TripAdvisor has long been a favorite website haunt of casual and expert travelers alike. The Boston-based website features not only hotel reviews, but also reviews of city attractions, such as the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, the Sears Tower in Chicago, Central Park in New York City, and Fenway Park in Boston, as well as lesser known stops, such as the Santa Monica Promenade and Boston’s Mike’s Pastries.
The website runs entirely off of user reviews. Users rank and rate their favorite and least favorite hotels and tourist attractions, so that others who visit the website can see not only a rating of the hotel (out of five stars), but also the ranking of the hotel among other hotels in the area, and user testimonials. Seems like a great idea, right?
Well it was a great idea, up until recently. TripAdvisor is now warning of scams by posting disclaimers on the review pages for certain hotels. These disclaimers state that the reviews for the hotel may not actually come from former guests of the hotel, but rather from the hotel staff or competitor’s staff. The Associated Press suggests that incredibly positive reviews which mention insignificant details or the only negative review on an otherwise positive page may not be authentic.
TripAdvisor representatives claim that disclaimers should not alarm users, and that they have been in place since 2006, despite the seemingly recent jump in their numbers. One TripAdvisor spokesperson was even quoted as saying that “The 23 million reviews and opinions are authentic and they’re unbiased and they’re from real users.”
So how can you tell if the review you are reading is real? Well the best thing you can do is to get as much information as possible and to use your common sense. Debbra Brouillette, of the Dallas Tropical Travel Examiner, posted some tips for perusing travel websites on Examiner.com. She suggests taking all the posted reviews into account, as every hotel or restaurant can have an off day; making sure to get second opinions on too-good-to-be-true hotels; noting the date of the review, as hotels usually renovate every few years; trying to contact the poster of a very good or very bad review to ask for more details; keeping in mind that your preferences and experiences will not be the same as everyone else’s; and reading between the lines.
Before making any travel plans, make sure you do your research. We here at Five Point Capital still think that TripAdvisor is a great resource for travelers, but it may not be the one-stop-shop it once was. As long as hotels and restaurants want to make money, hotel review scams will live on, so always try to get as much information as possible before making a decision. Happy travels!
