Credits: The Telegraph Travel By: Charles Starmer-Smith

'Following the Advertising Standards Authority's ruling that TripAdvisor can longer claim all its reviews are by "real travellers", Charles Starmer-Smith calls for the website to re-think the way its reports are checked.

There are hoteliers queuing up to welcome the Advertising Standards Authority’s ruling that TripAdvisor can no longer claim that all its reviews are “honest, real or trusted”. But such a move does not go nearly far enough.'

'But there is a more sinister side. Log on to the TripAdvisor website and type the words “racist” or “racism” into its search engine and you might be alarmed by the results.
It is not the first time we have conducted such an exercise. An investigation by Telegraph Travel in October 2010 found that these two words appeared in more than 2,300 reviews on the website. Today it appears in more than 3,500 reviews.'

Above excerpts and read the full article on www.telegraph.co.uk

Credits: CNN By: Marnie Hunter

'Phrases such as "reviews you can trust" and "reviews from real travelers" have misled TripAdvisor users in the United Kingdom, according to a judgment issued Wednesday by the Advertising Standards Authority in Britain.

The decision comes in response to a complaint filed by a reputation management firm and two hotels, claiming that some of the claims of trustworthiness and authenticity on the very popular user-generated review site are misleading and can't be substantiated, since the site doesn't verify reviews.

Chris Emmins, co-founder of KwikChex, the reputation management company that filed the complaint, said it receives regular inquiries and complaints from hoteliers who say that false TripAdvisor reviews are hurting their business.
Unsubstantiated claims of bed bugs or food poisoning follow properties in online search results, and negative reviews are particularly damaging to small businesses since they don't receive a high volume of reviews and negative accounts tend to linger longer near the top of a company's listing, Emmins said.

TripAdvisor's claims of trustworthiness are misleading, he said.
"Patently, that just can't be true when you don't verify the fact that it's even a customer making the comments," he said.'

Above excerpts and read the full article on www.edition.cnn.com

Credits: Mail Online By: Sean Poulter

'TripAdvisor can no longer claim to offer ‘trusted and honest’ reviews, the advertising watchdog has ruled.

It said that because the world’s biggest travel website does not vet its 50 million users’ comments, it cannot guarantee they are genuine.'

'It has faced claims that some establishments are being given poor write-ups by rivals to boost their own trade.'

'Malicious customers have even tried to blackmail small hotels with threats to post negative reviews.'
'The  Advertising Standards Authority began an investigation following a complaint from British firm KwikChex, which represents several hotels given poor reviews on TripAdvisor, plus two unnamed British hotels.'

'But Chris Emmins, of KwikChex, said: ‘A number are false – both positive and negative reviews.

‘Small businesses suffer most as they tend to have few reviews and so the impact is greater, although any business with a bad review does suffer, particularly if it is a false accusation of something such as food poisoning or bed bugs.’

Above excerpts and read the full article on www.dailymail.co.uk

Credits: The Telegraph Travel By: James Hall, Consumer Affairs Editor

'It follows complaints that some unscrupulous hoteliers have posted fake comments on the site to boost their own business or sabotage others.

The advertising watchdog said that because reviews can be posted on the site without any form of verification, Tripadvisor must no longer claim that all of its reviews are honest, or even from real people.
In a strongly-worded ruling, the ASA told Tripadvisor “not to claim or imply that all the reviews that appeared on the website were from real travellers, or were honest, real or trusted”.
The ASA’s ruling, which applies only to Tripadvisor’s UK site, follows a complaint last year from two unnamed hoteliers and a website called Kwikchex, which helps companies manage their online reputations.

Chris Emmins, co-founder of Kwikchex, said that there are a “substantial” number of fake reviews on Tripadvisor, which is being “abused by fraudsters”.
Fake comments range from unsubstantiated claims of food poisoning in restaurants to theft and credit card fraud in hotels, said Mr Emmins.'

Above excerpts and read the full article on www.telegraph.co.uk

Credits: PC Advisor By: Carrie-Ann Skinner

'Regulator upheld complaint that website doesn't check comments are from real travellers

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has slammed holiday-reviews site TripAdvisor, claiming it's "misleading" web users.

KwikChex Ltd and two hotels made complaints over the site's claims that it offered "trusted advice from real traveller", "reviews you can trust" and "honest travel reviews and opinions from real travellers around the world" as TripAdvisor did not check the reviews and could not prove the comments were written by genuine real travellers.'

Above excerpts and read the full article on www.pcadvisor.co.uk

Credits: BBC News

'TripAdvisor has been ordered to rewrite some of its marketing claims by the UK's Advertising Standards Authority.

The ruling follows complaints by hotels that the site had said that its holiday reviews could be "trusted".

The watchdog said that the ruling served as a warning to all sites with user-generated material.

It (The ASA) said that two hotels and the online reputation firm Kwikchex, which represented others, had complained that the claims were misleading since they could not be substantiated.

"This should be regarded as a benchmark ruling which applies to all web sites which make claims about the reliability of their user-created content," the ASA's spokesman Matthew Wilson told the BBC.'

Above excerpts and read the full article on www.bbc.co.uk

Credits: The Guardian By: Steven Morris

'Advertising watchdogs have criticised the travel website TripAdvisor for asserting that all contributions on its pages were honest and from real travellers.

But some hoteliers and others in the hospitality trade claim the site is open to abuse, for example from rivals keen to attack an establishment's reputation.

Two hotels and a company called KwikChex, which specialises in online reputation management, challenged a claim on the TripAdvisor site that it "offers trusted advice from real travellers" and featured "honest travel reviews and opinions".

KwikChex claimed malevolent reviews did great harm to reputable businesses. A spokesman said: "It is small businesses that suffer most, as they tend to have few reviews and so the impact is much greater."

Above excerpts and read the full article on www.guardian.co.uk

Credits: Irishtimes.com By: CONOR POPE, Consumer Affairs Correspondent

'THE IRISH Hotels Federation has welcomed a ruling published by the British Advertising Standards Authority this morning which prohibits travel website TripAdvisor from claiming or even implying the hotel reviews it carries are “honest, real or trusted”.

The federation also called on all travel review websites to “put in place the necessary safeguards to ensure reviews posted online are transparent and independent” so consumers could make informed decisions when booking accommodation.

The federation issued its statement ahead of a ruling from the authority published this morning after a six-month investigation into TripAdvisor instigated after a complaint by KwikChex, an online reputation management company which represents 2,000 British hotels.

Federation president Paul Gallagher said he welcomed the ruling “insofar as it goes some way to putting in place a structure which means consumers can trust reviews”.

While he described TripAdvisor as “a game changer” which had had “a very positive impact on the travel sector as was shown by its ranking of three Irish hotels in its top 25 hotels in the world last month”, he said unverified negative reviews on the site had the “potential to do a lot of damage” to a hotel.'

Above excerpts and read the full article on www.irishtimes.com

Credits: The Press Association

'TripAdvisor has been told it cannot claim all of its reviews are written by real travellers.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said claims that all reviews on the travel site are genuine are "misleading".

The ruling came after complaints highlighted statements on the TripAdvisor website which claimed: "reviews you can trust", "read reviews from real travellers" and "more than 50 million honest travel reviews and opinions from real travellers around the world".'

Above excerpts and read the full article from The Press Association

Credits: Tnooz By: Linda Fox

'The UK advertising regulator upheld a complaint from online reputation firm Kwikchex and two hotels which argued wording on TripAdvisor’s UK website, such as “reviews you can trust…from real travellers…and trusted advice from real travellers”, was misleading because the company could not prove reviews were genuine or from real travellers.'

Chris Emmins of Kwikchex says:
“We welcome that an independent and impartial authority has investigated this matter.It is important to make very clear that when reviews are not authenticated, there is every chance they can be faked, both positive and negative reviews.
“We want to emphasise that you can’t generalise. It is not right to cite overall scale or some sort of ‘acceptable collateral damage’, when it comes to fake reviews. There are real people and their livelihoods unquestionably being hurt very badly.”

Above excerpts and read the full article on www.tnooz.com