Many hoteliers wonder how they can get negative reviews removed from TripAdvisor.
NB: This is an article from Travel Media Group
Receiving negative reviews can be bad news for GMs and owners. However, TripAdvisor won’t remove negative reviews simply because they paint a bad picture of the hotel. Reviews must violate specific guidelines for TripAdvisor to remove them.
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What Gets a Review Removed?
Profane, Vulgar, or Intolerant Language
TripAdvisor requires that reviews are family-friendly. Any review that mentions the reviewer participating in illegal or illicit activities violates the guidelines. In addition, the reviewer cannot make threats or personal insults. TripAdvisor does not permit reviewers to express personal thoughts about politics, religion, race, and sexual orientation.
Irrelevant Information
Sometimes people try to ask questions to other travelers or the owner. These belong in the separate questions section. Other irrelevant comments include content that promotes intolerance or a boycott/smear campaign of the property.
Incorrect Listing
There are times when hotels receive reviews for other businesses not associated with their hotel, like an attached restaurant or spa. TripAdvisor will take down any reviews that appear on the wrong listing.
Bias
TripAdvisor only wants genuine reviews. Reviews written by an ex-employee or nearby competitor attempting to lower the score violate the guidelines. On the other hand, don’t try to obtain positive reviews using people you know. When TripAdvisor catches you, your property will face consequences.
Blackmail
Sometimes negative reviews are posted as a form of blackmail against the hotel. Immediately following the threat of blackmail, you should notify TripAdvisor following these steps to get the review taken down.
Old Stays
Reviews must be from within a year of a guest’s stay. You should report any review you suspect were written about an experience from over a year ago. It’s a good idea to search your reservation system to find proof to submit to TripAdvisor.
Rumors or Second-Hand Information
Reviews must be about experiences that the reviewer had. Reviews containing second-hand information or rumors (“My sister stayed here, and she said there were bugs!”), violate the guidelines and will be taken down.
Not Original
TripAdvisor wants travelers to share their own experiences, not anyone else’s. If a review appears to be copied, plagiarized, or unoriginal in any way, TripAdvisor will take it down.
Promotional/Commercial
Any review that contains content meant to promote a product or service is not allowed in the review section.
How to Report a TripAdvisor Review
Follow these steps to report a review you believe violates the guidelines:
- Go to the Business Management Center at http://tripadvisor.com/owners
- Under the Reviews tab on the top, click Report a Review
- Select the reason for the problem with the review as well as the title of the review
- Leave your comment explaining why the review violates the guidelines
- Click submit
Someone from TripAdvisor will read your report and decide if the review violated their guidelines. You should hear back within 3-5 business days.
Other TripAdvisor users can also report that a review violates guidelines. There is a flag icon on every review that any TripAdvisor user can click. Once reported, someone from TripAdvisor will review the report.
How Long Does it Take to Remove a Review on TripAdvisor?
TripAdvisor processes over 10,000 reviews per day. The amount of time it takes for their staff to review reports depends on their workload. Therefore the process can take weeks to complete. Most reviews are posted publicly and considered valid until flagged or reported.
The best action to take when you notice a bad review is to respond to it. Responding is helpful to both the reviewer and other travelers reading the review. For more information on how to handle unhappy guests, check out our post on responding to negative reviews on TripAdvisor.
