The other day, I wrote about the Accor APAC executive that had left some not so glowing reviews of competing properties on TripAdvisor (you can access the piece here).
A LoyaltyLobby reader sent me a copy of PDF that TripAdvisor sends to hotels about removal of negative reviews.
The management can report guests that “blackmail” or i.e. mention that they may leave a negative review of the property IF the management doesn’t resolve an issue with the stay for the guest’s satisfaction.
The key to note here is that the management needs to report this BEFORE the guest leaves a review. I would imagine that it is obvious in a case of disastrous stay that the likelihood of a not so glowing review is high IF the guest made it public that he/she leaves TripAdvisor reviews.
The hotels can have TripAdvisor reviews removed for the reviewer for not complying with the TA’s terms and conditions such as having not actually stayed at the property or working for competing hotel within certain distance of the reviewed one.
Conclusion
The TripAdvisor needs to keep a delicate balance between the reviewers that are providing the content for free and the hotels that are paying for TripAdvisor for the clicks and revenue share.
If you are running a hotel, it is truly micromanaging for trying to estimate the incoming negative reviews and make blackmail reports in advance. Likely the management’s time would be better served for taking care of the guests in the first place.
Even the excellent properties fail at times or get unjustified reviews. But in general, the reviews on TripAdvisor are overwhelmingly positive even for not so good properties.