(Reuters) - Italy's competition watchdog has fined travel website TripAdvisor 500,000 euros ($613,000) for publishing misleading information in its reviews, it said on Monday.

The fine follows a seven-month investigation into whether the website takes appropriate measures to avoid publishing false opinions while presenting them as genuine, following a complaint from consumers and hotel owners in Italy.

The Rome-based regulator said the U.S. company and its Italian arm should stop "publishing misleading information about the sources of its reviews", adding that the practice started in September 2011.

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....http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/ ... MW20141222

Yeah, they need to vet the posters better. Owners work the system both ways (for their place and against rivals) way too much.

Like it or lump it, it is currently the number 1 hospitality marketing tool in the world.

Yeah, TA is another good idea gone bad. The problem is that some people - esp inexperienced travellers - use it like a bible: good or bad, whatever is written is sacred.

And some tourists are just twits - read some comments on Cambodian places: "OMG, there was a mosquito/ant/gecko in my room !" (serves you right for taking the cheapest fan room you could find.) or "They sold me a bus ticket and the bus broke down."(This is Cambodia.) or "We got woken at dawn by loudspeakers ext to the hotel."(Sorry if the ceremony for the dead guy next door has inconvenienced you.)

Anyway, TA is so huge now - don't see how they can really police the comments.

Yelp, in the States is even more unreliable.

Even worse is the plethora of martini maiden "experts" on the Cambodia forum, who don't speak a level of Cambodian beyond basic touron and who overvalue both Siam Reap and their opinions at the expense of the richness of experience that this country provides-at least for the time being. They also look down on voluntourism, but do not hesitate to pimp those projects they hold dear to their hearts. Outspoken contributors are thrown off, not by the mods, but by these dear old ladies who hold their opinion sacred beyond reproach. Not my favorite travel forum by a long shot.

Huh ? 75% of what TA is about is hotel reviews & maybe 20% restaurant reviews. Sometimes they talk about other stuff in the final 5%. Very well written post, but I don't understand how it applies.

Anchor Moy wrote:Yeah, TA is another good idea gone bad. The problem is that some people - esp inexperienced travellers - use it like a bible: good or bad, whatever is written is sacred.

And some tourists are just twits - read some comments on Cambodian places: "OMG, there was a mosquito/ant/gecko in my room !" (serves you right for taking the cheapest fan room you could find.) or "They sold me a bus ticket and the bus broke down."(This is Cambodia.) or "We got woken at dawn by loudspeakers ext to the hotel."(Sorry if the ceremony for the dead guy next door has inconvenienced you.)

I don't get your point. If you were considering several hotels, and one of them had multiple negative reviews about loud noises nearby from a local mosque or ongoing construction project, you wouldn't consider those as factors in your decision on where to stay? If there were multiple reviews about one travel company's buses consistently breaking down or being filthy, you wouldn't consider using a different bus company instead? You would simply write off any negative reviews and think "this is Cambodia, so therefore get over it and accept crappy service"? I don't see how this differentiates you from "inexperienced travelers" in a good way. I don't want to be woken up via loudspeakers due to services for dead people. I will stay where there are no such possibilities when I can help it and have a better chance at a pleasant stay. No one is forcing you to use TripAdvisor.

wackyjackie,

Yelp is a protection racket. The tell businesses if you don't advertise on Yelp we will give you bad reviews and vice versa.

picooie

Soi Dog wrote:

Anchor Moy wrote:Yeah, TA is another good idea gone bad. The problem is that some people - esp inexperienced travellers - use it like a bible: good or bad, whatever is written is sacred.

And some tourists are just twits - read some comments on Cambodian places: "OMG, there was a mosquito/ant/gecko in my room !" (serves you right for taking the cheapest fan room you could find.) or "They sold me a bus ticket and the bus broke down."(This is Cambodia.) or "We got woken at dawn by loudspeakers ext to the hotel."(Sorry if the ceremony for the dead guy next door has inconvenienced you.)

I don't get your point. If you were considering several hotels, and one of them had multiple negative reviews about loud noises nearby from a local mosque or ongoing construction project, you wouldn't consider those as factors in your decision on where to stay? If there were multiple reviews about one travel company's buses consistently breaking down or being filthy, you wouldn't consider using a different bus company instead? You would simply write off any negative reviews and think "this is Cambodia, so therefore get over it and accept crappy service"? I don't see how this differentiates you from "inexperienced travelers" in a good way. I don't want to be woken up via loudspeakers due to services for dead people. I will stay where there are no such possibilities when I can help it and have a better chance at a pleasant stay. No one is forcing you to use TripAdvisor.

In that case, make sure all the neighbours are in good health when you check in. You can't predict or prevent funerals. They are not on-going - they are just a fact of life here. I'm not in a hotel, but I am being blasted by loud-speakers as I write this. Yes, it's f'king annoying but I wouldn't think of blaming my landlord.

As for bus tickets, if you buy the cheapest tickets, you get the cheapest service. It's up to you if you don't want to fork out a few more dollars for something more reliable.And when you pay $2 for a dorm bed, expect to get a $2 dorm bed etc.

I actually like reading TA but the topic here is "how reliable are the reports?" - and IMO they are not extremely reliable. TA was fined for publishing false reports as genuine after an enquiry. No one said TA is rubbish, but they shouldn't say all their reports are guaranteed genuine. That's all.

(You could also say that people shouldn't be stupid enough to believe all that they read on the internet. )