LONDON – The Independent newspaper in the UK has been taking a look at TripAdvisor’s hotel reviews, and most especially its recent listing of the dirtiest hotels around the world.
Writer Jonathan Brown says the hotel industry is growing increasingly concerned at the power wielded by Internet sites such as TripAdvisor whose anonymous reviews can destroy an establishment’s reputation.
It comes after hoteliers reacted with fury, claiming their businesses were damaged, after being included in a list of the 10 “Dirtiest Hotels” in the UK.
Bob Cotton, chief executive of the British Hospitality Association, said hotels across Europe were seeking to persuade the EU Commission to overhaul the rules governing website reviews to ensure that they have been posted by genuine guests and not by rivals or people simply out to cause mischief.
“You can’t ban these on-line comments – that is like de-inventing the atomic bomb – and I am in favour of all these methods of modern communication. But we need a fair crack of the whip,” said Cotton
The TravelMole USA newswire last week reported that San Francisco’s Heritage Marina Hotel was named by travellers as dirtiest in the US for 2010.
“If you are filming a horror flick or a slasher movie, this is the place for you. If you are a NORMAL person, avoid it like the plague!” one traveller warned about an October stay at the Heritage Marina, which has earned negative marks from 80 percent of TripAdvisor reviewers.

In Asia, TripAdvisor named its dirtiest hotel as the Phi Phi Don Chukit Resort in Thailand, followed by the Raj Regency in Chennai and the Goldkist Beach Resort in Singapore.
TripAdvisor maintains that its technology can weed out suspicious hotel reviews.
