Do reviews on travel websites need policing?
The fraudulent practice of hotel managers and staff posting rave reviews of their own hotels on travel websites, highlighted by a Holiday Which? report last week, is to become illegal in the UK next year. But leading travel websites argue they are capable of regulating themselves and say the new law is unnecessary and unworkable. Holidaymakers are increasingly at risk of being swayed by fake hotel reviews on travel websites with user-generated content, said the consumer magazine, citing examples of hoteliers who posted glowing descriptions of their own establishments on Tripadvisor.com and Holidaywatchdog.com. From 2008, the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive will make it unlawful for UK traders to falsely represent themselves as consumers, but this will apply only to hotels and other businesses in the UK. Many websites say they already have measures in place to prevent bogus postings. Tripadvisor and Holidaywatchdog insist fake reports are rare, and are usually discovered and remov
