Doin' Costa Rica: TripAdvisor is the EVIL EMPIRE

Sunday, June 10, 2012

TripAdvisor is the EVIL EMPIRE

TripAdvisor- Where FRAUD travels for FREE.
TripAdvisor is probably one of the most high-profile, manipulated sites on the planet. Why? Because TripAdvisor pretty much lets anyone say anything about anyone with ZERO accountability. And although John Q Public isn't aware of this, restaurant/hotel owners and others in the travel biz, ARE. Unfortunately, since

TripAdvisor has done a bang-up marketing job promoting themselves as pretty much the Bible on travel info, and like I said, John Q Public believes it, the folks in the travel biz feel they have to play the TripAdvisor game... and unless said restaurants/hotels and travel services are well established, reputable or just plain BIG- most do. Make no mistake, there's a severe risk when you get in bed with TripAdvisor and this quote pretty much sums it up: Live by the sword - die by the sword.

As the above example indicates, it's really quite simple. Anyone can post a positive or negative review about any restaurant, hotel etc, without so much as ever stepping foot in said establishment. Hotel and restaurant owners know this. So they manipulate. They have people (usually friends and family) write positive reviews for them and/or negative reviews for the competition. The outcome over time is obvious, it's an absolute FREE FRAWL for rankings since TripAdvisor does almost nothing to stop it. Therefore thousands of reviews are bogus. TripAdvisor says fraud is minimal. I beg to differ.

Here's our video about TripAdvisor- the Evil Empire.

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Stephen · 668 weeks ago

This also goes for Yelp and a dozen other Internet review sources. As a retired business owner from San Francisco, I had to fight to refute bogus reviews about my business... And yes, I had friends and family stack the deck on the reviews....

I mean come on folks.... If its on google it must be true.....

1 reply · active 668 weeks ago

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michael_alan 33p · 668 weeks ago

Well, it amazing how many folks believe this shit.

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GringoFace · 668 weeks ago

I would do the same, because: I've stayed in my own hotel and/or ate my own food at my restaurant... I think it is the BEST!! I travel often, in and out of CR, and Trip Advisor has been more/less accurate. #1 hotel in Puerto Viejo - Banana Azul, I have not stayed any where else yet, so for now it is true. Next time, I'll stay some where else just to find out what else is out there. Take Trip Advisor's reviews/rating into account, but don't let it sway your purchase 100%. Good Video Sir!

1 reply · active 668 weeks ago

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michael_alan 33p · 668 weeks ago

Well, of course even bogus, fraudulent reviews can be true. It's just for me, why try to figure it out..... TripAdvisor is too BIG and they truly don't care, just want to make money..... so I don't want to support them

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David M. Lane · 668 weeks ago

I do not think TripAdvisor is any better or worse than stuff I have seen on blogs prepared to get the attention of those interested in attracting North Americans to relocate to Latin America. You have some of these blog sites telling people they can live on a shoestring, have servants, drivers and live in utopia. They even have the gaul to suggest to people they can do it all on only their socialsecurity payment and live far better than they can in the U.S. This just ain't so!!!xxx!!! No one monitors these jokers either. I am especially leary of those who are in the real estate sales business and purport to be your friend.When I read reviews on tripadvisor I knda sense those that are too good to be true as well as those that are just a negative hoax. I do read them and sometimes heed their advicebut I always keep in mind that these reviews are written by people with their own likes and dislikes. Quality, standards and offerings are different in Latin America than in North America. You can't expect everything to be on the same scale as in you neighborhood back home. I do give consideration when a reviewer (previous patron of the establishment) suggests things like "get a room on an upper floor to avoid noise" or there is no public transportation in the area or there is no one who speaks English to help you out. That's my two cents worth!

1 reply · active 668 weeks ago

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michael_alan 33p · 668 weeks ago

I think that's a bad comparison..TripAdvisor vs. bloggers- Apples and Oranges. I live here on $950 a month,,is that a shoestring? You can live here cheaply if you want to... and it's not servants, it's just a housekeeper, which you can get for about $2.50/hour... but whatever. You're right about the real estate,,,got to be very leery of anyone trying to sell you property here. To me, TripAdvisor just isn't worth the time and effort.... so many other better ways to get the INFO you need to make an informed decision.

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expatcostarica 44p · 668 weeks ago

I agree with your overall assessment in that there is no way to confirm or even investigate the validity of comments posted on Trip Advisor.

One new feature that may help is Facebook and Trip Advisor integration. I was logged into Facebook while looking for a hotel in San Juan del Sur, and Trip Advisor showed me which comments were posted by my friends on Facebook. Since I am selective about friends on Facebook I can assume these comments are legitimate.

Of course this has a long way and some possible evolution before it may be useful for most destinations. However, I do expect Trip Advisor to work in this direction because it greatly improves their bottom line when they have detailed statistics and social network integration for their page visitors.

1 reply · active 668 weeks ago

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michael alan · 668 weeks ago

TripAdvisor could easily fix the problem if they wanted too...it's done on other sites... I think it's the fact businesses get seriously hurt and TripAdvisor does very little,,,, after researching this, it's unbelievable how many businesses have tried to LEAVE TripAdvisor, but can't.........

The FAceBook TA integration sounds like a decent start though. Thanx for the comments....

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Tobias · 667 weeks ago

First of all thank you for this great critical post.
I agree, that tripadvisor has some risks for tourism business owners and also their customers. But I think also that with some common sense you can recognize the difference between just a "Troll" and a real review. Proof me wrong, but I think there should also still be the option for business owners to complain to tripadvisor if a review has no reason. But I also would suggest tripadvisor to implement some sort of proofing system.