Trip Advisor ditches “reviews you trust” slogan
Trip Advisor ditched its “reviews you trust” slogan from the hotels section of its site before an investigation by the Advertising Standards Authority.
Speaking on the change of slogan, TripAdvisor spokesperson Emma O’Boyle said: "As with all marketing messaging, the wording used on the TripAdvisor site is constantly evolving to reflect different aspects of the business.
"We implemented the line, “World’s largest travel review site” in early 2010 and have updated it further in communications when we became the “World’s largest travel site”, at the point confirmed by comScore.
"The “Reviews from our Community”, which is now visible on the hotel pages, is also part of our ever-evolving communication efforts, this time highlighting our commitment to our all-important community. The description of TripAdvisor as a trustworthy source of travel advice and information remains used in other parts of the site, and by example you’ll still see this wording on the homepage. In the first instance it appears front-and-centre in the hotel search box (Find Hotels Travellers Trust) and secondly in the ‘Hotels in Popular Destinations’ box on the second half of the homepage (“You'll find real hotel reviews you can trust at TripAdvisor so make sure you read these reviews and choose the perfect hotel for your next stay”). This evolution was carried out across all domains gradually from June to August this year, first appearing in the UK on 27th June 2011."
The review of TripAdvisor follows complaints from businesses that reviews posted on the site were often made up or defamatory, prompting the reviews site to amend its statement to “reviews from our community”.
A group of 2,000 hoteliers featured negatively on the site clubbed together to employ online reputation management company KwikChex to investigate the veracity of reviews – prompting the ASA investigation.
Chris Emmins, co-founder of KwikChex, claims to have found examples of fake reviews. He said: "One of the latest such cases brought to our attention may well have been the target of false negative reviews, but was then additionally 'red flagged' by TripAdvisor.
"We believe we know the cause of this and can demonstrate not only the falsehood of the accusation by TripAdvisor – but also how this again proves several flaws in their systems.
“Such practices are extremely significant and will add weight to the evidence of abuse and lack of diligence."