Amazon's fake reviewers aren't the only critics who can't be trusted
The retailer is suing 1,000 defendants for allegedly posting false reviews on its website
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Your support makes all the difference.“Nothing about this hole was any good. Everything was really dirty such as bathrooms and walls. Pubic hairs on the bathroom floor. Just gross. I slept in my clothes outside of the covers. Avoid this place.”
Blimey? Sounds like Fawlty Towers: “It took an hour to get our bags delivered, then they were the wrong bags”; “watch out for the elevator, the keycard function doesn’t work so we ended up going up and down the building”.
For those hardy souls that made it to rooms “the wi-fi connection is really bad; the wardrobe is almost inexistent” and: “BTW: the sofa had metal pieces sticking out of the arm that stabbed my friend.” The sofa that attacks guests? Only in New York, folks…
I’m writing from the 14th floor of this Manhattan hotel. The views are breathtaking; I am using the wi-fi and the clothes in the luggage that was whizzed politely up here in the smart, fast elevators are hanging happily in the wardrobe. The previous guest pubic hair count? Thankfully, zero.
Welcome to the world of online “user generated” reviews. They are so ubiquitous that a) professional critics are losing their jobs and b) they have become a currency. Four green dots on Trip Advisor is arguably more important today than whether a hotel is four star or three.
There are obvious problems with this, highlighted this summer when an Italian publication created a fake restaurant La Scaletta in Brescia, which soon became No 1 on Trip Advisor in Moniga del Garda.
Now, in the US (where else?) Amazon is acting. It has taken out a lawsuit in Seattle against 1,000 defendants, alleging they offer a false review service for as little as $5 (£3.24) via the website fiverr.com. Amazon claims its brand reputation is being damaged by “false, misleading and inauthentic” reviews paid for by sellers.
Who can you trust? Do I care what Wilbur and Amy from Iowa think anyway? On a recent holiday, every taverna in a tiny Cretan village implored us post-meal to write something nice on Trip Advisor, some implying there might be discount incentives. A poor meal here in New York ended with the owner begging us not to write “anything bad”.
Today’s new “lifestyle blogger” simply blags freebies in return for universally positive reviews, paying its contributors in “lifestyle”. Was it ever thus? Are privileged journalist critics accepting trips and free meals really better?
I make no comment, but suggest you turn to our own, inimitable Simon Calder, Britain’s best and most honest travel writer, if you really want to read a voice you can trust.
Stefano Hatfield is editor in chief of High50.com
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