Marc Charron, managing director of TripAdvisor’s new Asia Pacific office, last week assured hoteliers that he wants to be their friend.
Charron, speaking at the Web in Travel conference, said TripAdvisor’s role was to inspire people to travel and user reviews of hotels were part of that process.
“We’re doing a better job of reaching out to hoteliers in a way that we didn’t in the past few years,†he said.
“We’re showing hoteliers how best to work with us…to see us as a ‘word of mouth’ channel that can work in their favour.â€
But now comes news out that people who post fake online hotel reviews may face legal action.
They are to be granted a two-week amnesty to remove them or face legal action, reports the UK’s Sunday Telegraph.
Kwikchex, which describes itself as an online reputation-management company, says that next month it will publish a list of “thousands” of reviewers it suspects of posting fraudulent and defamatory comments.
Kwikchex says it is acting on behalf of more than 800 hotels and restaurants.
The editors of the UK’s Good Hotel Guide have accused TripAdvisor of being “brazen and shameless” in printing malicious reviews without checking their authenticity.
