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Bad Trip Advisor Review Brings "Fine"

Talent312

Talent312

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(CNN) -- When a couple left scathing comments on a travel review website that a hotel was a "filthy, dirty rotten stinking hovel," they thought no more about it. But Tony and Jan Jenkinson were shocked later to see an extra £100 ($156) added to their credit card bill. The couple found they had been fined by Broadway Hotel in the seaside resort of Blackpool, which reportedly told them its policy was to charge guests who had left bad reviews.

Jenkinson said he "couldn't believe the state of the room," which cost £36 ($56) a night. "The hot tap didn't work, when we reported it we were told they knew about it and it would be fixed in the morning (we were only there for one night.) The drawer fronts fell off when we opened the chest of drawers. Again, they knew about this and it was supposed to be dealt with in the morning. The wallpaper was peeling off the walls, the carpet was thin, dirty and stained. The bed was something else, it must have come out of the ark, the base was all scuffed and dirty and the springs in the mattress attacked you in the night."

Perhaps the CC charge will be reversed, but the lesson here may be not to stay in a "resort" hotel that only costs $56/night.
 
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Cost to reviewer for "bad review": £100 ($156).

Cost to hotel after their ill-advised policy goes viral on the internet: priceless
 
The 'resort' has now refunded the bad review 'fine' and is still the beneficiary of the bad press. Serves 'em right.
 
How can that even be legal? Isn't that an unauthorized charge by the merchant? - there should be more consequences than just a "reversal."
 
DeniseM said:
How can that even be legal? Isn't that an unauthorized charge by the merchant? - there should be more consequences than just a "reversal."
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We don't know but it could be in the papers you sign when you check in. How many of us read the complete paper?
 
DeniseM said:
How can that even be legal? Isn't that an unauthorized charge by the merchant? - there should be more consequences than just a "reversal."
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It is a British Hotel in Blackpool, England. Their 'no bad review policy' and charge might be deemed an unfair trading practice.
 
Pictures posted would have backed up any negative comments.
 
It's a good ol'e boy bunch.
Disagree with them and your review will go away. Also, they ban people who have a different opinion than them.
 
1950bing said:
It's a good ol'e boy bunch.
Disagree with them and your review will go away. Also, they ban people who have a different opinion than them.
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Disagree with who? People who have stayed there post their reviews and pictures: good, bad, or indifferent.
 
1950bing said:
It's a good ol'e boy bunch.
Disagree with them and your review will go away. Also, they ban people who have a different opinion than them.
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How does that apply to the topic at hand? :shrug:
 
DeniseM said:
How does that apply to the topic at hand? :shrug:
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I guess he doesn't agree with or trust the TA reviews on that wonderful British resort, Black(ces)pool, which the OP discussed in the original post. :bawl: Maybe he should stay there and report back :hysterical: And let us know how the food is too :rofl:
 
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TripAdvisor operates 25 different travel related services. Here is the wiki that lists them:
TripAdvisor Media Group operates 25 travel brands including TripAdvisor, Airfarewatchdog, BookingBuddy, Cruise Critic, Family Vacation Critic, FlipKey, GateGuru,[3] Holiday Lettings, Holiday Watchdog, Independent Traveler, lafourchette, OneTime, SeatGuru, SmarterTravel, Tingo, Jetsetter, Travel Library, TravelPod, Viator, VirtualTourist and Kuxun.cn. TripAdvisor operates websites internationally, including in the U.S., the U.K., France, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Spain, India, Japan, Portugal, Brazil, Sweden, The Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, Turkey, Mexico, Austria, Norway, Poland, Australia, Singapore, Thailand, Russia, Greece, Indonesia, and in China under the brand daodao.com and kuxun.cn. TripAdvisor is headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts.[1] According to its website,[4] TripAdvisor claims to be the largest travel site in the world, with more than 60 million members and over 170 million reviews and opinions of hotels, restaurants, attractions and other travel-related businesses.

This is not the first time people have complained that TripAdvisor and it's brands have 'cherry picked' reviews, moving positive reviews of dues paying travel services to the top of the list, and either eliminating or moving to the bottom of the list, unfavorable ones.

Jim
 
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bad review-trip advisor

I am a big fan of "you get what you pay for". The fact that the room was so cheap should have been a tip off. DUH! In my hotel that i work for, we have the opposite problem with a few guests. Our rooms go for a little over $100 a night but we have people who come in and say "Wow, I don't want to buy the room-just rent it." That's fine- I will direct them to another hotel in town which is cheaper...louder...and often with creepy crawly sleeping companions. BUT it is cheaper. I would direct them to another hotel but aside from the one I recommend the others are more expensive. I am sure, however, the fine for the bad review of the op's hotel is probably covered in the "rental contract"/registration. It then becomes a contract and I suspect perfectly legal if only a public relations nightmare.

As for trip advisor, first consider what alternative exists. So you don't like trip advisor: what are you going to do instead- book it blindly? Pardon me but thats just crazy. Second, seeing trip advisor from both the hotel side and the guest side, I think it does a very good job. Of course, if you read only one or two reviews, maybe you get a surprise. However, if you read several, you will get a good idea of the nature of the beast. Realize this: ANYONE CAN HAVE A BAD STAY AT ANY HOTEL!!! It happens. The best you can hope for is that you are at a good hotel and nothing seriously goes wrong or is corrected immediately. It is also entertaining to see what qualifies in some people's mind as a "bad stay".
For some people, "My trip was ruined- I found a string about 1/4 inch long on the floor by the doorway". That is why you have to read the reviews and see WHY they are complaining. Almost all hotels will have good and bad reviews. It seems as the price goes up on the room the flood of minor complaints goes up too. Apparently, the more they pay, the closer to perfection things need to be.

btw If there is one reviewing system I don't trust it is RCI. One example was a rental in Bali that RCI said was just fine- Trip advisor told me it was totally infested with bed bugs and slowly falling apart. RCI had said nothing about any of that. If it is a timeshare and not a hotel I always read the reviews on TUG- they are the most complete and accurate.
 
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Ron98GT said:
Yuk, disgusting.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Re...tel-Blackpool_Lancashire_England.html#REVIEWS


This is why I always check TA reviews and pictures before I book any hotel or timeshare.
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All I can say is wow. Even if you look at the "professional" photo's you can see uneven walls and bubbled up or peeling wallpaper. The billard table has quite a few dard stains on the felt. The only way I could see anyone ever booking that hotel is if there was no other choice or they booked it blind without at least looking at the hotels on photo's.
 
csxjohn said:
I love the review that says it's a filthy place but the breakfast is good.

How can you eat in a place like that. Does anyone think the kitchen will be any cleaner than the rest of the place?
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Maybe they were trying to avoid the fee for a bad review by saying something good, even if it wasn't true.
 
1950bing said:
I wouldn't trust trip advisor one bit
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I ALWAYS check reviews from 4-5 different sources, and there are MANY to choose from... tripadvisor.com, booking.com, hotels.com, expedia, etc, etc. we are RARLEY disappointed in our hotel stays
 
For those that do not want to rely on TA, the reviews on Booking.com aren't any better, although you are missing the detailed photo's from individuals.

http://www.booking.com/hotel/gb/broadway-nr-pleasure-beach.html#tab-reviews


I saw this hotel advertised for as low as $19 on Priceline :eek:


BTW, a little side comment: Booking.com is owned by Priceline.com, they primarily handle the European hotels. I had gotten a really good rate from them for an upgraded room with breakfast buffet and canal/St Marks views, at the Hilton Molino Stucky in Venice, Italy, this last May. Nobody could come close, including Hilton/HHonors. 3 different times I had questions regarding the reservation from Hilton/HHonors, including the free buffet breakfast which wasn't stated on the reservation, and each time I contacted Booking.com, they contacted the Molino Stucky while I was on the phone, and each time the manager at the MS followed up with an email. Great things to say about Booking.co, the Hilton Molino Stucky, and Venice (can't yet to get back and we will stay at the MS). Only negative was that I did not get any HHonors points, but it was worth the price that I got. OK sorry for the temporary diversion. :D
 
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1950bing said:
Uh, it's about Trip Advisor !?
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Not really - it's about a hotel charging a customer for a bad review posted on Trip Advisor. Trip Advisor was only the medium used.
 
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