stayed in a hotel in PQQ that looked nothing like the beautiful images on it's website. Let's just say, it's rooms where nothing like the photo (dark brown brick wall anyone with that cheap motel feeling? 4.5 star my rear end) As we where leaving (in pretty big disgust, luckily only there for one night) I saw where they had taken the promotional photos.

They where all taken in their conference room, at very specific angles.

As for TA, I rarely use it per-say (unless it comes up in a Google search), that said there was a hotel I stayed at in SFO, which didn't lie in their photos (inside was very nice), they just neglected to say "on arriving at the hotel, step over the homeless junkie who has no doubt passed out at the front door" on their website.

I did a search on TA just out of interest on my return home, sure enough everyone said "nice hotel, terrible area". I kinda wished I'd did the search myself rather than leave it to the travel agent.

 

[QF WP]

One of these days I'll get around to adding more TR's to this site