Now, no esPResso reader would ever dream of suggesting to a client that they post a positive review about their own products or services on a relevant punter-review website, let alone a negative review about a competitor, but apparently that kind of thing goes on out there in the crazy, crazy digital world.
Especially in the travel sector, it seems. Well, I’ve never trusted travel agents, not since they booked me into that “bright and functional hotel” that was supposedly “just minutes from the city centre”.
But anyway, travel website TripAdvisor has been criticised by the Advertising Standards Authority for claiming to carry “trusted advice from real travellers” and “honest travel reviews and opinions”, because it couldn’t be certain that some of the reviews of its website hadn’t come from sneaky hoteliers or travel agents talking themselves up and their competitors down.
No one’s doubting that many and probably most of the reviews on the popular travel site are genuine, but, following complaints from two hotels and online reputation experts KwikChex, the ASA ruled that TripAdvisor “could not be certain the reviews posted were from genuine travellers, and accurately reflected those travellers’ experiences of the places they visited”. While it conceded TripAdvisor did monitor submissions for “suspicious activity”, they concluded it was impossible for them to 100% verify every single comment, and that they shouldn’t imply they can in their ad copy.
A TripAdvisor spokesman responded thus: “The ASA has taken a highly technical view around some marketing copy that was used in a limited capacity. We have confidence that the 50 million users who come to our site every month trust the reviews they read on TripAdvisor, which is why they keep coming back to us in increasingly larger numbers to plan and have the perfect trip”.
He continued: “The average traveller reads dozens of reviews before making an informed decision, not just one or two. We know that our users approach TripAdvisor with common sense, and make an educated decision based on the opinions of many. If people did not feel the insight they gained from our site was an accurate reflection of their experience they wouldn’t keep coming back”.
Tags: ASA, TripAdvisor
Sections: Advertising - Marketing Comms - News-Bite | No Comments
