TripAdvisor plagued by fake reviews

This past week saw TripAdvisor having to answer the question: Why are they permitting so many fake reviews on their site?

According to The Guardian, UK consumer organization “Which” crafted a report which analyzed approximately 250,000 reviews for the 10 top-ranked hotels in 10 popular tourist destinations around the world, finding one in seven had “blatant hallmarks” of fake reviews.

Which continued how the “most blatantly suspicious included some of the best-rated hotels in the Middle East, four of the best-rated hotels in Las Vegas, and one of the hotels in Britain’s second-biggest hotel chain, Travelodge. When we reported them to TripAdvisor, it admitted that 14 of them – 93% – had been caught with dodgy reviews in the past year.”

Their answer, not surprisingly, is not by design. Indeed, a spokesperson for TripAdvisor shared:

“It is far too simplistic to assume all first-time reviewers are suspicious. Every genuine reviewer in the world is at some point a first-time reviewer. Accurate fraud detection requires analysis of a wide range of data points, such as IP information, location data or details about the device an account was using when submitting a review. This crucial data is missing from Which’s analysis.

We are committed to ensuring reviews on TripAdvisor offer useful and accurate information, and we are very aggressive in catching fake reviews and pursuing the fraudsters behind them. We have a dedicated team of fraud investigators who work tirelessly to protect the site from fake reviews.”

The takeaway for all of us is do your due diligence. Knowing TripAdvisor is policing it’s environment is heartening, knowing that many unscrupulous marketing teams are manipulating online perception of their employer or client is disappointing.

Caveat Emptor seems to apply.