Firm in TripAdvisor fight gets 800 new membership applications
The company that last month announced it would launch a group "defamation action" against online review website TripAdvisor has received 800 new applications for its services from hospitality businesses.
Kwikchex.com, which bills itself as an online reputation management company, said it was launching the action after its members in the hotel and restaurant sector highlighted that they were fed up with what they alleged were "unfair" or "false" reviews on the site.
Kwikchex.com co-founder Chris Emmins said he wanted to sign up 1,000 businesses to the action, although it was seeking a £170 membership fee from each of them.
In the event, the company has received 800 applications in the hospitality sector, many of which are applying because they are concerned about TripAdvisor.
The company is now vetting the applications and advising applicants on whether or not their issues with TripAdvisor would fall within defamation laws.
Meanwhile, it has also worked with a team of lawyers to prepare three distinct actions:
Cases where TripAdvisor has allegedly "misrepresented" businesses directly by singling out the quality of a business (for example, listing the 10 "worst" hotels).
â- Cases where serious allegations about a business have been made and supported by a TripAdvisor "pop-up" which states: "This review was written by a trusted member of the TripAdvisor community". Kwikchex.com said legal advice it had received suggested this was an endorsement of truthfulness by TripAdvisor of the comments made.
â- Court action to disclose information about the identity of posters making defamatory comments so that the allegations can be tested in a court of law.
A TripAdvisor spokeswoman said: "TripAdvisor does not comment on either threatened or pending litigation."
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By Neil Gerrard
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