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TripAdvisor is coming under fire again, this time for a new ratings system.

The new scoring system has been criticised by reputation management company KwikChex, which argues that it will produce even more mistrust and distortion.

It claims in the last 24 hours it has been inundated with concerns about the new ratings systems.

“‘They are coming from many who have always supported TripAdvisor, including consumers,'” said chief executive Chris Emmins.

source: travelmole.com

TripAdvisor is seeking verification after Howarth House, a hotel in Lytham St Anne, said a review posted on the property was fake.

The consumer reviews giant says its US-based content integrity team is seeking further clarification from the reviewer to ensure the posting has been placed against the correct property.

Tripadvisor adds that a review has been removed from the Howarth House listing pending feedback from the reviewer.

source: tnooz.com

Travel review website TripAdvisor has removed the slogan “‘reviews you can trust'” from its website and replaced it with “‘reviews from our community’”.

The site is currently the subject of an investigation by the advertising watchdog after companies complained that reviews of their businesses were made up or defamatory.

TripAdvisor has more than 50 million reviews of hotels, restaurants and locations, all of which are supposed to have been written by travellers.

But the veracity of reviews has been called into question by a group of 2,000 hoteliers, who approached online reputation management company KwikChex to investigate.

source: Independent.co.uk

The world’s largest online travel company Expedia has unveiled plans to spin off its TripAdvisor brand.

Expedia said it hopes to split into two public companies – Expedia and TripAdvisor – by the third quarter of 2011.

TripAdvisor allows travellers to post reviews and attracts more than 40 million visitors a month across 29 countries.

Expedia, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange, employs 8,900 staff worldwide.

source: Press Association

Hackers have stolen the email addresses of some of TripAdvisor.com’s 20 million members.

Travel site TripAdvisor sent out an email to its registered users today, announcing that the site had been hacked, and some member emails had been “‘stolen’” by an “‘unauthorized third party’.”  The company says no email passwords were taken by the hackers.

“‘We’ve confirmed the source of the vulnerability and shut it down,’” says TripAdvisor co-founder and CEO Steve Kaufer. “‘We’re taking this incident very seriously and are actively pursuing the matter with law enforcement.’”

source: digitaltrends.com