HOLIDAYMAKERS have been warned about relying on online reviews when boking their next trip, with some hotels accused of faking public feedback.
Companies have been flooding review forums with positive comments in an effort to up their ratings.
Research from Iowa State University shows an increase in fake hotel reviews in recent years, particularly at higher-end establishments.
Previously, multiple studies suggested that as much as 30 per cent of feedback on sites like TripAdvisor were fake, be it positive or negative.
However, that number is reportedly on the rise, as hotels struggle to compete with property sharing sites like AirBnb and Vrbo.
According to the new study, fake reviews have become a marketing strategy for a number of hotels in the fightback against the holiday home market.
The main increase in fakes appear to be among posh hotels, who are flooding their review pages with positive comments.
It’s good news for those of us who can’t afford a five-star hotel stay though – the research also showed that there were far less fake reviews for budget hotels.
This is thought to be because people booking cheaper hotels are less likely to be guided by other people’s opinions and instead more interested in prices.
Therefore, online reviews and feedback for cheaper hotels are also considered to be more genuine than reviews for more expensive resorts.
Cheng Nie, one of the researchers…
