Arnie Weissmann:
Size alone couldn’t save some
large agencies in 2002. Will
that hold true for 2010? 12
www.travelweekly.com
ALSO IN THE NEWS: Richard Turen:
Herearethreerecentunpleas-
antclient conversations. How
6
wouldyouhandlethem? 57
Section 1 of 2
THE NATIONAL NEWSPAPER OF THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY
JUNE 22, 2009
[ TRAVEL BLOGGERS REKINDLE SMOLDERING DEBATE ]
Manipulation suspected
in TripAdvisor’s reviews
By Dennis Schaal
Just three months after TripAdvisor subsidiary Cruise Critic came under fire for publishing reviews allegedly influenced by Royal
Caribbean Cruises Ltd., TripAdvisor itself is
facing renewed heat about the integrity of
some of its consumer hotel reviews.
Paradoxically, the criticism was triggered
by warnings that TripAdvisor itself displays
about the credibility of certain reviews.
TripAdvisor posts warning notices alongside displays for the Radisson Hotel Fossil
Creek in Fort Worth, Texas, Hotel Renew
in Honolulu, the Sheraton Hotel and Sioux
Falls Convention Center in Sioux Falls, S.D.,
the Shelborne Beach Resort in Miami Beach
and, reportedly, dozens more.
The notices, posted in red type above the
flagged property’s TripAdvisor rating, state:
Message from TripAdvisor: TripAdvisor
has reasonable cause to believe that either this
property or individuals associated with the
property may have attempted to manipulate
our popularity index by interfering with the
unbiased nature of our reviews. Please take
this into consideration when researching your
travel plans.
Jeff Tucker, a technology consultant and an
editor at the Beat of Hawaii blog, kicked off
the new round of criticism when he discovered about 90 such messages on TripAdvisor.
com, although it turns out TripAdvisor has
been posting such warnings since 2006.
“This doesn’t address the likelihood that
a huge percentage of all their reviews are
fraudulent in one way or another,” Tucker
wrote. “Perhaps the warning is a start, but I
question if they would post one if the hotel
was one of their advertisers.”
Tucker told Travel Weekly that he values
reviews in general but approaches TripAdvisor’s user reviews “with a high degree of
skepticism.”
That skepticism is growing as a result of
See TRIPADVISOR on Page 59
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[ LINGERING FEARS AND PERSISTENT IMAGE CHALLENGES ]
In wake of flu, Mexico exploits
lessons from earlier disasters
By Kenneth Kiesnoski
PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico — Guests
checking into Real Resorts’ two side-by-side,
all-inclusive beachfront
properties on a recent
June afternoon could
be forgiven for asking,
“What swine flu?”
Parents and kids
swarmed and swam in
the pool at the family-oriented Gran Porto
Real in this laid-back Riviera Maya resort
town. Next door, at the adults-only Royal,
dozens of honeymooning couples vied for
chaise lounges and the attentions of Alexis,
a “beachtler” whose oceanfront cart was
stocked with free ice-cold
towels, sunscreen and paperbacks for the taking.
The lobbies of both
of Real’s upscale all-inclusives in Playa
were crawling with
crowds of vacationers — Mexicans, other
North Americans and Europeans in apparent equal measure. Against that backdrop,
See MEXICO on Page 58
‘Every time we’ve had
some kind of problem,
we’ve become stronger
than before.’
— C. Felix Enrique Zarate Nunez
Despite recessionary pressures,
a record 61 travel sellers quali-
fied this year with sales of $100
million or more.
BY HARVEY CHIPKIN PAGE 17
