Friday, March 09, 2007

Travolution@ITBPhoCusWright--TripAdvisor confirms site has steep penalties for fraudsters

Daniele Mancini, e-business director of Costa Crociere S.p.A , having failed during yesterday’s panel to bribe Marc Charron, head of TripAdvisor, to remove the negative postings about Costa, tried to tempt the audience by offering a discount on a cruise in exchange for glowing reviews.

Of course, Mancini wasn’t serious (we hope not, anyway), but his point is one that crops up again and again.

Charron concedes that, while there are a few bad apples who do try to defraud the system, TripAdvisor’s “zero tolerance” policy on misrepresentation has severe penalties for site abusers.

Unfortunately, the bell rang before we had a chance to discuss one of the other areas of concern--Expedia's ownership of TripAdvisor.

Guess we'll have to leave that one...for now.

Tricia Holly Davis, chief writer, Travolution

2 comments:

David Ourisman said...

Expedia owns TripAdvisor? That's really interesting information ... so I would guess the booking links go straight to expedia.

Unfortunately, although expedia is an easy booking engine for consumers to use, they have too many pre-paid "net" rates with cancellation penalties for my liking.

Anonymous said...

I have found Tripadvisor to have become a bitchfest, which is a real turn off. I cannot believe it can be a pleasant experience for anyone to use the site to plan for a trip or to end a trip.
Ever wondered why Americans, in general, have a bad reputation abroad and are labeled "Ugly Americans"?, just go through Trip Advisor and you will get a real good idea.
We, Americans, whine and complain too much and often about the most ridiculous things. It is never our fault. It is always somebody else's. We never take accountability for anything when things go wrong. We have a "It's never our fault" mentality.
Come on people, let's whine and complain less and start loving, becoming considerate, and more forgiving to others.
Tripadvisor is no doubt an American website. It promote the "Ugliness" in an "ugly American".