Hotel review sites to be sued
Nowadays before buying a product, trying a service or even going on holiday we tend to go on the internet and find reviews before making up our minds. There are many independent sites that ask members of the public to review a product or service to inform others. Most of these sites are not biased and are from people of all backgrounds but there are a few that will be biased such as those that are set up by companies asking for their products to be reviewed. Larger stores that trade online now have reviews from customers that have recently bought from them so before you buy a product you can read trusted reviews first.
There are many websites that specialise in reviewing holidays such as hotels and resorts with the biggest being tripadvisor. Originally based in the US after it became such as success they launched the .co.uk version for the UK so we can also review hotels and let other holiday makers know what we think.
But since the introduction of these review sites businesses that have had negative reviews are said to be losing business. Personally I believe that all hotels should have independent reviews from travellers so others who are going there can read other traveller experiences and niggles. A business should be able to take constructive criticism and take steps to make their customers happy; also some people have higher standards than other so this can play a part when trying to decide whether a hotel is worth 3 stars or 5 stars.
In the US there is no defamation act so businesses cannot sue website owners or even individuals whereas in the UK the defamation act has been in place since 1996. So you can be sued by a company or hotel if you fail to remove any negative reviews or comments if you fail to remove them when asked to do so. There have been a few successful cases in the UK where website owners or individuals who write negative reviews have been sued but in most cases by asking them to remove such content is sufficient enough. Not many people have the funds to be able to take on a large corporation or business so most cases do not get taken to court.
I find the defamation act to be very harsh as most people who review hotels are travellers who have had bad experiences or feel like they have been ripped off. Most feel they cannot complain whilst at the resort for fear or having an even worse time. Some hotels list so called ‘trouble makers’ who complain even if the complain is viable such as ‘dirty rooms or leaking tap’. As long as you review hotels on a website other than your own you should be safe, if the hotel in question wants the review to be removed it will. In the mean time I will continue to review all my holidays to ensure other holiday makers know exactly what they are getting for their money.