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Cornell Uni finds a way to spot fake hotel reviews
Researchers at Cornell University have come up with new software that they claim can detect fake hotel reviews.
Hotel Management Asia reports that the researchers tested the software by asking 400 reviewers to write fake reviews of a leading Chicago hotel, which were then matched against 400 actual reviews of 20 leading Chicago hotels from online consumer review site TripAdvisor.
Three human judges were then given 160 reviews to evaluate whether they were genuine or fake with the results compared to the software tests.
The research found the software was close to 90 percent accurate at spotting the false reviews, higher than the reviewers which were right roughly only half the time.
The software works by identifying the type of language used – it found fake reviews contained a number of common points including heavy use of verbs and general comments whilst the genuine reviews used a lot of nouns and were more focused on specifics.
“We found that the deceptive reviews generally use more verbs, adverbs and pronouns while truthful ones use more nouns, prepositions and adjectives,†said Myle Ott, a PhD student at Cornell.
Compare these two reviews and work out which one is false.
Review 1
I have stayed at many hotels travelling for both business and pleasure and I can honestly stay that The James is tops. The service at the hotel is first class. The rooms are modern and very comfortable. The location is perfect within walking distance to all of the great sights and restaurants. Highly recommended to both business travellers and couples.
Review 2
My husband and I stayed at the James Chicago Hotel for our anniversary. This place is fantastic! We knew as soon as we arrived we made the right choice! The rooms are BEAUTIFUL and the staff are very attentive and wonderful!! The area of the hotel is great, since I love to shop I couldn’t ask for more!! We will definitely be back to Chicago and we will for sure be back to the James Chicago.
Which review is false? Answer below
The second review is false.
Ian Jarrett
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