Guests warn staff they will post negative reviews on the website if they are not given better service, meals or upgrades
Hotels 'hostage to
TripAdvisor blackmailers’
Guests warn staff they
will post negative reviews on the website if they are not given better service,
meals or upgrades
Restaurant, hotel and
B&B owners in Britain have reported a huge rise in the number of customers
using the site as a threat
By Telegraph Staff
8:09PM BST 08 May 2014
Hotels and restaurants
are being targeted by “blackmailers” who demand free meals and stays in
exchange for not writing bad reviews on the TripAdvisor website, hospitality
chiefs have warned.
Guests are warning staff
that they will post bad comments on the review website if they are not given
better service, meals or upgrades.
Restaurant, hotel and
B&B owners in Britain have reported a huge rise in the number of customers
using the site as a threat. They say the guests often make a complaint and say
they will post a bad review unless given a free bottle of wine, dessert or a
bill reduction.
Other “gastronomic
blackmailers” even claim that they work for TripAdvisor and will post a series
of negative comments unless they get free upgrades.
Martin Couchman, the
deputy chief executive of the British Hospitality Association, said that he was
in talks with TripAdvisor to improve the service.
“People threatening
restaurants and hotels with bad TripAdvisor reviews to extort free things is a
problem which has been growing,” he said.
“While it’s very
difficult to put an exact figure on how widespread the problem is, it is clear
that a small minority of online reviewers are directly blackmailing – or
sometimes subtly blackmailing – restaurants for their own gain.
“People will either
attempt to blackmail during the meal, or sometimes, more worryingly, people who
have not even been to the restaurant will post a bad review to try to get a
free meal, or a free stay in a hotel’s case. While it can be difficult to prove
that somebody has blackmailed you, we would advise that business owners do not
respond – or make free offers – to reviewers they suspect are malicious.”
He urged restaurateurs
or hotel owners to contact TripAdvisor or the British Hospitality Association
if they were having problems.
Craig Savage, 49, who
runs the Double Barrel Steakhouse and Grill in Rotherham, South Yorkshire,
claims that about 30 of the 1,000 meals he serves each week will be to
malicious customers who threaten bad reviews unless they get a freebie. “What
usually happens is that a customer will come to the bar, or say to the waiting
staff, 'I am a senior TripAdvisor reviewer’ and then you know that something
will definitely go wrong.
“What we are finding is
that these so-called reviewers will complain about the meal or the service and
when you ask how to put it right, you can guarantee it will be some sort of
freebie.
“And it’s not just our
restaurant that’s being affected, every restaurant owner I speak to is
concerned about this phenomenon.” Sarah Bird, Mr Savage’s partner and business
partner, said: “TripAdvisor needs to have a policy where reviewers should not
be able to tell restaurant staff that they are a reviewer.”
A TripAdvisor spokesman
said: “Allegations of blackmail or threatening behaviour by guests against
property owners are taken very seriously.
“If an owner experiences
this, we urge them to contact us immediately. We have a way for owners to
proactively report threats before a corresponding review is submitted.”
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