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More about the list no hotel wants to be on

February 09, 2010 | Hospitality Industry

The New York Times talked with TripAdvisor’s chief executive, Stephen Kaufer, about the company's "dirtiest hotels list" and the fury it caused among hoteliers, especially in Europe.

Mr. Kaufer was happy to address the criticism received from hoteliers.

“You bet, if you’re a hotel on that list, it is not a good sign for your business,” he said. “We have advertisers who call us up after they see one of their chain properties on the list and say, ‘Come on, I spent money with you advertising, and you put the property on the list?’ The sales guys tell them, ‘The editorial team looks at all the reviews; they look at what the guests say on the site — and one bad review does not get you on the list. But when it’s consistently ranked as a bad hotel by lots of people saying terrible things, hey, we are not shy.’ ”

“Please believe me,” he added, “we are careful about the lists, so a hotel isn’t named just because there are four bad reviews. We are dealing with someone’s reputation. It’s the ones that are consistently bad that make it — and I challenge any curious individual to check out one of these places and see whether they deserve to be on the list.”

Get the full story at The New York Times

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