Evesham hotelier protests as TripAdvisor ‘red flags' her business

30 September 2011 by
Evesham hotelier protests as TripAdvisor ‘red flags' her business

An Evesham hotelier has entered a stand-off with the TripAdvisor website after it "red flagged" her business for allegedly posting false reviews, which she claimed had led to a collapse in bookings.

The note, which appears next to the rating for the Riverside Hotel and Restaurant in Evesham, warns that "individuals or entities associated with or having an interest in this property may have interfered with traveller reviews and/or the popularity index for this property".

The hotel's owner, Deborah Sinclair, who claimed that she was not warned by TripAdvisor of its decision to "red flag" the business, denied that she had ever posted a fake positive review on the site.

She claimed that she had first noticed the warning around three weeks ago after a spate of cancellations from customers, and has had to halve her rates in order to bring occupancy levels back up.

Sinclair has since contacted online reputation management company Kwikchex for assistance. Kwikchex said it suspected the most likely cause of the notice was the use by genuine guests of the hotel's Wi-Fi system when placing positive reviews, and claimed one guest who posted a recent positive review has already confirmed that he had done this.

"They have never contacted me and they never told me they put that on my site. I can't get hold of them - you can only do a management response on the website]. On a point of principle I can't respond to that [the TripAdvisor red flag statement} because it is untrue and I intend to prove that in court," Sinclair told Caterer and Hotelkeeper.

"If you could see the reviews on there [TripAdvisor], I would hardly have written half of those. And I certainly wouldn't have written the other half either," she added.

But in a response, TripAdvisor said it was standing by its actions and that the red note had not been added for the reasons cited by Kwikchex. A spokeswoman said that not only did the company believe that fraudulent positive reviews had been posted about the Riverside hotel and restaurant, but it also believed that negative reviews had been posted on a competitor's property. It also disputed Sinclair's claim that she had never been contacted.

In a statement, the company said: "As a result of our investigation, we have reasonable cause to believe that the owner and/or individuals associated with the owner fraudulently posted positive reviews on the Riverside Hotel and Restaurant and negative reviews on a competitor's property. The red badge was NOT applied as a result of an isolated review posted by a guest from the hotel's lobby. We issued warnings to the owner on 16 March and 23 August and have since received communications from the owner. The identified activity continued despite our warnings and, as the activity is against our policies, we applied the red badge to protect consumers."

How to make the best use of online feedback >>

TripAdvisor removes ‘reviews you can trust' slogan >>

Advertising Standards Authority launches investigation into TripAdvisor >>

By Neil Gerrard

E-mail your comments to Neil Gerrard here.

Tabletalk
Tabletalk
If you have something to say on this story or anything else join the debate at Table Talk - Caterer's new networking forum. Go to www.catererandhotelkeeper.com/tabletalk

Catererandhotelkeeper.com jobs

Looking for a new job? Find your next job here with Catererandhotelkeeper.com jobs

[Blogs on Catererandhotelkeeper.com ](http://www.catererandhotelkeeper.com/blogs) Catch up with more news and gossip on all Caterer's blogs
[E-newsletters](http://www.catererandhotelkeeper.com/email-newsletters.htm)[ For the latest hospitality news, sign up for our E-newsletters
The Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email

Start the working day with The Caterer’s free breakfast briefing email

Sign Up and manage your preferences below

Check mark icon
Thank you

You have successfully signed up for the Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email and will hear from us soon!

Jacobs Media is honoured to be the recipient of the 2020 Queen's Award for Enterprise.

The highest official awards for UK businesses since being established by royal warrant in 1965. Read more.

close

Ad Blocker detected

We have noticed you are using an adblocker and – although we support freedom of choice – we would like to ask you to enable ads on our site. They are an important revenue source which supports free access of our website's content, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.

trade tracker pixel tracking