Consumer Watchdog

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In the year 2015, the residential developer Charles Goodall bought a run-down pub called The Bridge Inn in Middleton-in-Teesdale, a small market town in Durham, in the hope of in some houses.

The pub is not open yet for the economy since 2011, but on Tripadvisor , curious people written reviews for three years, from 2014 to 2016, claiming to have had a Sunday roast and experienced bad service.

"We came in search of old photos of the pub on Google and the reviews. We found it quite funny," said Mr Goodall, Managing Director of the New Era of Regeneration, told the BBC.

"I contact Tripadvisor on your Website , and advised them that the ratings were impossible, because the pub was not trading, and they were slow to react. "

The reviews are still on the Tripadvisor Website , but earlier this year, the page was finally changed to show that The Bridge Inn is now closed.

Mr Goodall added: "I use Tripadvisor myself, and now I'm a bit skeptical of the service because of this. "

'we don't know We are perfect'

Tripadvisor published its first transparency report, which shows that in the year 2018, it prevents a million fake reviews will be displayed on your Website .

The abandoned Bridge Inn in the year 2016, before it was converted into Three Houses

The Report is believed to be in response to a number of external parties, including the affected hoteliers and restaurateurs, as well as Consumer Watchdog Which?.

Tripadvisor , says the 66 million reviews completed in the year 2018, and all of them were 2 through a moderation process, with the fraud-detection technology, while the. 7 million reviews have been shielded by a content moderation team.

The reviews Website says that 79% of the reviews were posted evaluated within six hours, and only 4. 7% of reviews were rejected before or after the contents have been published.

"These third parties do not have access to the most important technical data are necessary to determine whether or not a review is fraudulent. We do - and with this report, for the First Time ever, we want a definitive insight into The Details and data behind our extensive content moderation efforts," Tripadvisor 's president and chief executive Stephen Kaufer , wrote in The Report .

"We do this in The Spirit of transparency. We don't know that we are Not Perfect . But we are constantly working, always One Step ahead of people trying to abuse our Platform and we believe that No Other review Platform for the protection of the integrity of your content than Tripadvisor . "

restaurateur Robert Melman met with Tripadvisor in the year 2018, to Express concern over fake reviews

Mr Goodall is alone, suspicious of Tripadvisor . Robert Melman, the founder of the Fazenda chain of Brazilian restaurants, told the BBC that his restaurants have received one star reviews he thinks is unfair.

He claims that some of the reviews were from people who had never dined in his restaurants, or people to the rules about The Dress code or the city to give kids in restaurants after a certain time of The Day .

Many of the negative reviews come from accounts that post only once to check A Fazenda restaurant, And Then never again post, he added.

Mr Melman meets Tripadvisor in year 2018, to Express his concerns, but he says that nothing has changed after this meeting.

"you try, with Tripadvisor , and they didn't even reply, because she is so powerful and it doesn't interest you," he said.

"If a reviewer brings a review in my restaurant nine years ago And Then never reviews again, then it means this person is not interested in becoming a member of the Tripadvisor community, and should The Site been taken away. "

Mixed opinions

reviewer Kurt Weideling has a different problem with Tripadvisor . He closed his account and stopped the use of The Site in the year 2017, after two negative evaluations, he has cleared written about the hotels he stayed in were of of the Website .

Mr Weideling said that he already posted 10 reviews with his account and only two were negative: "I was basically told that The Hotel was very poor value, after he Paid £200 plus for a room, it was hot, loud and with a broken and unsafe furniture. The latter was an allusion to the fact that the chairs were in The Room , fall to pieces from you. I sat on one, almost collapsed. "

Former Tripadvisor Kurt Weideling stopped using The Site after the negative reviews he posted were dismantled

He sat down with Tripadvisor to ask why his posts were deleted, and said that he received a generic answer about how reviews could be removed if you violate the terms and conditions of, or had demanded, the facilities and found to be falsified or incorrect.

"I didn't pursue The Matter and decided that if this was something that Tripadvisor has regularly called into question the legitimacy of their entire review of the system. So I deleted my account and no longer use Tripadvisor for any purpose," he added.

But many people have the feeling that Tripadvisor has to offer you value and how you use the Website .

"Tripadvisor massively helped, as I was traveling to Asia in the last year. I found some really good tips for trips and came across some nice restaurants," portfolio management analyst Holly Fennell told the BBC.

Kathryn Benson, a property manager, agreed: "personally, I find Tripadvisor to be fantastic. I recently went to Krakow, Poland and booked Auschwitz, the salt mines and a bar crawl. Very good reviews, great communication and I knew exactly what to expect. "

Although some companies are unhappy, a lot of consumers say they find value in Tripadvisor reviews

Several readers told the BBC that it was important, "Common Sense ", if you review to make websites and their own views by comparing the reviews on different websites and looking for actual photographs.

The BBC contacted Tripadvisor for the comment and The Site said that he believes that both customer-and business-owners should have a voice.

"That is the reason why we allow entrepreneurs The Right to respond publicly to reviews, and the answers will be published for all to see (subject to the guidelines for the publication, as well as reviews). So if an owner is of the opinion that a review is unfair, you can highlight these in your response. Owner of responses to make a difference," a Tripadvisor spokesman told the BBC.

"the research shows that customers read, what to say to a company, in response to the reviews, and the tone of your answers can often have a greater impact than the review itself. In other words, can a company a negative review often turn into a positive, just by the way it responds is that of the reviewer. "

hospitality industry, tripadvisor, restaurants, online reviews, hotels, companies

Source of news: bbc.com