Huge fine for TripAdvisor for misleading consumers

wackyjacky · Post by **wackyjacky** » Wed Dec 24, 2014 10:46 am

I find TA quite useful. You have to read the review. Many people are vindictive over a small alleged slight, charge, or not getting every little thing they want. Then you have to look at the # of reviews the poster has & read a few of those too. The fraudulent posters don't have many posts & they're confined to one town.

StroppyChops · Post by **StroppyChops** » Wed Dec 24, 2014 5:15 pm

Good advice, WJ, I do that.

A review I wrote recently for a local restaurant was removed by TA because I had that company on my FB watch list - was deemed to be biased.

blockhead · Post by **blockhead** » Wed Dec 24, 2014 6:35 pm

I think it works OK, as long as you read between the lines somewhat. I am still surprised at how many good reviews places in a Cambodia get, the traveling public are usually quite understanding.
The worst kind of people are those who blackmail hotels by threatening to write a bad review if they don't get a free night or whatever after some perceived slight or lack of service.
I find the worst reviews are the Sihanoukville islands, some of those bungalow places are awful.

logos · Post by **logos** » Wed Dec 24, 2014 10:37 pm

I mostly use TA for restaurants and always watch for clues that a review might be biaised, like for romdeng here for instance. I also find it very useful for activities like show business reviews or stuff to do in a city.

For instance we were in Thailand just now and visited a great modem art museum in Bangkok and did a cycling tour in Pattaya. Both found on TA and ignored by mainstream tourists

Soi Dog · Post by **Soi Dog** » Wed Dec 24, 2014 10:50 pm

wackyjacky wrote:The fraudulent posters don't have many posts & they're confined to one town.

Not necessarily true. I have posted only one review in TripAdviser. I travel a lot for work (and have for many years) and stay in many hotels and never once bothered posting reviews/complaints about other inconveniences I encountered in all that time. It took an exceptionally annoying experience at a high priced and well regarded hotel in the US to get me to even bother signing up for TA (and a couple other reviews sites) and posting my one negative review. However, I must travel to that particular city on a regular basis, so I may very well post another review or two, good or bad, from my experiences in that one city.

I would be just as suspicious about glowing reviews as bad ones. I fully expect decent treatment and reasonable service for my money so no need to post positive reviews about getting it.

YouTube · Post by **General Mackevili** » Sat Dec 27, 2014 7:01 pm

This was on Facebook today from someone who says it's an email that's being sent to local guesthouses in Cambodia:

this email from owner of mad monkey chain:

Hi XXXX,

Hello everyone, we hope you are having a great weekend. As anyone in the hotel industry knows great reviews on Trip Adviser really help boost your business, but not all guests will leave a review of your hotel.

Getting reviews written for Trip Adviser to bulk up your views is a normal practice in the industry and whilst completely against the Trip Adviser Terms of Service it may well be how your competitors are getting many more reviews that you are.

Another reason for getting paid reviews will be to bury reviews that are unfair or fake negative reviews. It is just a standard fact in the business that competitors will often buy negative reviews for your business, or you will have a customer that gives you a terrible and unfair review for the smallest of slip ups.

So if you need more reviews or if you need more reviews to bury a negative review on page 2 of the review results then please send us an email.

We offer 10 well written, positive reviews or your hotel to increase your review rating and bury those negative reviews that are impacting your business.

Our price for 10 reviews is $200.00 - the reviews are posted over a 14 day period, all of the reviews are from real people, with active and in good standing trip adviser accounts.

If you do not need this service then please save this email - you will certainly need it at some point in the future. Also these reviews will actually be from people that have visited your hotel, some who will stay with you.

Buying reviews is completely against Trip Adviser Terms of service - but if it is an untoward agency that is doing it for you then you can claim innocence and simply ask for the spurious reviews to be removed.

10 Postive Reviews from real people $200.00 - Keep it in your inbox

Payment by PAYPAL only.

Regards

Kind Regards

Steven Vaile

Chairman of H2O Media Corporation

H2O Media Corporation, 26,, Street 302, Phnom Penh, Phnom Penh 12302, CAMBODIA

Hotdigr · Post by **Hotdigr** » Sat Dec 27, 2014 7:20 pm

Aren't TA and FB linked? For a fairly astute businessman to make this mistake ( posting the msg on FB) would not make much sense. Any chance you reckon it may have been faked by a competitor who is not doing so well and just wants to "sling a bit of shit"?

YouTube · Post by **General Mackevili** » Sat Dec 27, 2014 7:43 pm

Hotdigr wrote:Aren't TA and FB linked? For a fairly astute businessman to make this mistake ( posting the msg on FB) would not make much sense. Any chance you reckon it may have been faked by a competitor who is not doing so well and just wants to "sling a bit of shit"?

Very possible.

Anchor Moy · Post by **Anchor Moy** » Sat Dec 27, 2014 8:18 pm

General Mackevili wrote:
Hotdigr wrote:Aren't TA and FB linked? For a fairly astute businessman to make this mistake ( posting the msg on FB) would not make much sense. Any chance you reckon it may have been faked by a competitor who is not doing so well and just wants to "sling a bit of shit"?
Very possible.

That's the problem - anything is possible - false reviews against TA, false hotel reviews on TA, attention-seeking reports...
There are Cambodian hotels and guesthouses that have reviews for this month that have been closed or changed ownership (name, phone °etc) for at least a year.

No matter how much we might like the idea of TA as a cool, sharing space for travelers, I'm afraid that they can't keep up with the scams.

Kung-fu Hillbilly · Post by **Kung-fu Hillbilly** » Sat Dec 27, 2014 8:50 pm

TA really has become a monster that has to be engaged by those in the tourism industry. Although, I do hope good old fashioned service at a fair price will continue to generate enough word and mouth business for those who go that little bit further to give their client a memorable experience.

I've never used TA, and wonder if I ever will. I still don't think you can beat slogging the footpath and staying a night or two in a few places before deciding, or getting referred by people you know. Of course for those who are on their annual holiday, the above may not be that practical.

Huge fine for TripAdvisor for misleading consumers

Re: Huge fine for TripAdvisor for misleading consumers

Re: Huge fine for TripAdvisor for misleading consumers

Re: Huge fine for TripAdvisor for misleading consumers

Re: Huge fine for TripAdvisor for misleading consumers

Re: Huge fine for TripAdvisor for misleading consumers

Re: Huge fine for TripAdvisor for misleading consumers

Re: Huge fine for TripAdvisor for misleading consumers

Re: Huge fine for TripAdvisor for misleading consumers

Re: Huge fine for TripAdvisor for misleading consumers

Re: Huge fine for TripAdvisor for misleading consumers

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