TripAdvisor backlash and online reputation management

It's doubtful Fawlty Towers would have survived if TripAdvisor was around (Photo: Paul Boxley)

One of my favourite scenes in Fawlty Towers is when Basil Fawlty is cornered by all the residents in the hotel who get to complain directly to his face about the myriad of problems, ranging from rude management to issues with a Wardolf Salad.

One of the reasons it was so funny is that, for most people, we all have been in situations where we wanted to openly challenge poor service but never got round to doing so. In the 1970s, when the series was broadcast, there were limited options for complaining aside from a letter to the manager or kicking up a fuss at reception.

But we now lived in changed times thanks to the internet. Internet media have created a ‘digitally transparent’ world and recent advances in social media including blogs, consumer review sites and video sharing sites have ushered in a new era of consumer power online.

Unsatisfied and angry customers don’t just leave an establishment vowing ‘never to stay there again’, they now go online and write a review telling the world about their experiences.

TripAdvisor and the hotel sector

As any marketing manager or owner in the hospitality sector knows, online reviews sites are having a major impact on their establishment’s reputations, the most important of which is the seemingly all powerful TripAdvisor.

Online reviews sites are having a major impact on their establishment’s reputations, the most important of which is the seemingly all powerful TripAdvisor

As well as being one of the world’s largest online sites with over 40 million users, the site has also become something of a ‘make or break’ reputation tool for hotels and restaurants, bad reputation can also delay an acquisition for many hotels for sale.

TripAdvisor’s mantra, ‘Get the truth and then go’ sums up the trust and expectations many people associate with the site. But lately there’s been serious questions raised about the authenticity and nature of some reviews posted on TripAdvisor.

In October 2010 , hundreds of hoteliers announced they would join together to launch a group court case against TripAdvisor claiming their businesses have been subjected to malicious negative reviews on the site. The action is being supported by a Bournemouth reputation management firm called KwikChex who intend to “approach TripAdvisor with details on some of the worst cases and ask them to make corrections.”

The company are threatening to use TripAdvisor’s owners if no action is taken. In the other corner, TripAdvisor claim that they employ specialist software and staff to spot fake reviews and that business can report suspicious postings as well as posting a management response to each review.

The stakes are high. Hotels and restaurants are entitled to stand up for themselves if they feel there is a highly malicious review posted in what is a very public arena. However as always with online reviews, people retain the right to freedom of speech and review sites rely on the law to uphold free expression.

I’ve worked with clients in the travel and hospitality sector in relation to review issues on TripAdvisor and other online review sites. In my experience, the issues relating to the current TripAdvisor case reinforces a number of points about online reputation management.

‘Internet Trolls’

The first surrounds the scale and impact that so-called ‘Internet Trolls’ have on the reputations of businesses.

If you have ever been on TripAdvisor or an online review site chances are you’ve experienced an Internet Troll. Often nasty and malicious, these people post very negative threads and reviews to encourage other similar responses. Typically they are highly vocal about criticising every facet of their experience as a customer and although they make up just 1% of online reviewers ‘Trolls’ command a disproportionate voice on the internet, especially on TripAdvisor.

It seems to me that much of the highly negative reviews on Trip Advisor aren’t being caused by competitors, as some hotel owners claim, but genuinely disappointed customers or by internet trolls.

Responding online

The second issue about online reviews raised by the Trip Advisor case concerns how businesses should react to various posts. The hospitality sector is starting to engage more with online reviews, however some management responses on TripAdvisor leave a lot to be desired.

Examples of poor response practises include the ‘template’ approach where management post a general response to every good or poor review; and even management rants about dozens of their individual customers.

While it may be tempting to respond in public to a review you believe is wrong, unfair or even malicious, it can be a double-edged sword. One way to think of online review sites and social media is that they function like a customer relations channel.

Businesses might not like the fact that their customer relations have gone online – but that’s the reality of the internet. My advice to businesses is to have a PR response strategy for online sites such as TripAdvisor so they can avoid some of the poor management responses that appear online.

When businesses are dealing with online reviews they need to ask themselves ‘would I have an argument with a customer via the intercom, radio or TV?’