A flood of fake and suspicious reviews are contaminating the online travel website TripAdvisor and boosting the ratings of hotels across the world from London to Paris and Las Vegas, it is claimed.
The revelations mean millions of people are booking holidays and business trips based on bogus five-star recommendations, according to damning research by Which?
The consumer champion analysed almost 250,000 reviews and found that one in seven of some 100 popular hotels carried TripAdvisor recommendations that had blatant hallmarks of being false.
A flood of fake and suspicious reviews are contaminating the online travel website TripAdvisor and boosting the ratings of hotels across the world from London to Paris and Las Vegas , it is claimed
Which? has reported 15 of the worst cases to TripAdvisor and the company admitted that 14 of these had already been caught with fake positive reviews in the last year.
It has emerged that TripAdvisor has, in the past, penalised six of these hotels for breaking guidelines and two had previously been given a ‘red badge’ warning, where the hotel listing carries a warning logo for suspicious activity.
However, Which? said this red badge information is not made clear to travellers on the website. Most worrying, this highly suspicious pattern of unreliable reviews continued, suggesting a lack of serious ongoing oversight and action to address repeated abuse of the system.
Which? has not named the hotels on the basis it is targeting the role of TripAdvisor and its apparent failure to police the review system.
The consumer group and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) have identified a wider problem of fake reviews on websites on everything from household appliances to handymen services and hotels.
This represents a serious issue for the public given than online reviews influence an estimated £23 billion of transactions a year in the UK alone and 97per cent of people use them.
Some of the most concerning findings were in Las Vegas. Almost half of the hundreds of five-star ratings for two of the 10 highest ranked hotels came from first-time reviewers who had never made any other TripAdvisor contributions. Two more hotels had results that caused concern.
Which? analysed almost 250,000 reviews and found that one in seven of some 100 popular hotels carried TripAdvisor recommendations that had blatant hallmarks of being false
There were striking results in the Middle East, with a hugely suspicious pattern of reviews at the ‘best hotel’ in Jordan. The hotel denies doing anything wrong but shortly afterwards TripAdvisor removed 730 of its five-star ratings.
At the best hotel in Cairo, a startling 79 per cent of five-star reviews were left by first-time reviewers. Shortly after Which? reported its findings to TripAdvisor, a number were removed and it lost its status as the ‘best hotel in Cairo’.
The consumer group said some of the best-rated hotels in London, Paris, Barcelona and Cape Town gave some cause for suspicion but had none of the similar extreme patterns.
Which? Travel compared the review listings for 10 London hotels at the two biggest UK chains, Premier Inn and Travelodge.
Premier Inn did not arouse suspicion, however there were issues with two of the Travelodges. Almost half of the hundreds of five-star reviews came from first-time contributors who had never reviewed anywhere else. Travelodge Wembley Central was given a red warning badge earlier this year.
Which? is concerned that TripAdvisor reviews are not verified and therefore it is not clear whether the people have even stayed at a hotel.
Which? Travel’s Naomi Leach said: ‘TripAdvisor’s failure to stop fake reviews and take strong action against hotels that abuse the system risks misleading millions of travellers and potentially ruining their holidays.
‘Sites like TripAdvisor must do more to ensure the information on their platforms is reliable and if they continue to fall short, they should be compelled to make changes so holidaymakers are no longer at risk of being duped by a flood of fake reviews.’
Accurate fraud detection requires analysis of a wide range of data points, such as IP information, location data or details about the device an account was using when submitting a review. This crucial data is missing from Which?’s analysis
TripAdvisor spokesperson
TripAdvisor challenged the accuracy of the Which? research. It said: ‘The analysis is based on a flawed understanding of fake review patterns and is reliant on too many assumptions, and too little data.
‘It is far too simplistic to assume all first-time reviewers are suspicious. Every genuine reviewer in the world is at some point a first-time reviewer.
‘Accurate fraud detection requires analysis of a wide range of data points, such as IP information, location data or details about the device an account was using when submitting a review. This crucial data is missing from Which?’s analysis, and therefore its findings do not and cannot provide a reliable indication of the true volume of review fraud.
‘By contrast, we employ sophisticated fraud detection technology that can analyse hundreds of data-points based on a knowledge and understanding of review patterns gained from tracking hundreds of millions of reviews over a near 20-year period. This includes an ability to track and analyse first-time reviews in far more detail and with far more rigour than Which?’s team was able to do. We also have an industry-leading team of fraud investigators who work tirelessly to protect the site from fake reviews.
‘We are confident our approach works, and is one of the reasons we continue to retain the trust of many millions of consumers worldwide.’
Travelodge said: ‘The integrity of customer reviews for our hotels is extremely important to us and we receive more than 70,000 reviews every year. We hold a strong established relationship with TripAdvisor.
‘We did experience a breakdown in our internal communication when TripAdvisor identified an irregular pattern of reviews at our Wembley Central Travelodge Hotel that needed investigating. Unfortunately, on this occasion, that matter was not managed effectively within the timeframe, and we have taken appropriate action to ensure this does not happen again.
‘Wembley Central Travelodge has undergone a full refurbishment earlier this year and we are satisfied that the hotel reviews accurately reflect the customer experience at the hotel.’