TripAdvisor: the truth, and nothing but the truth?

yorksrabbit

We like TripAdvisor for the way it publishes the objective views of those who contribute to it.

Like MSE.

We've contributed a few comments to Trip Advisor, all of 'em favourable where our own hotel experiences have been concerned. . .

Bar one. That was a report of a stay at a particular Barcelona hotel earlier this year.

It mirrored (though we hadn't realised before going there) similar experiences of people who had made their reservation via the excellent booking.com (our fault, I guess, for not reserving with booking.com and not reading booking.com reviews of the hotel, either.)

Trip Advisor "published" our review. It was scathing. It appeared online for a few weeks. . . and then vanished.

Well, well. . .

There's no way of discovering from Trip Advisor why a review that was accepted and published was then censored because Trip Advisor provides no contact point for its "members" to query its decisions.

So. . .

Next time you're on Trip Advisor, bear in mind that the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth doesn't actually appear there -- or if it does, then it is but briefly.

Because if a major hotel decides to exert pressure on Trip Advisor (which is what must surely have happened here) then suddenly, there'll be no factually critical user-review of that hotel -- at all.

Kudos, as ever then, to MSE for the way it accommodates objective, factual comment from consumers. But none, now, to Trip Advisor. Shame, really.

dfh

Do you want the name and shame this hotel?

dinglebert

yorksrabbit wrote: »

Because if a major hotel decides to exert pressure on Trip Advisor (which is what must surely have happened here) then suddenly, there'll be no factually critical user-review of that hotel -- at all.

Sorry but there is another reason why the review may have disappeared. Trip Advisor contact people, expecially with negative reviews a couple of weeks after the review is published to ask them to confirm the review. If you do not confirm then it gets removed. I have no idea why it takes them that long to start this process but I do now that a very negative review I placed on a hotel (which was in the majority for the hotel) and was asked to confirm it after a number of weeks.

Becles

I wrote a negative review back in June for the Travel Lodge at Manchester Airport. I've just checked and it's still there.

BargainGalore

Doesn't stop staff or hotel owners either faking positive feedback. These review sites by nature are often flawed

advent1122

I have left a few dodgy reviews on Tripadvisor for some fleapits I have stayed in, they are all still there.

mandragora_2

Me too - and I've also reported one hotel which I believed was faking/manipulatung feedback - tripadvisor responded and investigated.

Freddie_Snowbits

ah, tRIPadvisor. the power of the Internet to keep us informed. Same as Liedepedia does, anyone can cointribute, but verification takes a little longer.

I am off now to Liedepedia to publish my theory on the 'Evolutionary Processes of the Siberian Apple Monkey and its Contribution to the Global Climatic Transfers'

hollydays

I think there is a list of what is allowed and what isn't allowed.Could you read it,see if you can figure out what you did then repost.I had one of mine taken off once (the owner got it taken off on a technical point) but I reposted within the guidelines.I think some hotels are very up to speed on getting posts taken off-others don't try.

sagalout1954

yorksrabbit wrote: »

Trip Advisor "published" our review. It was scathing. It appeared online for a few weeks. . . and then vanished.

Well, well. . .

There's no way of discovering from Trip Advisor why a review that was accepted and published was then censored because Trip Advisor provides no contact point for its "members" to query its decisions.

Did you 'cross the line' with the review guidelines? http://www.tripadvisor.com/help/our_guidelines_for_traveler_reviews

At the bottom of that page is a "didn't answer your question, contact us" option so you can email and ask why your review was removed.

I've posted negative ones before (though I do try to provide some positive balance - if there is any!), mine are still there.

hollydays

I have now taken to going onto tripadviser,then clicking on the flag top right which allows you to select tripadviser by country.I choose America because the American site shows (in brackets) beside the reviewers name ,the number of reviws they have done,and I have a look through those regular contributors first to see if their postings support the rest of the postings.I know many hotels just write their own reviews.