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The Big Flaws in Hotel Rankings

I'm sharing an article on how online hotel review sites rank and moderate hotel reviews. It covers online review sites: TripAdvisor, Expedia, Hotels.com, Priceline, and Orbitz. Spoiler alert: fraud is a problem on these sites just as it in on other review sites.

Some snippets:

Atlantis - The Palm Hotel

"A wide range of factors affect rankings: the number of hotels listed on the site, the total number of reviews, whether websites themselves tinker with the rankings and whether questionable reviews are effectively policed by moderators."

"Thus the temptation for hotels to submit fake reviews to pump up their scores, or even trash competitors to improve their own sales. TripAdvisor says it knows of review "mills" and "reputation management" firms offering to stuff the ballot box for hotels willing to pay."

"Unlike TripAdvisor, Expedia, Hotels.com and Priceline all limit their guest reviews to customers who booked hotels through their websites. They send an email after a stay with a unique link inviting that traveler to review the hotel."

"Hotels are so dependent on reviews that of course they will generate their own. They would be crazy not to."

Read more at: The Wall Street Journal

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