Lots of chatter this morning about yesterday’s Channel 4 programme “Attack of the Trip Advisors”. This is an entertaining and informative documentary about TripAdvisor reviews and ratings. As the programme snippet claims:
The British hospitality industry is under attack. Businesses are being assaulted by ever-more nit-picking and abusive reviews. It’s bad for their livelihoods and their sanity.
But it’s not the professional critics who are reviewing their hosts; a nation of virtual AA Gills and Michael Winners are using the Trip Advisor website to get their own back on hotels and restaurants.
With more than 40 million users a month, Trip Advisor is the largest and most powerful travel guide in the world.
But is it a force for good that gives the customer a voice, or an abuse of power that undermines businesses and ruins lives?
How long can Britain’s small businesses cope with relentless criticism before they pack it all in?
This Cutting Edge film reveals Britain’s most meticulous Trip Advisors and meets some of the hoteliers and restaurateurs at war with the site.
The documentary features some interesting cases and highlights many of the issues we have been dealing with in the How’s My Feedback? project. Not surprisingly, the debate has already started in the TripAdvisor section. Opinions and experiences differ wildly, so please join in and share your story. The issues clearly go beyond TripAdvisor, but it is a good case in point to discuss some timely and important problems around online reviews, ratings and rankings.
If you missed the show, you can still watch it here at Channel 4OD.
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