Community-oriented Web sites from
TripAdvisor to IgoUgo and Yahoo Travel face a growing problem:
credibility. Web sites like these, which have social networking
components, have given the power of the pen -- well, the keyboard
in this case -- to consumers who are writing hotel reviews, sharing
travel experiences, swapping photos about far-flung destinations
and sounding off in stream-of-consciousness blogs.
But some of these
authors are using these new-found community outlets for sinister
reasons.
That is, for public
relations.
Or worse, the
opposite: Trashing competitors.
In the U.K., the
Sunday Times recently did an expose with the headline, "Hotel
review websites: a five-star scam."
A team of reporters
found that fake hotel reviews, written by guests who had never
stayed at the property or people affiliated with the hotels, can
"boost or depress" property ratings.
The investigation
also found that "some establishments attempt to damage the
reputation of rivals."
The first paragraph
of the story took a shot at TripAdvisor, the Needham, Mass.-headquartered
unit of Expedia that claims to be the world's largest travel
community on the Web. TripAdvisor Web sites attract about 20
million unique visitors a month.
One visitor, though,
apparently wasn't unique.
It turns out that,
according to the Sunday Times, David Bremner, the owner of the
Drumnadrochit Hotel in Drumnadrochit, Scotland, wrote the following
attaboy review about the property, without identifying his
bias.
"Well done to the
staff, who were really charming ... Have no hesitation in booking
... the food is outstanding ... Believe me, you'll love
it."
This kind of bogus
review is a big headache for operators of community Web sites, who
have been dealing with this issue for some time. These dishonest
reviews hit at their credibility and value proposition.
If consumers discover
they can't trust the reviews, then they will do their research
elsewhere and stop clicking on the sites' advertising.
Brian Payea, the
trade relations manager at TripAdvisor, said the Sunday Times was
disingenuous regarding the way it played Bremner's review, because
TripAdvisor itself flushed out the fake and alerted the Times
reporters to it.
It might seem like a
daunting task for community Web sites to be the hotel review
police, but that's what some like TripAdvisor are attempting to
do.
Payea wouldn't give
me the recipe for the "secret sauce" TripAdvisor uses to identify
bogus reviews. But he said that TripAdvisor has a team of people
who read every one of the more than 5 million reviews and opinions
that TripAdvisor publishes.
And if "carchick" can
review the Le Blanc Spa Resort in Cancun and "Luv2TravelAnywhere"
can opine about the Sofitel Bogota Victoria Regia in Colombia and
do so shielded by their screen names, TripAdvisor at least requires
them to register for the site before posting a review.
Some poison-pen
reviewers or unrestrained property owners are easier to ferret out
than others, Payea noted.
For example, if a
user with a Marriott.com e-mail address is writing effusively about
a Marriott property, then something may be rotten in Denmark, or in
Denver for that matter.But, Payea said that trash-talking wars
among property owners are more apt to be waged between smaller
properties than major chains.
One solution to the
problem of phony reviews rests in the community or social
networking nature of the sites.
Users usually can
click on the screen names of reviewers and find other reviews
they've written to see if there are any suspicious patterns in the
rants or raves. On some community sites, users can identify
demographic information about the reviewer to discern whether there
is common ground regarding interests and objectives.
"Communities by
nature, if they are transparent, can be self-policing," Payea
explained. "Typically, community members are the first to point out
abuse to the site owner."
Still, the extra
research required to figure out if the reviewer is honest or a
ringer seems like a ton of work to go through if your prime concern
is to figure out whether the hotel staff is arrogant or
indifferent.
I'm all for
unleashing the power of the Internet, which means you don't have to
have a journalism degree and write for Travel + Leisure to post
hotel reviews and flaunt your discerning tastes.
But isn't that why
consumers buy a particular magazine or read a specific theater
reviewer in the first place: Because the reviewer or publication
has earned your trust?
Community sites have
to do a lot more to ensure that user-generated content isn't
generating a lot of fluff or misdirected ire.
The best of both
worlds would be to combine hotel reviews written by professionals
whom you hold in high regard and to read those articles in tandem
with critiques from the masses.
Now, carchick and
Luv2TravelAnywhere, what properties do you recommend?