Final word on the Sunday Times-TripAdvisor story?

The recent Sunday Times exposé - A Five-Star Scam - on hoax reviews planted on websites such as TripAdvisor has certainly ruffled a few feathers in the industry.

TripAdvisor Europe managing director Marc Charron wrote a letter to paper last week defending the company’s model and drawing the attention of readers to the fact that his UK team had supplied the Sunday Times with details of a hoaxer the site had recently rumbled.

In the spirit of fair and balanced coverage, the paper also printed a letter from a Lindy Dumsday in support of the article.

However, Charron’s missive was backed by another from a certain Adrian Currie, managing director of Active Hotels, which was also named and shamed as a site of which consumers should be wary.

[Read the letters]

Don’t expect this to be end of the debate...

Kevin May, editor, Travolution