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TripAdvisor Has Lost Its Trusted Status
TripAdvisor, a popular website dedicated to hotel reviews, which markets itself as a provider of trusted information in the United Kingdom, is accused of fooling its visitors.
Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority made a four-month investigation, after which it was reported that some entries had been posted fraudulently and were not verified. Now TripAdvisor cannot be considered a website with honest hotel reviews written by consumers. While the website only takes some steps to monitor its content and distinguish the non-genuine reviews, it’s not clear whether the company has been aware of the fake reviews.
The investigation concerning TripAdvisor was started after the complaint of KwikChex – a reputable online consulting company. KwikChex spent several months collecting data concerning hotel reviews that appeared on TripAdvisor websites. After the start of the scandal UK media has repeatedly posted articles devoted to fake reviews added not by travellers, but by hotel owners.
Currently TripAdvisor, which was separated from the parent company Expedia Inc. in the end of 2011, keeps working. The website removed all reviews that had caused stir from its website tripadvisor.co.uk and issued a statement concerning the situation. The website’s management thinks consumers will keep using it as they believe in veracity of the majority of reviews. Posting fake reviews may be quite harmful for hoteliers as they will receive a red badge from the website. The website is visited by 50 million users a month.
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