Do you trust TripAdvisor?

TripAdvisor’s website says it features more than 50 million “honest travel reviews and opinions from real travellers around the world”.

Its claim to publish “reviews you can trust” was challenged by internet company KwickChex Ltd and two hotels.

They argued the claims were misleading because TripAdvisor did not verify the reviews on its website and could not prove that the reviews were genuine or from real travellers.

It is telling that the original complaint to the ASA did not stem from travellers or average members of the public. TripAdvisor spokesman

TripAdvisor has also faced claims that some businesses were being given poor reviews by rivals to boost their own trade.

The website said the impact of small numbers of fraudulent reviews was effectively negligible because research data showed that the average traveller read dozens of reviews before making a booking.

The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) investigated and concluded that TripAdvisor’s claims were misleading.

It said the ad must not appear again in its current form and told TripAdvisor not to claim or imply that all the reviews that appeared on the website were from real travellers, or were honest, real or trusted.

Do you trust TripAdvisor? We asked Channel 4 News Facebook followers:

Michael Taylor: I think a lot of restaurateurs write their own accounts. It is still broadly a good gauge though.

Craig Bauer Melson: Sometimes, depending on where you go. Also, anything 5 star is instantly suspicious in my mind!

Stephen 'Zsa Zsa' Smith: I contribute but take everything on there with a pinch of salt as have found reviews to be way out as it were.

Ann Dunkerley: I have always found they serve me well! Of course one needs to look for the overall impression. There will always be moaners when there is nothing really wrong. In fact TripAdviser's guidance is to look for the overall impression. 

Have your say on the Channel 4 News Facebook page.

Original complaint not from public

In a statement to Channel 4 News TripAdvisor said: “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.”

A spokesman added: “It is telling that the original complaint to the ASA did not stem from travellers using our site or average members of the public.

“It was driven by an online reputation management group with an obvious commercial interest in undermining people’s confidence in user content-generated review platforms.”

But KwickChex Ltd said that since it made the original complaint to the ASA it had conducted further investigations and obtained “further evidence of the ways in which the site is being abused by fraudsters, some of whom are malevolent and do great harm to reputable businesses.

It added: “It is small businesses that suffer most as they tend to have few reviews and so the impact is much greater.”