TripAdvisor

DO NOT prepay ANY hotel through Tripadvisor. They do not visit hotels before they upload the hotel. When you arrive at hotel it's not as the pictures & then you are out of luck for getting a refund. Tripadvisor does not get hold of the manager for the approval of a refund and they just deny it saying they couldn't get hold of the manager. Always check the hotel and room before you actually pay the hotel.

They reject reviews without any solid reason. As such, the reviews on their site cannot be trusted. Customer reviews are all important, even when they are negative. Customers deserve to read all reviews.

The whole thing is fake. Tripadvisor ONLY promotes restaurants or hotels that will book though Viator and pay a 30% fee. All the other legit companies will not be rated. That all started about 5 year ago when Viator bought Tripadvisor. I'm in the top 3 in my area but you cannot find me there as I refuse to pay that 30% booking fee.

It’s very interesting that the ratings for Trip Advisor on this site seem to be on the slide. I used to be a big fan of the Trip Advisor, as it was my go-to source for travel advice and suggestions. However, on a recent trip to the UK, I noted a shift in the quality of their recommendations. While I was aware of the fake reviews on the site, I now feel that the suggestions are driven by advertisers, rather than practical and honest advice from fellow travelers.

I wish to inform all businesses that are thinking of signing up with Tripadvisor, that you read and understand their policies. They are very strict about not removing any reviews from their website even if they are detrimental to your business. They won't even let me close my account to remove my listing. I can only say that my business is closed. All the reviews will remain online forever. As long as the reviewer seems to be within their so-called guidelines, they will let it be posted. Please look elsewhere for review companies that allow some sort review management. I have over 36 reviews on Tripadvisor. Two of them are negative and over 5 years old. If you do I search for my business on Google, the most negative review always, I mean always shows up first in a search. No rotation of reviews whatsoever. Here is the canned response I received from the so-called support team:

I made a booking for a Hilton hotel 6 months before my reservation. 5 days before my reservation they sent me an email that said I can cancel or go to a different hotel that was outside of the city. I called 3x getting different stories, but the email was true. I’m TripAdvisor plus. I pay $99/yr for good deals. This is not acceptable. I can’t trust them now so I will never use them again. They were no help when I called. Take the hotel or cancel basically is what they said. I cancelled. What if I had been going on my dream vacation. Think about this before you book with them. Will you be ok if you get this email 5 days before your trip. I have always liked Tripadvisor, but now I know what happens when things go wrong.

We are abandoning TripAdvisor as our guide. Often we find ourselves in restaurants with bland food that have high ratings just because of the price and because just like with everything else the general public has a sad taste.

They want to only hear positive. But that helps no one traveling to warn them about potential problems and rip-offs and dangers. People need the raw unfiltered truth, not some namby-pamby review that does nothing to aid them in their choices.

As a service business our reviews are very important to us. We strive to offer the highest level of customer service and respond to any unsatisfied customers immediately. Posts that are "blatantly" mistaken identity or obviously non verified customers do not get removed when you report them to TripAdvisor. We took valuable time to investigate the authenticity to a few negative posts and TripAdvisor still refused to take them down. Their platform is not fair like Google and Yelp reporting. They actually "read" your report and "see" the issues. Honest posts regardless of the review are not disputed and we attempt "every remedy" available to ensure the customers are satisfied with our actions when dissatisfied. Their platform needs better monitoring and oversight with more in depth rational considerations when businesses dispute a review.

Update. Honestly, my experience with TripAdvisor started out poorly. My wife was frustrated. As a result, I became upset when I realized why she was frazzled. Anger kicked in, and I posted an unflattering review of the company. Next, I wrote an admittedly nasty note to the CEO, Matt Goldberg who has been there less than six months. My guess on his reading what I sent? Zero chance! Shocked - about five hours after my tirade, and on a Monday night around 8 pm, my wife got a call - from Matt Goldberg. Not an assistant. Not an imposter. The CEO!