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TripAdvisor statement following UK advertising watchdog complaint

February 06, 2012 | Online Travel

TripAdvisor issued an official statement following the Advertising Standards Authority's upholding of a complaint against the company, stating "the ruling flies in the face of common sense and is unrealistic in its expectations from sites like ours."

The ASA has taken a highly technical view around some marketing copy that was used in a limited capacity; complaints were upheld on the basis that we could not provide 100 per cent certainty that every single review on the site was written by a real traveller and could be trusted. No system, verified or not, could provide this. It is worth noting that the General Media Panel (an independent group that provides industry expert advice to the ASA) disagreed with the ASA’s view of the claims.

The average traveller reads dozens of reviews before making an informed decision, not just one or two. The ruling has no bearing on our commitment to providing a trusted resource for travellers with valued advice and insights from the TripAdvisor community, based on the wisdom of the crowds. We know that our users approach TripAdvisor with common sense, and make an educated decision based on the opinions of many.

We continue to maintain our industry-leading standards in managing the integrity of our site, because it is fundamental to our success. It’s because of the usefulness that the traveller reviews and opinions on TripAdvisor provide that we enjoy such user loyalty. According to a recent PhoCusWright study commissioned by TripAdvisor*, 98 per cent of respondents have found TripAdvisor hotel reviews to be accurate of the actual experience.

We are the world’s largest travel site and we have confidence that the 50 million users who come to our site every month trust the reviews they read on TripAdvisor, which is why they keep coming back to us in increasingly larger numbers to plan and have the perfect trip.

TripAdvisor was founded on a core set of principles - to give travellers a voice to share their experiences, promote consumer choice and encourage a level playing field for everyone in the industry– all within a free forum for sharing open and honest opinions. This remains our mission.

*According to a July 2011 PhoCusWright survey of 3,641 respondents. Participants for the study were solicited at random through a pop-up invitation link on TripAdvisor.com.

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