Trip advisor and why I hate it - grrrrrrrrrrrrr!

[SweetiePie]

That used to be the case, that new reviews would push the old ones to the bottom. However, now Trip Advisor has the ability to highlight any review they wish when someone searchs for your inn and their site comes up in the search. Provocative reviews get more hits so guess which ones get highlighted. Guests would now have to go backwards to see the most recent positive reviews. Wonder how many would be willing to take the time to do that?
Also, they give priority to inns listed on Expedia. I've been told, and this is rumor, that by joining you can have negative reviews removed since Expedia doesn't like negative reviews about their inns.
However, this I know from personal experience, that when searching for an area they will list your bad reviews and the Expedia inns good reviews in order to push the customer towards the Expedia inn.

For my area, all of the inns listed down the left side of the page (after a search on the TA site) are all inns or hotels that are now or once were on Expedia. And, yes, they definitely push their own listings because we have at least 20 inns & hotels in a 5 mile stretch here and most of the inns/hotels listed in that 'hotel ad' section are no where near here but they ARE Expedia properties. OTOH, if I click on the main page for my town (instead of the hotels tab) the only properties that show in that left panel ad section are Expedia properties in this town, you have to click the tabs to find places that are not Expedia listings. So, yes, TA does not make it easy to find properties they make no money from.
You cannot be on Expedia, however, unless you are on bedandbreakfast.com. Expedia will only deal with them, not the individual inn. And you can't get off Expedia once you're on it. You're there for good, whether you list rooms available or not.
I will disagree with the comment that they remove bad reviews from Expedia properties. Some of the worst reviews in my town are on Expedia properties.
If you want an example of how TA does not remove bad reviews from Expedia properties, take a look at this..

Thanks for clarifying that. I have no interest in joining Expedia so would never have found out. I don't feel so bad with only two 1* reviews in 13 years now.

 

[MrMum]

I'm going to be removing all the copies of other people's blog posts and replace them with working links. It is inappropriate to copy an entire blog post from someone's site and paste it somewhere else without their permission. It's one thing to copy a small excerpt, but the entire post is too much to have on here without the author's permission..

I have a question on another topic entirely. How does Trip Advisor determine popularity on their site? Is it by reviews or some other method? Our competitor, who is an Expedia property, is listed as #1 and they have us listed as #2.
Howver, Alexa has us listed as #1 for our community and our competitor as #6. What gives?
.

I have a question on another topic entirely. How does Trip Advisor determine popularity on their site? Is it by reviews or some other method? Our competitor, who is an Expedia property, is listed as #1 and they have us listed as #2.
Howver, Alexa has us listed as #1 for our community and our competitor as #6. What gives?

There are a lot of things that go into the rankings...number of reviews, rating of reviews (how many stars, good and bad), newness of reviews, whether you've been written about by any reputable outside org like Frommers or the NYT (that MUST be an online source TA can check), other reviews on other review websites. I thought the Expedia thing had something to do with it, but, like I said, some of the worst reviews in this town are on Expedia-listed properties and they are right down at the bottom of the list.
Alexa is not a review website, so I don't see where that matters.
Does that help at all?
.

Thanks for the info. I guess like AVIS, I'll always be #2 but trying harder. Alexa measures popularity based on traffic, number of hits to your website, number of page views, how high you rank on the internet, that sort of thing.
Well to paraphrase Forrest Gump, "Innkeeping is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get." Just like there are guests from hell, there are also guests from heaven and that's what I got last weekend. I guess God decided it was time to send in the clowns.
They loved everything and doubled tipped me and all of the staff. Boy, I can't remember the last time that happened. It was a nice boost to my self-confidence and reminded me why I started doing this in the first place. It's fun when it goes right.
Anyway, the best thing I got from the experience was how seasoned travelers view Trip Advisor. These people have been around the world and to most of the local places as well.
They can spot a fraudulent review a mile away, especially a negative one. The reason being that they have often already been to a place and know the owners and that the type of behavior being described would be very out of character for them.
You're right, they dismiss it out of hand. especially if a place has been around a long time. It wouldn't stay in business treating customers that way and they know that. I'm not sure of the newbies though. They might still be influenced by it.
Anyway, I rewrote my management response to the last negative review and resubmitted it. We'll see if they can handle the truth or not.
.

Thanks for the info. I guess like AVIS, I'll always be #2 but trying harder. Alexa measures popularity based on traffic, number of hits to your website, number of page views, how high you rank on the internet, that sort of thing.
Well to paraphrase Forrest Gump, "Innkeeping is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get." Just like there are guests from hell, there are also guests from heaven and that's what I got last weekend. I guess God decided it was time to send in the clowns.
They loved everything and doubled tipped me and all of the staff. Boy, I can't remember the last time that happened. It was a nice boost to my self-confidence and reminded me why I started doing this in the first place. It's fun when it goes right.
Anyway, the best thing I got from the experience was how seasoned travelers view Trip Advisor. These people have been around the world and to most of the local places as well.
They can spot a fraudulent review a mile away, especially a negative one. The reason being that they have often already been to a place and know the owners and that the type of behavior being described would be very out of character for them.
You're right, they dismiss it out of hand. especially if a place has been around a long time. It wouldn't stay in business treating customers that way and they know that. I'm not sure of the newbies though. They might still be influenced by it.
Anyway, I rewrote my management response to the last negative review and resubmitted it. We'll see if they can handle the truth or not.

We've discussed Alexa here before and in case you do not know this...if you have the Aleza toolbar installed you are automatically raising your rating if your own website is your homepage. Obviously, every time you fire up your web browser, you are accessing your own homepage, which makes it look like you are getting lots of hits that are actually just you.
I mention this because my comp ranks really high on Alexa and I don't. I was bummed and wondering what I was doing wrong. Then Swirt explained that just by downloading the Alexa toolbar I could increase my ranking.
The point being, who cares? No one uses Alexa for web browsing. It's really a 'geek' tool, not a guest tool.
When anyone is looking for a place to stay where you are located, the most important thing for you to do is come up quickly and high on Google. That's where you're going to get your business. If there are not a lot of other lodging properties near you, TA won't even show up on the first few pages. Seriously, most people don't go to TA FIRST, they go there later IF they have a decision to make. If you're the only game in town (or close to) they'll book without looking for reviews.
I don't know if you're in a really 'crowded' area like I am, or if you have the field to yourself. I have to work to keep my site showing high (above the 5 slot on Google) in order to get the bookings. But, that still means there are 4 other B&B's that will get called first and if they're not booked, I'm out of luck. I don't want to wait until the other 30 rooms are filled before I start getting calls!
Also, if you have a specialty niche, that helps. There's not a lot I can do here given the zoning constraints and the space constraints in the building. So we work our repeat guest list.
.

I live & operate a B&B in Australia & can assure you that we are very concerned about TA here & have been for quite some time.
It is easy for ginocat to say "don't worry about it" but the truth is that a good proportion of your potential guests are reading your reviews on TA and are making their accommodation decisions based on your rating & what they read about you.
It is a dangerous ploy to over estimate the intelligence of the general public. They want to believe what they read because then it makes the decision making process easier.
If a property is ranked #1 and has 100 x 5 star reviews it must be the best, why look further?
The fact that many of the reviews are false & solicited does not bother Mr. & Mrs. Average. The sheer weight of 5 star reviews and the ranking decides their first choice.
To suggest that it is not worth getting worried about is naiive as TA plays a major role for the holiday decision maker. And especially those looking for B&Bs / Inns.
In my opinion Management Responses on TA are two edged. Having read many & written a couple myself, they can come across as very defensive & can do you much more harm than good. Sometimes it is better to let the other more positive reviews do their work & work on burying the bad review.....any way you can.
I am enjoying your site & discussions as there are many commonalities between North American & Australian B&Bs.

 

[SweetiePie]

Why is it that you keep trying to post on blogs and forums about how everyone is upset, but you don't care to comment on what you are doing for the sake of your own inn to get back your good name that has been ruined by guests posting on TA? HAVE you done anything except post and comment and try to 'bring down' TA? Have you taken steps to rectify what was wrong at your inn that caused the bad reviews? Have you taken steps to let future guests know what is going on?
You seem to have a lot of factoids at your disposal from assorted blogs (but no real facts, such as where you got the idea that gov of MA was ready to take on TA), and no solid evidence have you shown that you are doing anything to salvage your good name. You SAY you have bad reviews, that you don't want to be on TA because you get bad reviews, but why are you getting bad reviews? What are the guests complaining about? Have you fixed those things or are you just happy to tilt at windmills?.

That's right Bree, shoot the messenger. If you bothered to actually read the blog before attacking, you would know that I had already answered the question about the MA Attorney General. And yes, I like to back up my statements with facts.
First of all, I don't have a bad rating on Trip Advisor. It is 4 stars, in spite of the 3 bad reviews and yes, I have posted management responses.
I've been in business 13 years and never asked guests to post reviews until the first bad one appeared in 2003. It was rejected by bedandbreakfast.com so she posted it on Trip Advisor.
I did complain to Trip Advisor about all 3, 2 of which violate their guidelines for posting and they refused to do anything about them.
The first was too old, it was way past the 3 year limit. It was a Bridezilla who was upset because I asked them to come back in an hour after they had tracked mud all over our carpet, in order to give us a chance to clean it up. I believe the real reason was a privacy issue because they met the next door couple on the way up the driveway. We've since solved that by not booking anyone else next door when we have a honeymoon. First 1 star review.
The second was from someone who'd never even stayed here. She was complaining that we didn't return her phone call because we were out of town at the time. I really didn't think anyone cared about New Year's Eve once it was over. So now we return phone calls, even after the fact, but that cost us a 3 star review.
The third, and the one that really caused a problem, was a total lie and fabricated just to publically smear us, and which also violates a guideline. One more 1 star review. Other than a lawsuit, there really isn't any way to deal with that one.
What got Trip Advisor to even deal with the issue of false reviews on the part of hoteliers in the first place was exposure; and that is also what will get them to deal with false reviews on the part of travelers.
By the way, they've now started Rants and Raves on their site. I guess they got the idea from Craigslist. Something else to be aware of.

 

[gillumhouse]

I'm going to be removing all the copies of other people's blog posts and replace them with working links. It is inappropriate to copy an entire blog post from someone's site and paste it somewhere else without their permission. It's one thing to copy a small excerpt, but the entire post is too much to have on here without the author's permission..

I have a question on another topic entirely. How does Trip Advisor determine popularity on their site? Is it by reviews or some other method? Our competitor, who is an Expedia property, is listed as #1 and they have us listed as #2.
Howver, Alexa has us listed as #1 for our community and our competitor as #6. What gives?
.

I have a question on another topic entirely. How does Trip Advisor determine popularity on their site? Is it by reviews or some other method? Our competitor, who is an Expedia property, is listed as #1 and they have us listed as #2.
Howver, Alexa has us listed as #1 for our community and our competitor as #6. What gives?

There are a lot of things that go into the rankings...number of reviews, rating of reviews (how many stars, good and bad), newness of reviews, whether you've been written about by any reputable outside org like Frommers or the NYT (that MUST be an online source TA can check), other reviews on other review websites. I thought the Expedia thing had something to do with it, but, like I said, some of the worst reviews in this town are on Expedia-listed properties and they are right down at the bottom of the list.
Alexa is not a review website, so I don't see where that matters.
Does that help at all?
.

Thanks for the info. I guess like AVIS, I'll always be #2 but trying harder. Alexa measures popularity based on traffic, number of hits to your website, number of page views, how high you rank on the internet, that sort of thing.
Well to paraphrase Forrest Gump, "Innkeeping is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get." Just like there are guests from hell, there are also guests from heaven and that's what I got last weekend. I guess God decided it was time to send in the clowns.
They loved everything and doubled tipped me and all of the staff. Boy, I can't remember the last time that happened. It was a nice boost to my self-confidence and reminded me why I started doing this in the first place. It's fun when it goes right.
Anyway, the best thing I got from the experience was how seasoned travelers view Trip Advisor. These people have been around the world and to most of the local places as well.
They can spot a fraudulent review a mile away, especially a negative one. The reason being that they have often already been to a place and know the owners and that the type of behavior being described would be very out of character for them.
You're right, they dismiss it out of hand. especially if a place has been around a long time. It wouldn't stay in business treating customers that way and they know that. I'm not sure of the newbies though. They might still be influenced by it.
Anyway, I rewrote my management response to the last negative review and resubmitted it. We'll see if they can handle the truth or not.
.

Thanks for the info. I guess like AVIS, I'll always be #2 but trying harder. Alexa measures popularity based on traffic, number of hits to your website, number of page views, how high you rank on the internet, that sort of thing.
Well to paraphrase Forrest Gump, "Innkeeping is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get." Just like there are guests from hell, there are also guests from heaven and that's what I got last weekend. I guess God decided it was time to send in the clowns.
They loved everything and doubled tipped me and all of the staff. Boy, I can't remember the last time that happened. It was a nice boost to my self-confidence and reminded me why I started doing this in the first place. It's fun when it goes right.
Anyway, the best thing I got from the experience was how seasoned travelers view Trip Advisor. These people have been around the world and to most of the local places as well.
They can spot a fraudulent review a mile away, especially a negative one. The reason being that they have often already been to a place and know the owners and that the type of behavior being described would be very out of character for them.
You're right, they dismiss it out of hand. especially if a place has been around a long time. It wouldn't stay in business treating customers that way and they know that. I'm not sure of the newbies though. They might still be influenced by it.
Anyway, I rewrote my management response to the last negative review and resubmitted it. We'll see if they can handle the truth or not.

We've discussed Alexa here before and in case you do not know this...if you have the Aleza toolbar installed you are automatically raising your rating if your own website is your homepage. Obviously, every time you fire up your web browser, you are accessing your own homepage, which makes it look like you are getting lots of hits that are actually just you.
I mention this because my comp ranks really high on Alexa and I don't. I was bummed and wondering what I was doing wrong. Then Swirt explained that just by downloading the Alexa toolbar I could increase my ranking.
The point being, who cares? No one uses Alexa for web browsing. It's really a 'geek' tool, not a guest tool.
When anyone is looking for a place to stay where you are located, the most important thing for you to do is come up quickly and high on Google. That's where you're going to get your business. If there are not a lot of other lodging properties near you, TA won't even show up on the first few pages. Seriously, most people don't go to TA FIRST, they go there later IF they have a decision to make. If you're the only game in town (or close to) they'll book without looking for reviews.
I don't know if you're in a really 'crowded' area like I am, or if you have the field to yourself. I have to work to keep my site showing high (above the 5 slot on Google) in order to get the bookings. But, that still means there are 4 other B&B's that will get called first and if they're not booked, I'm out of luck. I don't want to wait until the other 30 rooms are filled before I start getting calls!
Also, if you have a specialty niche, that helps. There's not a lot I can do here given the zoning constraints and the space constraints in the building. So we work our repeat guest list.
.

I live & operate a B&B in Australia & can assure you that we are very concerned about TA here & have been for quite some time.
It is easy for ginocat to say "don't worry about it" but the truth is that a good proportion of your potential guests are reading your reviews on TA and are making their accommodation decisions based on your rating & what they read about you.
It is a dangerous ploy to over estimate the intelligence of the general public. They want to believe what they read because then it makes the decision making process easier.
If a property is ranked #1 and has 100 x 5 star reviews it must be the best, why look further?
The fact that many of the reviews are false & solicited does not bother Mr. & Mrs. Average. The sheer weight of 5 star reviews and the ranking decides their first choice.
To suggest that it is not worth getting worried about is naiive as TA plays a major role for the holiday decision maker. And especially those looking for B&Bs / Inns.
In my opinion Management Responses on TA are two edged. Having read many & written a couple myself, they can come across as very defensive & can do you much more harm than good. Sometimes it is better to let the other more positive reviews do their work & work on burying the bad review.....any way you can.
I am enjoying your site & discussions as there are many commonalities between North American & Australian B&Bs.
.

Mr. Mum. It is nice to get another point of view. If you have been lurking for a while you will know that one of our regulars lived in Oz and brought a VERY handsome (met him so I know) souvenier home with her.
Again, Welcome.

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

I'm going to be removing all the copies of other people's blog posts and replace them with working links. It is inappropriate to copy an entire blog post from someone's site and paste it somewhere else without their permission. It's one thing to copy a small excerpt, but the entire post is too much to have on here without the author's permission..

I have a question on another topic entirely. How does Trip Advisor determine popularity on their site? Is it by reviews or some other method? Our competitor, who is an Expedia property, is listed as #1 and they have us listed as #2.
Howver, Alexa has us listed as #1 for our community and our competitor as #6. What gives?
.

I have a question on another topic entirely. How does Trip Advisor determine popularity on their site? Is it by reviews or some other method? Our competitor, who is an Expedia property, is listed as #1 and they have us listed as #2.
Howver, Alexa has us listed as #1 for our community and our competitor as #6. What gives?

There are a lot of things that go into the rankings...number of reviews, rating of reviews (how many stars, good and bad), newness of reviews, whether you've been written about by any reputable outside org like Frommers or the NYT (that MUST be an online source TA can check), other reviews on other review websites. I thought the Expedia thing had something to do with it, but, like I said, some of the worst reviews in this town are on Expedia-listed properties and they are right down at the bottom of the list.
Alexa is not a review website, so I don't see where that matters.
Does that help at all?
.

Thanks for the info. I guess like AVIS, I'll always be #2 but trying harder. Alexa measures popularity based on traffic, number of hits to your website, number of page views, how high you rank on the internet, that sort of thing.
Well to paraphrase Forrest Gump, "Innkeeping is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get." Just like there are guests from hell, there are also guests from heaven and that's what I got last weekend. I guess God decided it was time to send in the clowns.
They loved everything and doubled tipped me and all of the staff. Boy, I can't remember the last time that happened. It was a nice boost to my self-confidence and reminded me why I started doing this in the first place. It's fun when it goes right.
Anyway, the best thing I got from the experience was how seasoned travelers view Trip Advisor. These people have been around the world and to most of the local places as well.
They can spot a fraudulent review a mile away, especially a negative one. The reason being that they have often already been to a place and know the owners and that the type of behavior being described would be very out of character for them.
You're right, they dismiss it out of hand. especially if a place has been around a long time. It wouldn't stay in business treating customers that way and they know that. I'm not sure of the newbies though. They might still be influenced by it.
Anyway, I rewrote my management response to the last negative review and resubmitted it. We'll see if they can handle the truth or not.
.

Thanks for the info. I guess like AVIS, I'll always be #2 but trying harder. Alexa measures popularity based on traffic, number of hits to your website, number of page views, how high you rank on the internet, that sort of thing.
Well to paraphrase Forrest Gump, "Innkeeping is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get." Just like there are guests from hell, there are also guests from heaven and that's what I got last weekend. I guess God decided it was time to send in the clowns.
They loved everything and doubled tipped me and all of the staff. Boy, I can't remember the last time that happened. It was a nice boost to my self-confidence and reminded me why I started doing this in the first place. It's fun when it goes right.
Anyway, the best thing I got from the experience was how seasoned travelers view Trip Advisor. These people have been around the world and to most of the local places as well.
They can spot a fraudulent review a mile away, especially a negative one. The reason being that they have often already been to a place and know the owners and that the type of behavior being described would be very out of character for them.
You're right, they dismiss it out of hand. especially if a place has been around a long time. It wouldn't stay in business treating customers that way and they know that. I'm not sure of the newbies though. They might still be influenced by it.
Anyway, I rewrote my management response to the last negative review and resubmitted it. We'll see if they can handle the truth or not.

We've discussed Alexa here before and in case you do not know this...if you have the Aleza toolbar installed you are automatically raising your rating if your own website is your homepage. Obviously, every time you fire up your web browser, you are accessing your own homepage, which makes it look like you are getting lots of hits that are actually just you.
I mention this because my comp ranks really high on Alexa and I don't. I was bummed and wondering what I was doing wrong. Then Swirt explained that just by downloading the Alexa toolbar I could increase my ranking.
The point being, who cares? No one uses Alexa for web browsing. It's really a 'geek' tool, not a guest tool.
When anyone is looking for a place to stay where you are located, the most important thing for you to do is come up quickly and high on Google. That's where you're going to get your business. If there are not a lot of other lodging properties near you, TA won't even show up on the first few pages. Seriously, most people don't go to TA FIRST, they go there later IF they have a decision to make. If you're the only game in town (or close to) they'll book without looking for reviews.
I don't know if you're in a really 'crowded' area like I am, or if you have the field to yourself. I have to work to keep my site showing high (above the 5 slot on Google) in order to get the bookings. But, that still means there are 4 other B&B's that will get called first and if they're not booked, I'm out of luck. I don't want to wait until the other 30 rooms are filled before I start getting calls!
Also, if you have a specialty niche, that helps. There's not a lot I can do here given the zoning constraints and the space constraints in the building. So we work our repeat guest list.
.

I live & operate a B&B in Australia & can assure you that we are very concerned about TA here & have been for quite some time.
It is easy for ginocat to say "don't worry about it" but the truth is that a good proportion of your potential guests are reading your reviews on TA and are making their accommodation decisions based on your rating & what they read about you.
It is a dangerous ploy to over estimate the intelligence of the general public. They want to believe what they read because then it makes the decision making process easier.
If a property is ranked #1 and has 100 x 5 star reviews it must be the best, why look further?
The fact that many of the reviews are false & solicited does not bother Mr. & Mrs. Average. The sheer weight of 5 star reviews and the ranking decides their first choice.
To suggest that it is not worth getting worried about is naiive as TA plays a major role for the holiday decision maker. And especially those looking for B&Bs / Inns.
In my opinion Management Responses on TA are two edged. Having read many & written a couple myself, they can come across as very defensive & can do you much more harm than good. Sometimes it is better to let the other more positive reviews do their work & work on burying the bad review.....any way you can.
I am enjoying your site & discussions as there are many commonalities between North American & Australian B&Bs.
.

Mr. Mum. It is nice to get another point of view. If you have been lurking for a while you will know that one of our regulars lived in Oz and brought a VERY handsome (met him so I know) souvenier home with her.
Again, Welcome.
.

It is nice to get another point of view. If you have been lurking for a while you will know that one of our regulars lived in Oz and brought a VERY handsome (met him so I know) souvenier home with her.
Again, Welcome.

He's an import.
Welcome Mr Mum, jump right in with both feet. We have had a few other innkeepers here from down under and NZ. Nothing we can do about the kiwis. LOL

 

[MrMum]

I'm going to be removing all the copies of other people's blog posts and replace them with working links. It is inappropriate to copy an entire blog post from someone's site and paste it somewhere else without their permission. It's one thing to copy a small excerpt, but the entire post is too much to have on here without the author's permission..

I have a question on another topic entirely. How does Trip Advisor determine popularity on their site? Is it by reviews or some other method? Our competitor, who is an Expedia property, is listed as #1 and they have us listed as #2.
Howver, Alexa has us listed as #1 for our community and our competitor as #6. What gives?
.

I have a question on another topic entirely. How does Trip Advisor determine popularity on their site? Is it by reviews or some other method? Our competitor, who is an Expedia property, is listed as #1 and they have us listed as #2.
Howver, Alexa has us listed as #1 for our community and our competitor as #6. What gives?

There are a lot of things that go into the rankings...number of reviews, rating of reviews (how many stars, good and bad), newness of reviews, whether you've been written about by any reputable outside org like Frommers or the NYT (that MUST be an online source TA can check), other reviews on other review websites. I thought the Expedia thing had something to do with it, but, like I said, some of the worst reviews in this town are on Expedia-listed properties and they are right down at the bottom of the list.
Alexa is not a review website, so I don't see where that matters.
Does that help at all?
.

Thanks for the info. I guess like AVIS, I'll always be #2 but trying harder. Alexa measures popularity based on traffic, number of hits to your website, number of page views, how high you rank on the internet, that sort of thing.
Well to paraphrase Forrest Gump, "Innkeeping is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get." Just like there are guests from hell, there are also guests from heaven and that's what I got last weekend. I guess God decided it was time to send in the clowns.
They loved everything and doubled tipped me and all of the staff. Boy, I can't remember the last time that happened. It was a nice boost to my self-confidence and reminded me why I started doing this in the first place. It's fun when it goes right.
Anyway, the best thing I got from the experience was how seasoned travelers view Trip Advisor. These people have been around the world and to most of the local places as well.
They can spot a fraudulent review a mile away, especially a negative one. The reason being that they have often already been to a place and know the owners and that the type of behavior being described would be very out of character for them.
You're right, they dismiss it out of hand. especially if a place has been around a long time. It wouldn't stay in business treating customers that way and they know that. I'm not sure of the newbies though. They might still be influenced by it.
Anyway, I rewrote my management response to the last negative review and resubmitted it. We'll see if they can handle the truth or not.
.

Thanks for the info. I guess like AVIS, I'll always be #2 but trying harder. Alexa measures popularity based on traffic, number of hits to your website, number of page views, how high you rank on the internet, that sort of thing.
Well to paraphrase Forrest Gump, "Innkeeping is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get." Just like there are guests from hell, there are also guests from heaven and that's what I got last weekend. I guess God decided it was time to send in the clowns.
They loved everything and doubled tipped me and all of the staff. Boy, I can't remember the last time that happened. It was a nice boost to my self-confidence and reminded me why I started doing this in the first place. It's fun when it goes right.
Anyway, the best thing I got from the experience was how seasoned travelers view Trip Advisor. These people have been around the world and to most of the local places as well.
They can spot a fraudulent review a mile away, especially a negative one. The reason being that they have often already been to a place and know the owners and that the type of behavior being described would be very out of character for them.
You're right, they dismiss it out of hand. especially if a place has been around a long time. It wouldn't stay in business treating customers that way and they know that. I'm not sure of the newbies though. They might still be influenced by it.
Anyway, I rewrote my management response to the last negative review and resubmitted it. We'll see if they can handle the truth or not.

We've discussed Alexa here before and in case you do not know this...if you have the Aleza toolbar installed you are automatically raising your rating if your own website is your homepage. Obviously, every time you fire up your web browser, you are accessing your own homepage, which makes it look like you are getting lots of hits that are actually just you.
I mention this because my comp ranks really high on Alexa and I don't. I was bummed and wondering what I was doing wrong. Then Swirt explained that just by downloading the Alexa toolbar I could increase my ranking.
The point being, who cares? No one uses Alexa for web browsing. It's really a 'geek' tool, not a guest tool.
When anyone is looking for a place to stay where you are located, the most important thing for you to do is come up quickly and high on Google. That's where you're going to get your business. If there are not a lot of other lodging properties near you, TA won't even show up on the first few pages. Seriously, most people don't go to TA FIRST, they go there later IF they have a decision to make. If you're the only game in town (or close to) they'll book without looking for reviews.
I don't know if you're in a really 'crowded' area like I am, or if you have the field to yourself. I have to work to keep my site showing high (above the 5 slot on Google) in order to get the bookings. But, that still means there are 4 other B&B's that will get called first and if they're not booked, I'm out of luck. I don't want to wait until the other 30 rooms are filled before I start getting calls!
Also, if you have a specialty niche, that helps. There's not a lot I can do here given the zoning constraints and the space constraints in the building. So we work our repeat guest list.
.

I live & operate a B&B in Australia & can assure you that we are very concerned about TA here & have been for quite some time.
It is easy for ginocat to say "don't worry about it" but the truth is that a good proportion of your potential guests are reading your reviews on TA and are making their accommodation decisions based on your rating & what they read about you.
It is a dangerous ploy to over estimate the intelligence of the general public. They want to believe what they read because then it makes the decision making process easier.
If a property is ranked #1 and has 100 x 5 star reviews it must be the best, why look further?
The fact that many of the reviews are false & solicited does not bother Mr. & Mrs. Average. The sheer weight of 5 star reviews and the ranking decides their first choice.
To suggest that it is not worth getting worried about is naiive as TA plays a major role for the holiday decision maker. And especially those looking for B&Bs / Inns.
In my opinion Management Responses on TA are two edged. Having read many & written a couple myself, they can come across as very defensive & can do you much more harm than good. Sometimes it is better to let the other more positive reviews do their work & work on burying the bad review.....any way you can.
I am enjoying your site & discussions as there are many commonalities between North American & Australian B&Bs.
.

Mr. Mum. It is nice to get another point of view. If you have been lurking for a while you will know that one of our regulars lived in Oz and brought a VERY handsome (met him so I know) souvenier home with her.
Again, Welcome.
.

It is nice to get another point of view. If you have been lurking for a while you will know that one of our regulars lived in Oz and brought a VERY handsome (met him so I know) souvenier home with her.
Again, Welcome.

He's an import.
Welcome Mr Mum, jump right in with both feet. We have had a few other innkeepers here from down under and NZ. Nothing we can do about the kiwis. LOL
.

Thank you both for your welcome.
Yes gillumhouse it is never easy finding the perfect souvenir for home. Especially one that can take out the garbage & mow the lawn!
And the direct approach is an Aussie trait. Get straight to the point and then get on to the next.
And as for the Kiwis....................

 

[ginocat]

I'm going to be removing all the copies of other people's blog posts and replace them with working links. It is inappropriate to copy an entire blog post from someone's site and paste it somewhere else without their permission. It's one thing to copy a small excerpt, but the entire post is too much to have on here without the author's permission..

I have a question on another topic entirely. How does Trip Advisor determine popularity on their site? Is it by reviews or some other method? Our competitor, who is an Expedia property, is listed as #1 and they have us listed as #2.
Howver, Alexa has us listed as #1 for our community and our competitor as #6. What gives?
.

I have a question on another topic entirely. How does Trip Advisor determine popularity on their site? Is it by reviews or some other method? Our competitor, who is an Expedia property, is listed as #1 and they have us listed as #2.
Howver, Alexa has us listed as #1 for our community and our competitor as #6. What gives?

There are a lot of things that go into the rankings...number of reviews, rating of reviews (how many stars, good and bad), newness of reviews, whether you've been written about by any reputable outside org like Frommers or the NYT (that MUST be an online source TA can check), other reviews on other review websites. I thought the Expedia thing had something to do with it, but, like I said, some of the worst reviews in this town are on Expedia-listed properties and they are right down at the bottom of the list.
Alexa is not a review website, so I don't see where that matters.
Does that help at all?
.

Thanks for the info. I guess like AVIS, I'll always be #2 but trying harder. Alexa measures popularity based on traffic, number of hits to your website, number of page views, how high you rank on the internet, that sort of thing.
Well to paraphrase Forrest Gump, "Innkeeping is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get." Just like there are guests from hell, there are also guests from heaven and that's what I got last weekend. I guess God decided it was time to send in the clowns.
They loved everything and doubled tipped me and all of the staff. Boy, I can't remember the last time that happened. It was a nice boost to my self-confidence and reminded me why I started doing this in the first place. It's fun when it goes right.
Anyway, the best thing I got from the experience was how seasoned travelers view Trip Advisor. These people have been around the world and to most of the local places as well.
They can spot a fraudulent review a mile away, especially a negative one. The reason being that they have often already been to a place and know the owners and that the type of behavior being described would be very out of character for them.
You're right, they dismiss it out of hand. especially if a place has been around a long time. It wouldn't stay in business treating customers that way and they know that. I'm not sure of the newbies though. They might still be influenced by it.
Anyway, I rewrote my management response to the last negative review and resubmitted it. We'll see if they can handle the truth or not.
.

Thanks for the info. I guess like AVIS, I'll always be #2 but trying harder. Alexa measures popularity based on traffic, number of hits to your website, number of page views, how high you rank on the internet, that sort of thing.
Well to paraphrase Forrest Gump, "Innkeeping is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get." Just like there are guests from hell, there are also guests from heaven and that's what I got last weekend. I guess God decided it was time to send in the clowns.
They loved everything and doubled tipped me and all of the staff. Boy, I can't remember the last time that happened. It was a nice boost to my self-confidence and reminded me why I started doing this in the first place. It's fun when it goes right.
Anyway, the best thing I got from the experience was how seasoned travelers view Trip Advisor. These people have been around the world and to most of the local places as well.
They can spot a fraudulent review a mile away, especially a negative one. The reason being that they have often already been to a place and know the owners and that the type of behavior being described would be very out of character for them.
You're right, they dismiss it out of hand. especially if a place has been around a long time. It wouldn't stay in business treating customers that way and they know that. I'm not sure of the newbies though. They might still be influenced by it.
Anyway, I rewrote my management response to the last negative review and resubmitted it. We'll see if they can handle the truth or not.

We've discussed Alexa here before and in case you do not know this...if you have the Aleza toolbar installed you are automatically raising your rating if your own website is your homepage. Obviously, every time you fire up your web browser, you are accessing your own homepage, which makes it look like you are getting lots of hits that are actually just you.
I mention this because my comp ranks really high on Alexa and I don't. I was bummed and wondering what I was doing wrong. Then Swirt explained that just by downloading the Alexa toolbar I could increase my ranking.
The point being, who cares? No one uses Alexa for web browsing. It's really a 'geek' tool, not a guest tool.
When anyone is looking for a place to stay where you are located, the most important thing for you to do is come up quickly and high on Google. That's where you're going to get your business. If there are not a lot of other lodging properties near you, TA won't even show up on the first few pages. Seriously, most people don't go to TA FIRST, they go there later IF they have a decision to make. If you're the only game in town (or close to) they'll book without looking for reviews.
I don't know if you're in a really 'crowded' area like I am, or if you have the field to yourself. I have to work to keep my site showing high (above the 5 slot on Google) in order to get the bookings. But, that still means there are 4 other B&B's that will get called first and if they're not booked, I'm out of luck. I don't want to wait until the other 30 rooms are filled before I start getting calls!
Also, if you have a specialty niche, that helps. There's not a lot I can do here given the zoning constraints and the space constraints in the building. So we work our repeat guest list.
.

I live & operate a B&B in Australia & can assure you that we are very concerned about TA here & have been for quite some time.
It is easy for ginocat to say "don't worry about it" but the truth is that a good proportion of your potential guests are reading your reviews on TA and are making their accommodation decisions based on your rating & what they read about you.
It is a dangerous ploy to over estimate the intelligence of the general public. They want to believe what they read because then it makes the decision making process easier.
If a property is ranked #1 and has 100 x 5 star reviews it must be the best, why look further?
The fact that many of the reviews are false & solicited does not bother Mr. & Mrs. Average. The sheer weight of 5 star reviews and the ranking decides their first choice.
To suggest that it is not worth getting worried about is naiive as TA plays a major role for the holiday decision maker. And especially those looking for B&Bs / Inns.
In my opinion Management Responses on TA are two edged. Having read many & written a couple myself, they can come across as very defensive & can do you much more harm than good. Sometimes it is better to let the other more positive reviews do their work & work on burying the bad review.....any way you can.
I am enjoying your site & discussions as there are many commonalities between North American & Australian B&Bs.
.

I guess my naivity about TA is why I'm so busy.

I don't solicit for reviews, I don't go and look to see who has or who has no reviews in my area, I don't go and look where I sit with TA (probably low) and I don't suffer for it with either my business or my mental state.
Nobody likes a bad review or even a 'so, so' review. BB hosts seem to think they need a "triple A over the moon" review or else they are devastated. If it's broke then fix it. If everything's fine then forget about it and get on with life and I'm referring to review comments and any complaints made about an inn.
This whole topic has given the non bb reader of this site a whole to world to explore on TA and has given TA much more importance that it deserves.

 

[SweetiePie]

I'm going to be removing all the copies of other people's blog posts and replace them with working links. It is inappropriate to copy an entire blog post from someone's site and paste it somewhere else without their permission. It's one thing to copy a small excerpt, but the entire post is too much to have on here without the author's permission..

I have a question on another topic entirely. How does Trip Advisor determine popularity on their site? Is it by reviews or some other method? Our competitor, who is an Expedia property, is listed as #1 and they have us listed as #2.
Howver, Alexa has us listed as #1 for our community and our competitor as #6. What gives?
.

I have a question on another topic entirely. How does Trip Advisor determine popularity on their site? Is it by reviews or some other method? Our competitor, who is an Expedia property, is listed as #1 and they have us listed as #2.
Howver, Alexa has us listed as #1 for our community and our competitor as #6. What gives?

There are a lot of things that go into the rankings...number of reviews, rating of reviews (how many stars, good and bad), newness of reviews, whether you've been written about by any reputable outside org like Frommers or the NYT (that MUST be an online source TA can check), other reviews on other review websites. I thought the Expedia thing had something to do with it, but, like I said, some of the worst reviews in this town are on Expedia-listed properties and they are right down at the bottom of the list.
Alexa is not a review website, so I don't see where that matters.
Does that help at all?
.

Thanks for the info. I guess like AVIS, I'll always be #2 but trying harder. Alexa measures popularity based on traffic, number of hits to your website, number of page views, how high you rank on the internet, that sort of thing.
Well to paraphrase Forrest Gump, "Innkeeping is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get." Just like there are guests from hell, there are also guests from heaven and that's what I got last weekend. I guess God decided it was time to send in the clowns.
They loved everything and doubled tipped me and all of the staff. Boy, I can't remember the last time that happened. It was a nice boost to my self-confidence and reminded me why I started doing this in the first place. It's fun when it goes right.
Anyway, the best thing I got from the experience was how seasoned travelers view Trip Advisor. These people have been around the world and to most of the local places as well.
They can spot a fraudulent review a mile away, especially a negative one. The reason being that they have often already been to a place and know the owners and that the type of behavior being described would be very out of character for them.
You're right, they dismiss it out of hand. especially if a place has been around a long time. It wouldn't stay in business treating customers that way and they know that. I'm not sure of the newbies though. They might still be influenced by it.
Anyway, I rewrote my management response to the last negative review and resubmitted it. We'll see if they can handle the truth or not.
.

Thanks for the info. I guess like AVIS, I'll always be #2 but trying harder. Alexa measures popularity based on traffic, number of hits to your website, number of page views, how high you rank on the internet, that sort of thing.
Well to paraphrase Forrest Gump, "Innkeeping is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get." Just like there are guests from hell, there are also guests from heaven and that's what I got last weekend. I guess God decided it was time to send in the clowns.
They loved everything and doubled tipped me and all of the staff. Boy, I can't remember the last time that happened. It was a nice boost to my self-confidence and reminded me why I started doing this in the first place. It's fun when it goes right.
Anyway, the best thing I got from the experience was how seasoned travelers view Trip Advisor. These people have been around the world and to most of the local places as well.
They can spot a fraudulent review a mile away, especially a negative one. The reason being that they have often already been to a place and know the owners and that the type of behavior being described would be very out of character for them.
You're right, they dismiss it out of hand. especially if a place has been around a long time. It wouldn't stay in business treating customers that way and they know that. I'm not sure of the newbies though. They might still be influenced by it.
Anyway, I rewrote my management response to the last negative review and resubmitted it. We'll see if they can handle the truth or not.

We've discussed Alexa here before and in case you do not know this...if you have the Aleza toolbar installed you are automatically raising your rating if your own website is your homepage. Obviously, every time you fire up your web browser, you are accessing your own homepage, which makes it look like you are getting lots of hits that are actually just you.
I mention this because my comp ranks really high on Alexa and I don't. I was bummed and wondering what I was doing wrong. Then Swirt explained that just by downloading the Alexa toolbar I could increase my ranking.
The point being, who cares? No one uses Alexa for web browsing. It's really a 'geek' tool, not a guest tool.
When anyone is looking for a place to stay where you are located, the most important thing for you to do is come up quickly and high on Google. That's where you're going to get your business. If there are not a lot of other lodging properties near you, TA won't even show up on the first few pages. Seriously, most people don't go to TA FIRST, they go there later IF they have a decision to make. If you're the only game in town (or close to) they'll book without looking for reviews.
I don't know if you're in a really 'crowded' area like I am, or if you have the field to yourself. I have to work to keep my site showing high (above the 5 slot on Google) in order to get the bookings. But, that still means there are 4 other B&B's that will get called first and if they're not booked, I'm out of luck. I don't want to wait until the other 30 rooms are filled before I start getting calls!
Also, if you have a specialty niche, that helps. There's not a lot I can do here given the zoning constraints and the space constraints in the building. So we work our repeat guest list.
.

I live & operate a B&B in Australia & can assure you that we are very concerned about TA here & have been for quite some time.
It is easy for ginocat to say "don't worry about it" but the truth is that a good proportion of your potential guests are reading your reviews on TA and are making their accommodation decisions based on your rating & what they read about you.
It is a dangerous ploy to over estimate the intelligence of the general public. They want to believe what they read because then it makes the decision making process easier.
If a property is ranked #1 and has 100 x 5 star reviews it must be the best, why look further?
The fact that many of the reviews are false & solicited does not bother Mr. & Mrs. Average. The sheer weight of 5 star reviews and the ranking decides their first choice.
To suggest that it is not worth getting worried about is naiive as TA plays a major role for the holiday decision maker. And especially those looking for B&Bs / Inns.
In my opinion Management Responses on TA are two edged. Having read many & written a couple myself, they can come across as very defensive & can do you much more harm than good. Sometimes it is better to let the other more positive reviews do their work & work on burying the bad review.....any way you can.
I am enjoying your site & discussions as there are many commonalities between North American & Australian B&Bs.
.

Welcome MrMum and thanks for backing me up on this. There's a lot more concern about Trip Advisor than may appear because not everyone is as open about it as we are.
I noticed a lot of comments over on PAII in reponse to Jay's posts, although Trip Advisor is a member and monitors them; as I'm sure they do these as well.
I'm happy to report that Trip Advisor printed my Management Response verbatim. I was surprised because I was viciously attacked and responded in kind. I basically called the reviewer dishonorable for writing a fraudulent review and Trip Advisor the same, for allowing it to be published.
I corrected the facts and also pointed out that the only 3 negative reviews were from people who had never stayed at our establishment nor used our services. I did my best to turn it around, although I'm still stuck with a less than 5* rating that I would otherwise have had.
I also noticed much fewer bothersome adwords in the name of my business and that in all but one case, the reviews were now sequential instead of highligting the negative review. So I guess we're making progress.

 

[Morticia]

I'm going to be removing all the copies of other people's blog posts and replace them with working links. It is inappropriate to copy an entire blog post from someone's site and paste it somewhere else without their permission. It's one thing to copy a small excerpt, but the entire post is too much to have on here without the author's permission..

I have a question on another topic entirely. How does Trip Advisor determine popularity on their site? Is it by reviews or some other method? Our competitor, who is an Expedia property, is listed as #1 and they have us listed as #2.
Howver, Alexa has us listed as #1 for our community and our competitor as #6. What gives?
.

I have a question on another topic entirely. How does Trip Advisor determine popularity on their site? Is it by reviews or some other method? Our competitor, who is an Expedia property, is listed as #1 and they have us listed as #2.
Howver, Alexa has us listed as #1 for our community and our competitor as #6. What gives?

There are a lot of things that go into the rankings...number of reviews, rating of reviews (how many stars, good and bad), newness of reviews, whether you've been written about by any reputable outside org like Frommers or the NYT (that MUST be an online source TA can check), other reviews on other review websites. I thought the Expedia thing had something to do with it, but, like I said, some of the worst reviews in this town are on Expedia-listed properties and they are right down at the bottom of the list.
Alexa is not a review website, so I don't see where that matters.
Does that help at all?
.

Thanks for the info. I guess like AVIS, I'll always be #2 but trying harder. Alexa measures popularity based on traffic, number of hits to your website, number of page views, how high you rank on the internet, that sort of thing.
Well to paraphrase Forrest Gump, "Innkeeping is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get." Just like there are guests from hell, there are also guests from heaven and that's what I got last weekend. I guess God decided it was time to send in the clowns.
They loved everything and doubled tipped me and all of the staff. Boy, I can't remember the last time that happened. It was a nice boost to my self-confidence and reminded me why I started doing this in the first place. It's fun when it goes right.
Anyway, the best thing I got from the experience was how seasoned travelers view Trip Advisor. These people have been around the world and to most of the local places as well.
They can spot a fraudulent review a mile away, especially a negative one. The reason being that they have often already been to a place and know the owners and that the type of behavior being described would be very out of character for them.
You're right, they dismiss it out of hand. especially if a place has been around a long time. It wouldn't stay in business treating customers that way and they know that. I'm not sure of the newbies though. They might still be influenced by it.
Anyway, I rewrote my management response to the last negative review and resubmitted it. We'll see if they can handle the truth or not.
.

Thanks for the info. I guess like AVIS, I'll always be #2 but trying harder. Alexa measures popularity based on traffic, number of hits to your website, number of page views, how high you rank on the internet, that sort of thing.
Well to paraphrase Forrest Gump, "Innkeeping is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get." Just like there are guests from hell, there are also guests from heaven and that's what I got last weekend. I guess God decided it was time to send in the clowns.
They loved everything and doubled tipped me and all of the staff. Boy, I can't remember the last time that happened. It was a nice boost to my self-confidence and reminded me why I started doing this in the first place. It's fun when it goes right.
Anyway, the best thing I got from the experience was how seasoned travelers view Trip Advisor. These people have been around the world and to most of the local places as well.
They can spot a fraudulent review a mile away, especially a negative one. The reason being that they have often already been to a place and know the owners and that the type of behavior being described would be very out of character for them.
You're right, they dismiss it out of hand. especially if a place has been around a long time. It wouldn't stay in business treating customers that way and they know that. I'm not sure of the newbies though. They might still be influenced by it.
Anyway, I rewrote my management response to the last negative review and resubmitted it. We'll see if they can handle the truth or not.

We've discussed Alexa here before and in case you do not know this...if you have the Aleza toolbar installed you are automatically raising your rating if your own website is your homepage. Obviously, every time you fire up your web browser, you are accessing your own homepage, which makes it look like you are getting lots of hits that are actually just you.
I mention this because my comp ranks really high on Alexa and I don't. I was bummed and wondering what I was doing wrong. Then Swirt explained that just by downloading the Alexa toolbar I could increase my ranking.
The point being, who cares? No one uses Alexa for web browsing. It's really a 'geek' tool, not a guest tool.
When anyone is looking for a place to stay where you are located, the most important thing for you to do is come up quickly and high on Google. That's where you're going to get your business. If there are not a lot of other lodging properties near you, TA won't even show up on the first few pages. Seriously, most people don't go to TA FIRST, they go there later IF they have a decision to make. If you're the only game in town (or close to) they'll book without looking for reviews.
I don't know if you're in a really 'crowded' area like I am, or if you have the field to yourself. I have to work to keep my site showing high (above the 5 slot on Google) in order to get the bookings. But, that still means there are 4 other B&B's that will get called first and if they're not booked, I'm out of luck. I don't want to wait until the other 30 rooms are filled before I start getting calls!
Also, if you have a specialty niche, that helps. There's not a lot I can do here given the zoning constraints and the space constraints in the building. So we work our repeat guest list.
.

I live & operate a B&B in Australia & can assure you that we are very concerned about TA here & have been for quite some time.
It is easy for ginocat to say "don't worry about it" but the truth is that a good proportion of your potential guests are reading your reviews on TA and are making their accommodation decisions based on your rating & what they read about you.
It is a dangerous ploy to over estimate the intelligence of the general public. They want to believe what they read because then it makes the decision making process easier.
If a property is ranked #1 and has 100 x 5 star reviews it must be the best, why look further?
The fact that many of the reviews are false & solicited does not bother Mr. & Mrs. Average. The sheer weight of 5 star reviews and the ranking decides their first choice.
To suggest that it is not worth getting worried about is naiive as TA plays a major role for the holiday decision maker. And especially those looking for B&Bs / Inns.
In my opinion Management Responses on TA are two edged. Having read many & written a couple myself, they can come across as very defensive & can do you much more harm than good. Sometimes it is better to let the other more positive reviews do their work & work on burying the bad review.....any way you can.
I am enjoying your site & discussions as there are many commonalities between North American & Australian B&Bs.
.

Welcome MrMum and thanks for backing me up on this. There's a lot more concern about Trip Advisor than may appear because not everyone is as open about it as we are.
I noticed a lot of comments over on PAII in reponse to Jay's posts, although Trip Advisor is a member and monitors them; as I'm sure they do these as well.
I'm happy to report that Trip Advisor printed my Management Response verbatim. I was surprised because I was viciously attacked and responded in kind. I basically called the reviewer dishonorable for writing a fraudulent review and Trip Advisor the same, for allowing it to be published.
I corrected the facts and also pointed out that the only 3 negative reviews were from people who had never stayed at our establishment nor used our services. I did my best to turn it around, although I'm still stuck with a less than 5* rating that I would otherwise have had.
I also noticed much fewer bothersome adwords in the name of my business and that in all but one case, the reviews were now sequential instead of highligting the negative review. So I guess we're making progress.
.

Welcome MrMum and thanks for backing me up on this. There's a lot more concern about Trip Advisor than may appear because not everyone is as open about it as we are.
I noticed a lot of comments over on PAII in reponse to Jay's posts, although Trip Advisor is a member and monitors them; as I'm sure they do these as well.
I'm happy to report that Trip Advisor printed my Management Response verbatim. I was surprised because I was viciously attacked and responded in kind. I basically called the reviewer dishonorable for writing a fraudulent review and Trip Advisor the same, for allowing it to be published.
I corrected the facts and also pointed out that the only 3 negative reviews were from people who had never stayed at our establishment nor used our services. I did my best to turn it around, although I'm still stuck with a less than 5* rating that I would otherwise have had.
I also noticed much fewer bothersome adwords in the name of my business and that in all but one case, the reviews were now sequential instead of highligting the negative review. So I guess we're making progress.

Sounds good. You took a bad review and showed future guests that you tried to make things right (I'm guessing that's what you meant by 'corrected the facts'). You pointed out you have only 3 negative reviews during your entire time from people who never even stayed there. If all the reviews from people who DID stay are the 5*'s then that should put paid to the bad reviews. If you have a lot of reviews, those bad ones will be buried quickly and your star rating will go up as you get more good reviews.
So, what else do you want to talk about? There are a lot of other topics here that you might enjoy and maybe we can learn something about your business from you.

 

[gary4ever1]

Hello . I found this site today by accident . This is my first post.
After reading how upset every one is about Trip Advisor , myself included it has taken a while to realize what the core problem is that we all face. Everyone including myself continues to complain about the postings . But we all have been looking in the wrong direction .
Why you ask ? Simple Always follow the money trail .
Example ( 1 ) Car = Hotel . ( 2 )
If Trip Advisor stole your car to use as a taxi and generated monies shouldn't royalties be paid ?
This leads to the most relevant problem. Trip advisor took every one owned business names and with them SELL your property with advertising taking in Millions !
Mean while all hotel / B&B / Restaurant owners are left fuming about unjust reviews and not focusing on the real big problem . Theft of our proprietary properties !
Below is the copy of my complaint sent to the Mass Attorney general Yesterday . I urge everyone to send in your complaints . Please don't dwell on the physical reviews . Yes it upsets us all . But we need to concentrate on the real issue that will make all these reviews and listings a mute point .
Every business owner should have the privilege to join or decline any website especially those that sell and use our names to generate monies . Thank you
__________________________________________________________________________________
Our complaint is against :
Trip Advisor
141 Needham Street
Newton Mass .02464
617-670-6300
Fax 781-444.1146
Good Morning ;
We have had 31 years of great success in the hospitality industry . Today it has become very aware to us about a serious on going problem caused by a business head quartered and located in the state of Massachusetts .
The business name is www.TripAdvisor.com . Trip advisor has allowed anonymous creative writers to register , post deceitful , untruthful , fake , fony reviews. Once we become aware of the post we write Trip Advisor requesting removal of these particular postings , supply facts , but they refuse .
But this is just the tip of the iceberg .
Our main complaint is the Following ; Trip advisor , with out any written consensual consent , or verbal authorization has taken our proprietary properties and up loaded our business name . Trip Advisor sells advertising to support their website and take in millions of dollars using my corporation name .
In fact Trip Advisor would never have asked permission to use business corporations names for monetary values from any one if my place of business is the set example?
Trip Advisor appears to me to do what so many musical artist complain about . People go on line , download music with out any royalties paid . This Massachusetts business Trip Advisor has taken our business name , uses it to sell advertising and we get no royalties at all ? This is not a fair trade practice . This is wrong .
I am requesting my complaint to include every business in the hospitality industry , including restaurants ,to be compensated and to have the right to have there corporation name used with out permissions removed as soon as possible . The web site should be closed down .
In summation people have a right to view and voice their opinions as a first amendment , but the reviews are a mute point because of the wrongful use of our corporation name and every corporation who never gave authorization to Trip Advisor for the use of properties not owned . Thank you Gary Grossman

 

[gary4ever1]

Hello . I found this site today by accident . This is my first post.
After reading how upset every one is about Trip Advisor , myself included it has taken a while to realize what the core problem is that we all face. Everyone including myself continues to complain about the postings . But we all have been looking in the wrong direction .
Why you ask ? Simple Always follow the money trail .
Example ( 1 ) Car = Hotel . ( 2 )
If Trip Advisor stole your car to use as a taxi and generated monies shouldn't royalties be paid ?
This leads to the most relevant problem. Trip advisor took every one owned business names and with them SELL your property with advertising taking in Millions !
Mean while all hotel / B&B / Restaurant owners are left fuming about unjust reviews and not focusing on the real big problem . Theft of our proprietary properties !
Below is the copy of my complaint sent to the Mass Attorney general Yesterday . I urge everyone to send in your complaints . Please don't dwell on the physical reviews . Yes it upsets us all . But we need to concentrate on the real issue that will make all these reviews and listings a mute point .
Every business owner should have the privilege to join or decline any website especially those that sell and use our names to generate monies . Thank you
__________________________________________________________________________________
Our complaint is against :
Trip Advisor
141 Needham Street
Newton Mass .02464
617-670-6300
Fax 781-444.1146
Good Morning ;
We have had 31 years of great success in the hospitality industry . Today it has become very aware to us about a serious on going problem caused by a business head quartered and located in the state of Massachusetts .
The business name is www.TripAdvisor.com . Trip advisor has allowed anonymous creative writers to register , post deceitful , untruthful , fake , fony reviews. Once we become aware of the post we write Trip Advisor requesting removal of these particular postings , supply facts , but they refuse .
But this is just the tip of the iceberg .
Our main complaint is the Following ; Trip advisor , with out any written consensual consent , or verbal authorization has taken our proprietary properties and up loaded our business name . Trip Advisor sells advertising to support their website and take in millions of dollars using my corporation name .
In fact Trip Advisor would never have asked permission to use business corporations names for monetary values from any one if my place of business is the set example?
Trip Advisor appears to me to do what so many musical artist complain about . People go on line , download music with out any royalties paid . This Massachusetts business Trip Advisor has taken our business name , uses it to sell advertising and we get no royalties at all ? This is not a fair trade practice . This is wrong .
I am requesting my complaint to include every business in the hospitality industry , including restaurants ,to be compensated and to have the right to have there corporation name used with out permissions removed as soon as possible . The web site should be closed down .
In summation people have a right to view and voice their opinions as a first amendment , but the reviews are a mute point because of the wrongful use of our corporation name and every corporation who never gave authorization to Trip Advisor for the use of properties not owned . Thank you Gary Grossman.

One more point This is the official link to contact the Massachusetts Attorney General . You can do it on line or by snail mail . Thanks
http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=cagoterminal&L=3&L0=Home&L1=Consumer+Protection&L2=Complaints+%26+Mediation+Services&sid=Cago&b=terminalcontent&f=consumer_consumer_complaint&csid=Cago

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

Hello . I found this site today by accident . This is my first post.
After reading how upset every one is about Trip Advisor , myself included it has taken a while to realize what the core problem is that we all face. Everyone including myself continues to complain about the postings . But we all have been looking in the wrong direction .
Why you ask ? Simple Always follow the money trail .
Example ( 1 ) Car = Hotel . ( 2 )
If Trip Advisor stole your car to use as a taxi and generated monies shouldn't royalties be paid ?
This leads to the most relevant problem. Trip advisor took every one owned business names and with them SELL your property with advertising taking in Millions !
Mean while all hotel / B&B / Restaurant owners are left fuming about unjust reviews and not focusing on the real big problem . Theft of our proprietary properties !
Below is the copy of my complaint sent to the Mass Attorney general Yesterday . I urge everyone to send in your complaints . Please don't dwell on the physical reviews . Yes it upsets us all . But we need to concentrate on the real issue that will make all these reviews and listings a mute point .
Every business owner should have the privilege to join or decline any website especially those that sell and use our names to generate monies . Thank you
__________________________________________________________________________________
Our complaint is against :
Trip Advisor
141 Needham Street
Newton Mass .02464
617-670-6300
Fax 781-444.1146
Good Morning ;
We have had 31 years of great success in the hospitality industry . Today it has become very aware to us about a serious on going problem caused by a business head quartered and located in the state of Massachusetts .
The business name is www.TripAdvisor.com . Trip advisor has allowed anonymous creative writers to register , post deceitful , untruthful , fake , fony reviews. Once we become aware of the post we write Trip Advisor requesting removal of these particular postings , supply facts , but they refuse .
But this is just the tip of the iceberg .
Our main complaint is the Following ; Trip advisor , with out any written consensual consent , or verbal authorization has taken our proprietary properties and up loaded our business name . Trip Advisor sells advertising to support their website and take in millions of dollars using my corporation name .
In fact Trip Advisor would never have asked permission to use business corporations names for monetary values from any one if my place of business is the set example?
Trip Advisor appears to me to do what so many musical artist complain about . People go on line , download music with out any royalties paid . This Massachusetts business Trip Advisor has taken our business name , uses it to sell advertising and we get no royalties at all ? This is not a fair trade practice . This is wrong .
I am requesting my complaint to include every business in the hospitality industry , including restaurants ,to be compensated and to have the right to have there corporation name used with out permissions removed as soon as possible . The web site should be closed down .
In summation people have a right to view and voice their opinions as a first amendment , but the reviews are a mute point because of the wrongful use of our corporation name and every corporation who never gave authorization to Trip Advisor for the use of properties not owned . Thank you Gary Grossman.

One more point This is the official link to contact the Massachusetts Attorney General . You can do it on line or by snail mail . Thanks
http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=cagoterminal&L=3&L0=Home&L1=Consumer+Protection&L2=Complaints+%26+Mediation+Services&sid=Cago&b=terminalcontent&f=consumer_consumer_complaint&csid=Cago
.

One more point This is the official link to contact the Massachusetts Attorney General . You can do it on line or by snail mail . Thanks
http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=cagoterminal&L=3&L0=Home&L1=Consumer+Protection&L2=Complaints+%26+Mediation+Services&sid=Cago&b=terminalcontent&f=consumer_consumer_complaint&csid=Cago

You wrote: Mean while all hotel / B&B / Restaurant owners are left fuming about unjust reviews and not focusing on the real big problem . Theft of our proprietary properties !
I write: I am not fuming over trip advisor. In fact, there is only ONE person that I can see on this forum who is fuming over TA and they came onto this forum to fume and gather up the troups mentality like you have done with no announcement or 'get to know you' period. People don't listen to bombardment. She did not get everyone on her side so got ticked off, which might possibly happen to you when WE innkeepers reply and do not agree with the bombardment approach.

 

[Morticia]

Hello . I found this site today by accident . This is my first post.
After reading how upset every one is about Trip Advisor , myself included it has taken a while to realize what the core problem is that we all face. Everyone including myself continues to complain about the postings . But we all have been looking in the wrong direction .
Why you ask ? Simple Always follow the money trail .
Example ( 1 ) Car = Hotel . ( 2 )
If Trip Advisor stole your car to use as a taxi and generated monies shouldn't royalties be paid ?
This leads to the most relevant problem. Trip advisor took every one owned business names and with them SELL your property with advertising taking in Millions !
Mean while all hotel / B&B / Restaurant owners are left fuming about unjust reviews and not focusing on the real big problem . Theft of our proprietary properties !
Below is the copy of my complaint sent to the Mass Attorney general Yesterday . I urge everyone to send in your complaints . Please don't dwell on the physical reviews . Yes it upsets us all . But we need to concentrate on the real issue that will make all these reviews and listings a mute point .
Every business owner should have the privilege to join or decline any website especially those that sell and use our names to generate monies . Thank you
__________________________________________________________________________________
Our complaint is against :
Trip Advisor
141 Needham Street
Newton Mass .02464
617-670-6300
Fax 781-444.1146
Good Morning ;
We have had 31 years of great success in the hospitality industry . Today it has become very aware to us about a serious on going problem caused by a business head quartered and located in the state of Massachusetts .
The business name is www.TripAdvisor.com . Trip advisor has allowed anonymous creative writers to register , post deceitful , untruthful , fake , fony reviews. Once we become aware of the post we write Trip Advisor requesting removal of these particular postings , supply facts , but they refuse .
But this is just the tip of the iceberg .
Our main complaint is the Following ; Trip advisor , with out any written consensual consent , or verbal authorization has taken our proprietary properties and up loaded our business name . Trip Advisor sells advertising to support their website and take in millions of dollars using my corporation name .
In fact Trip Advisor would never have asked permission to use business corporations names for monetary values from any one if my place of business is the set example?
Trip Advisor appears to me to do what so many musical artist complain about . People go on line , download music with out any royalties paid . This Massachusetts business Trip Advisor has taken our business name , uses it to sell advertising and we get no royalties at all ? This is not a fair trade practice . This is wrong .
I am requesting my complaint to include every business in the hospitality industry , including restaurants ,to be compensated and to have the right to have there corporation name used with out permissions removed as soon as possible . The web site should be closed down .
In summation people have a right to view and voice their opinions as a first amendment , but the reviews are a mute point because of the wrongful use of our corporation name and every corporation who never gave authorization to Trip Advisor for the use of properties not owned . Thank you Gary Grossman.

Hi Gary!
Is this a letter you have sent or are intending to send? The only reason I ask is that the spelling and grammar are really not up to par for a letter to the governor of a state when you are complaining about a business you want put out of business. It's hard to tell if you are asking questions or making statements of fact or what you are doing.
If you have not sent this letter yet, I would be more than happy to go over it and make the appropriate spelling and grammar corrections so your letter will be taken seriously. And I'm not joking.

 

[swirt]

Hello . I found this site today by accident . This is my first post.
After reading how upset every one is about Trip Advisor , myself included it has taken a while to realize what the core problem is that we all face. Everyone including myself continues to complain about the postings . But we all have been looking in the wrong direction .
Why you ask ? Simple Always follow the money trail .
Example ( 1 ) Car = Hotel . ( 2 )
If Trip Advisor stole your car to use as a taxi and generated monies shouldn't royalties be paid ?
This leads to the most relevant problem. Trip advisor took every one owned business names and with them SELL your property with advertising taking in Millions !
Mean while all hotel / B&B / Restaurant owners are left fuming about unjust reviews and not focusing on the real big problem . Theft of our proprietary properties !
Below is the copy of my complaint sent to the Mass Attorney general Yesterday . I urge everyone to send in your complaints . Please don't dwell on the physical reviews . Yes it upsets us all . But we need to concentrate on the real issue that will make all these reviews and listings a mute point .
Every business owner should have the privilege to join or decline any website especially those that sell and use our names to generate monies . Thank you
__________________________________________________________________________________
Our complaint is against :
Trip Advisor
141 Needham Street
Newton Mass .02464
617-670-6300
Fax 781-444.1146
Good Morning ;
We have had 31 years of great success in the hospitality industry . Today it has become very aware to us about a serious on going problem caused by a business head quartered and located in the state of Massachusetts .
The business name is www.TripAdvisor.com . Trip advisor has allowed anonymous creative writers to register , post deceitful , untruthful , fake , fony reviews. Once we become aware of the post we write Trip Advisor requesting removal of these particular postings , supply facts , but they refuse .
But this is just the tip of the iceberg .
Our main complaint is the Following ; Trip advisor , with out any written consensual consent , or verbal authorization has taken our proprietary properties and up loaded our business name . Trip Advisor sells advertising to support their website and take in millions of dollars using my corporation name .
In fact Trip Advisor would never have asked permission to use business corporations names for monetary values from any one if my place of business is the set example?
Trip Advisor appears to me to do what so many musical artist complain about . People go on line , download music with out any royalties paid . This Massachusetts business Trip Advisor has taken our business name , uses it to sell advertising and we get no royalties at all ? This is not a fair trade practice . This is wrong .
I am requesting my complaint to include every business in the hospitality industry , including restaurants ,to be compensated and to have the right to have there corporation name used with out permissions removed as soon as possible . The web site should be closed down .
In summation people have a right to view and voice their opinions as a first amendment , but the reviews are a mute point because of the wrongful use of our corporation name and every corporation who never gave authorization to Trip Advisor for the use of properties not owned . Thank you Gary Grossman.

Hi Gary and welcome.
I don't think this tact in the argument is going to get you very far. For a few reasons. The primary one being that the argument is flawed.

Trip Advisor appears to me to do what so many musical artist complain about . People go on line , download music with out any royalties paid . This Massachusetts business Trip Advisor has taken our business name , uses it to sell advertising and we get no royalties at all ? This is not a fair trade practice . This is wrong .

Music artists complain because they make money by selling their music. So anyone taking that music without paying for it, is using the product without paying for it. They don't expect to get royalties when their name appears in some fan's blog or some hateful person's blog. They aren't selling their name (unless we are talking about commercials or other endorsements).
Likewise, innowners aren't selling the appearance of their property name. They are selling a stay at their accommodation. You can't expect the right to control a mention of use of a business name. Not even if you went to the trouble to make it a legal trademark.
There is a balance to this. For every innowner who claims their business is hurt by tripadvisor there are others who will say their business is helped by it.
The only issue that carries any possible weight is the publishing of information that is untrue or can't be established even partly as true. For their own sake TripAdvisor needs to get a better handle on this or the quality of their own data becomes less, which makes it less valuable to them because it makes it less valuable to everyone else.

 

[ginocat]

Hello . I found this site today by accident . This is my first post.
After reading how upset every one is about Trip Advisor , myself included it has taken a while to realize what the core problem is that we all face. Everyone including myself continues to complain about the postings . But we all have been looking in the wrong direction .
Why you ask ? Simple Always follow the money trail .
Example ( 1 ) Car = Hotel . ( 2 )
If Trip Advisor stole your car to use as a taxi and generated monies shouldn't royalties be paid ?
This leads to the most relevant problem. Trip advisor took every one owned business names and with them SELL your property with advertising taking in Millions !
Mean while all hotel / B&B / Restaurant owners are left fuming about unjust reviews and not focusing on the real big problem . Theft of our proprietary properties !
Below is the copy of my complaint sent to the Mass Attorney general Yesterday . I urge everyone to send in your complaints . Please don't dwell on the physical reviews . Yes it upsets us all . But we need to concentrate on the real issue that will make all these reviews and listings a mute point .
Every business owner should have the privilege to join or decline any website especially those that sell and use our names to generate monies . Thank you
__________________________________________________________________________________
Our complaint is against :
Trip Advisor
141 Needham Street
Newton Mass .02464
617-670-6300
Fax 781-444.1146
Good Morning ;
We have had 31 years of great success in the hospitality industry . Today it has become very aware to us about a serious on going problem caused by a business head quartered and located in the state of Massachusetts .
The business name is www.TripAdvisor.com . Trip advisor has allowed anonymous creative writers to register , post deceitful , untruthful , fake , fony reviews. Once we become aware of the post we write Trip Advisor requesting removal of these particular postings , supply facts , but they refuse .
But this is just the tip of the iceberg .
Our main complaint is the Following ; Trip advisor , with out any written consensual consent , or verbal authorization has taken our proprietary properties and up loaded our business name . Trip Advisor sells advertising to support their website and take in millions of dollars using my corporation name .
In fact Trip Advisor would never have asked permission to use business corporations names for monetary values from any one if my place of business is the set example?
Trip Advisor appears to me to do what so many musical artist complain about . People go on line , download music with out any royalties paid . This Massachusetts business Trip Advisor has taken our business name , uses it to sell advertising and we get no royalties at all ? This is not a fair trade practice . This is wrong .
I am requesting my complaint to include every business in the hospitality industry , including restaurants ,to be compensated and to have the right to have there corporation name used with out permissions removed as soon as possible . The web site should be closed down .
In summation people have a right to view and voice their opinions as a first amendment , but the reviews are a mute point because of the wrongful use of our corporation name and every corporation who never gave authorization to Trip Advisor for the use of properties not owned . Thank you Gary Grossman.

Please do not make any kind of response on behalf of others. If you want to complain then do it under your own steam and don't involve an entire industry in something like this. How silly this is. I am not upset about it and on this forum it seems that one person only is upset. For heaven sake let sleeping dogs lie. This whole thing is giving Trip Advisor such importance it's unbelievable!!!!

 

[gillumhouse]

Hello . I found this site today by accident . This is my first post.
After reading how upset every one is about Trip Advisor , myself included it has taken a while to realize what the core problem is that we all face. Everyone including myself continues to complain about the postings . But we all have been looking in the wrong direction .
Why you ask ? Simple Always follow the money trail .
Example ( 1 ) Car = Hotel . ( 2 )
If Trip Advisor stole your car to use as a taxi and generated monies shouldn't royalties be paid ?
This leads to the most relevant problem. Trip advisor took every one owned business names and with them SELL your property with advertising taking in Millions !
Mean while all hotel / B&B / Restaurant owners are left fuming about unjust reviews and not focusing on the real big problem . Theft of our proprietary properties !
Below is the copy of my complaint sent to the Mass Attorney general Yesterday . I urge everyone to send in your complaints . Please don't dwell on the physical reviews . Yes it upsets us all . But we need to concentrate on the real issue that will make all these reviews and listings a mute point .
Every business owner should have the privilege to join or decline any website especially those that sell and use our names to generate monies . Thank you
__________________________________________________________________________________
Our complaint is against :
Trip Advisor
141 Needham Street
Newton Mass .02464
617-670-6300
Fax 781-444.1146
Good Morning ;
We have had 31 years of great success in the hospitality industry . Today it has become very aware to us about a serious on going problem caused by a business head quartered and located in the state of Massachusetts .
The business name is www.TripAdvisor.com . Trip advisor has allowed anonymous creative writers to register , post deceitful , untruthful , fake , fony reviews. Once we become aware of the post we write Trip Advisor requesting removal of these particular postings , supply facts , but they refuse .
But this is just the tip of the iceberg .
Our main complaint is the Following ; Trip advisor , with out any written consensual consent , or verbal authorization has taken our proprietary properties and up loaded our business name . Trip Advisor sells advertising to support their website and take in millions of dollars using my corporation name .
In fact Trip Advisor would never have asked permission to use business corporations names for monetary values from any one if my place of business is the set example?
Trip Advisor appears to me to do what so many musical artist complain about . People go on line , download music with out any royalties paid . This Massachusetts business Trip Advisor has taken our business name , uses it to sell advertising and we get no royalties at all ? This is not a fair trade practice . This is wrong .
I am requesting my complaint to include every business in the hospitality industry , including restaurants ,to be compensated and to have the right to have there corporation name used with out permissions removed as soon as possible . The web site should be closed down .
In summation people have a right to view and voice their opinions as a first amendment , but the reviews are a mute point because of the wrongful use of our corporation name and every corporation who never gave authorization to Trip Advisor for the use of properties not owned . Thank you Gary Grossman.

Gary, welcome to the Forum and please feel free to post any time. On this particular issue however, I do not read Trip Advisor reviews, do not care what they say, and do not ask my guests to post there. IF they choose to - wonderful but I am the one who controls my destiny, not some faceless entity called tripadvisor. Yes, social media is becoming important but there are a lot of sources of that. Please bury the freaking horse and drop the TA. They are laughing all the way to the bank as they get free publicity and importance given to them each time someone rants and rails against them. As George Halas said - I want the Bears in the papers every day. I do not care for what. Just make sure they spell the names right.

 

[YellowSocks]

I have good reviews.
They help me.
People come because they find me on Google, then read about me on TA, then book and say they liked what they read and they like it now they are here.
I have one four star review... it upset me! I wrote a management response, and tried not to be defensive. In my review I addressed a fix I made, ignored the thing I have no power over, and tried to be grateful and upbeat instead of accusatory and defensive.
As others have said, TA is here to stay. And, for me at least, its presence helps me. While there will always be fraud and misuse, in the end TA fulfills the role that it was originally designed to... it allows travelers a place to post reviews of places they've stayed. It's merely a piece of information potential travelers can use when trying to decide.
If you run your business professionally, with excellent customer service and good value, you have little or nothing to fear from TA (which perfectly explains Ginocat's justifiable unconcern about TA!).
As far as the letter to the MA authorities... I hope you're not seriously sending such a poorly written epistle riddled with grammar and spelling errors! No one will take you seriously! (It also lacks a legitimate argument, but that doesn't seem to matter as much to politicians as presentation.)
=)
Kk.

 

[Samster]

Hello . I found this site today by accident . This is my first post.
After reading how upset every one is about Trip Advisor , myself included it has taken a while to realize what the core problem is that we all face. Everyone including myself continues to complain about the postings . But we all have been looking in the wrong direction .
Why you ask ? Simple Always follow the money trail .
Example ( 1 ) Car = Hotel . ( 2 )
If Trip Advisor stole your car to use as a taxi and generated monies shouldn't royalties be paid ?
This leads to the most relevant problem. Trip advisor took every one owned business names and with them SELL your property with advertising taking in Millions !
Mean while all hotel / B&B / Restaurant owners are left fuming about unjust reviews and not focusing on the real big problem . Theft of our proprietary properties !
Below is the copy of my complaint sent to the Mass Attorney general Yesterday . I urge everyone to send in your complaints . Please don't dwell on the physical reviews . Yes it upsets us all . But we need to concentrate on the real issue that will make all these reviews and listings a mute point .
Every business owner should have the privilege to join or decline any website especially those that sell and use our names to generate monies . Thank you
__________________________________________________________________________________
Our complaint is against :
Trip Advisor
141 Needham Street
Newton Mass .02464
617-670-6300
Fax 781-444.1146
Good Morning ;
We have had 31 years of great success in the hospitality industry . Today it has become very aware to us about a serious on going problem caused by a business head quartered and located in the state of Massachusetts .
The business name is www.TripAdvisor.com . Trip advisor has allowed anonymous creative writers to register , post deceitful , untruthful , fake , fony reviews. Once we become aware of the post we write Trip Advisor requesting removal of these particular postings , supply facts , but they refuse .
But this is just the tip of the iceberg .
Our main complaint is the Following ; Trip advisor , with out any written consensual consent , or verbal authorization has taken our proprietary properties and up loaded our business name . Trip Advisor sells advertising to support their website and take in millions of dollars using my corporation name .
In fact Trip Advisor would never have asked permission to use business corporations names for monetary values from any one if my place of business is the set example?
Trip Advisor appears to me to do what so many musical artist complain about . People go on line , download music with out any royalties paid . This Massachusetts business Trip Advisor has taken our business name , uses it to sell advertising and we get no royalties at all ? This is not a fair trade practice . This is wrong .
I am requesting my complaint to include every business in the hospitality industry , including restaurants ,to be compensated and to have the right to have there corporation name used with out permissions removed as soon as possible . The web site should be closed down .
In summation people have a right to view and voice their opinions as a first amendment , but the reviews are a mute point because of the wrongful use of our corporation name and every corporation who never gave authorization to Trip Advisor for the use of properties not owned . Thank you Gary Grossman.

Gary, welcome to the forum!
I agree that you absolutely need to review this letter to the MA Attorney General if you have not sent it yet. It's hard to take someone seriously with so many grammatical errors and typos. (For example, a point is moot, not mute, if that applies.)
TripAdvisor has its place and travelers do use it. I have to agree with YS that it has helped me as a startup B&B to gain some momentum with bookings as folks have found us and posted favorable reviews which helps us to have more bookings.
It's time to move past this...I think TA is here to stay.

 

[happyjacks]

I agree that TA is here to stay, but I also think it needs changes, and those changes won't happen unless people try to push them. I think some people rage against TA because they don't have the option to opt-out, so they feel held hostage.
Properties should be able to opt out of TA and make themselves unavailable for reviews. It might be bad for their business, but that should be their choice.
This would also put some pressure on TA to keep things fair to properties. TA might have quicker response times to complaints about unjustified/fraudulent reviews if it meant they might lose some properties. It would also give properties an out if they were getting a lot of TA blackmail from troublesome/prospective guests.
TA needs the properties as much as the properties need TA. But as it is now, the balance of power is with TA. It would be nice to see them have a little more accountability to the industry.

 

[swirt]

I agree that TA is here to stay, but I also think it needs changes, and those changes won't happen unless people try to push them. I think some people rage against TA because they don't have the option to opt-out, so they feel held hostage.
Properties should be able to opt out of TA and make themselves unavailable for reviews. It might be bad for their business, but that should be their choice.
This would also put some pressure on TA to keep things fair to properties. TA might have quicker response times to complaints about unjustified/fraudulent reviews if it meant they might lose some properties. It would also give properties an out if they were getting a lot of TA blackmail from troublesome/prospective guests.
TA needs the properties as much as the properties need TA. But as it is now, the balance of power is with TA. It would be nice to see them have a little more accountability to the industry..

Well said Happyjacks.