greenbarncottages
11-06-2011, 08:32 AM
I came across an interesting item on a specialised website the other day. It was a hotel owner looking for writers to produce, for a fee, reviews for his hotels to appear on Trip Advisor. They didn’t need to stay of course (and Hanoi is a bit of a trek) – all the information they required would be provided. The applicants needed an understanding of how to avoid TA’s rudimentary checks for bogus reviews, but that’s simple enough.
Most of us with small businesses – B&B’s, self-catering holiday rentals, small guest houses – naturally avoid TA as one bogus review from a competitor, or guest who objected to being charged for causing significant damage, can slay our very personal business; such a review stands out within the small number that we’re likely to get over any period of time. Now we have a solution! All we need to do is produce a few hundred glowing reviews and get them on TA; maybe we could even form a co-operative and write them for each other.
In the holiday rental line it’s becoming more urgent as listing sites change. Holiday Lettings are now well and truly in bed with TA (as in TA now own them) so that’s one to avoid; a shame for those owners who’d already paid a lot of money to be listed on HL then to discover a major change in how they operate.
Of course we already knew that Trip Advisor is a farce, and a rapidly degenerating one at that, but as long as they get lots of reviews to publish their money machine keeps rolling and that, rather than any openness, honesty or credibility, is their main concern. Sour grapes perhaps, but I’m merely jealous because I didn’t think of the idea of founding TA and making a few easy billions instead of working to scrape a living providing what our genuine guests want.
This post is probably largely pointless as the limited readership is already fully aware that TA is at best a sham, at worst a scam, and not an ideal substitute for true independent assessment. In fact there can’t be anyone involved in the UK Tourism Industry who doesn’t know that.
Apart from John Penrose, of course.
Most of us with small businesses – B&B’s, self-catering holiday rentals, small guest houses – naturally avoid TA as one bogus review from a competitor, or guest who objected to being charged for causing significant damage, can slay our very personal business; such a review stands out within the small number that we’re likely to get over any period of time. Now we have a solution! All we need to do is produce a few hundred glowing reviews and get them on TA; maybe we could even form a co-operative and write them for each other.
In the holiday rental line it’s becoming more urgent as listing sites change. Holiday Lettings are now well and truly in bed with TA (as in TA now own them) so that’s one to avoid; a shame for those owners who’d already paid a lot of money to be listed on HL then to discover a major change in how they operate.
Of course we already knew that Trip Advisor is a farce, and a rapidly degenerating one at that, but as long as they get lots of reviews to publish their money machine keeps rolling and that, rather than any openness, honesty or credibility, is their main concern. Sour grapes perhaps, but I’m merely jealous because I didn’t think of the idea of founding TA and making a few easy billions instead of working to scrape a living providing what our genuine guests want.
This post is probably largely pointless as the limited readership is already fully aware that TA is at best a sham, at worst a scam, and not an ideal substitute for true independent assessment. In fact there can’t be anyone involved in the UK Tourism Industry who doesn’t know that.
Apart from John Penrose, of course.