Comments on: PAII Position Statement on Online Reviews

By: Stephen

Stephen — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 16:01:00 +0000

I appreciate you taking a strong stance on the ethical behavior regarding posting online reviews. On our side, we are dedicated to the best possible fraud detection, and we try to work with property owners to be as fair as we can in ambiguous/unclear situations. Unfortunately, there are always a few cases where property owners have tried to pump up their ratings, or bring down competitors. We know that is the rare case, but we have to be vigilant.

Again, I/we appreciate you coming out with this strong position, as I believe it helps both owners and online review sites like TripAdvisor.

Sincerely,
Steve Kaufer
CEO, TripAdvisor

By: Jay Karen

Jay Karen — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:58:00 +0000

Hi Jeanne,

This article wasn't the impetus, but it was one of the dominoes.

Best regards,
Jay

By: Nathan Allan

Nathan Allan — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:50:00 +0000

This is fantastic that PAII has taken a position on this. There are many other sites that most Innkeepers are not aware of until they are told by a friend or guest.

We have had mixed results with fraudulent reviews with TripAdvisor. They have removed one in the past.

Yahoo Travel was belligerent and refused to do anything, there was not even a mechanism for an Innkeeper to respond.

Another site growing in popularity is yelp.com

Again thank you Jay for taking a stand on this.

By: Thomas Shepherd Inn

Thomas Shepherd Inn — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:39:00 +0000

Well said, Jay. Was there some article or news release that this is in response to?
I do have first-hand knowledge of a hotel fraudulently submitting reviews – one of my college student employees worked for a hotel one summer while home and was required to submit positive reviews for that hotel to tripadvisor. When she told me about it after the summer, I showed her what the site was all about and she reported the false submittals to tripadvisor. They did nothing.

By: Thomas Shepherd Inn

Thomas Shepherd Inn — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:39:00 +0000

By: Hoyt

Hoyt — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:32:00 +0000

Dear Jay & Board of Directors,

Thank you, thank you, and thank you! All of you get an at-a-boy (girl) for your hard work on this seemingly unending thorn in our side. I am glad you all have set some guidelines, since I feel it was so desperately needed. To think an innkeeper would leave positive reviews for themselves is, well… shocking to say the least.

Again, thanks for all you do!

Hoyt Dottry
Walnut Lane Inn
SC B&B President