OMAAT readers won't guess which hotel makes me doubt the legitimacy of some online reviews
TripAdvisor reviews may be fake
TripAdvisor and other review platforms are great for travelers in many ways.
These are great resources for planning travel because you can get firsthand information about hotel experiences and not just what the hotel has to offer.
Hotels are now more accountable for their service if they use review platforms. Everyone can leave feedback on any platform that is important to them.
One of the biggest problems with these sites is the legitimacy and validity of some reviews. TripAdvisor will do everything possible to verify reviews are genuine, but it is not possible to prove that someone actually stayed in a hotel.
Some hotels will take advantage of this and leave negative reviews. They are usually easy to spot. Fake reviews are easy to spot:
This reviewer is brand new to the community and has not left any reviews before.
There are many new reviews, mostly from accounts that have a limited history.
These reviews are brief and don't include many details.
Reviews use the same language and grammar as the hotel's marketing bulletins.
My personal opinion is that reviews left by accounts with no other reviews and are light on details or use hotel marketing bullets, could be fake.
TripAdvisor reviews can be more difficult to read.
As I was looking through TripAdvisor reviews, I felt like something was off. Although the reviews appeared fake, they were also from accounts with other activity. Then I began to Google and found that many companies were selling fake TripAdvisor reviews originating from established accounts.
The concept is simple enough that most hotels would be willing to pay $10+ for positive TripAdvisor reviews from legitimate accounts.
I have a question: How can you spot fake reviews? The answer may be similar to other fake reviews, which are vague or share unusual details. However, they come from accounts that have more activity. I'm curious to hear what OMAAT users think.
These online reviews are real?
You may have guessed that this is the Aegon Mykonos. These posts will keep you up-to-date on the story from earlier in the summer.
To see if the hotel's online reviews are improving, I have been monitoring them on TripAdvisor, Google Reviews and Marriotts website. Many of the same problems I experienced during my stay continue to plague me, which is reflected in the reviews.
There are genuine negative reviews, genuine positive reviews, as well as some suspicious positive reviews. Let's begin with the reviews on Marriotts website. These are supposed to be verified. The Aegon Mykonos rating for Marriotts website is very poor (3.8 stars), which is one of the lowest scores I have seen for any hotel.
The following review, which is the third most recent, gives five stars and is titled
A must try hidden gem
The fifth and most recent review is entitled:
Hidden Gem in Mykonos
Although the reviews are not detailed enough, I found something odd about them. Although there are many things that I would consider a decent Marriott, a hidden gem isn't one. There is nothing secret about a hotel owned by the largest hotel group in the world. Are these two reviews from the same hotel written in the same language?
I decided to look a little further back at the reviews page to find out if any other uses of the term hidden/gem were made. The general manager also responded to a review using the gem word.
We are a group of professionals who have gathered to open this new property.
This could be an accidental coincidence, but it seems unlikely.
TripAdvisor reviews are also suspicious to me. The most recent review, for example, is titled:
Amazing resort! Pay attention to 5-star reviews.
Isn't that a little strange? It's a bit strange that I only left a negative review about the hotel.
We arrived yesterday, and so far everything has been great. Do not leave a review less than five stars. As Marriott Ambassador members, we are extremely discerning about resort properties. The Aegon is stunning and the staff are very accommodating. It was a great breakfast buffet. I'm not surprised that we had dinner tonight.
A Bonvoy Ambassador member also wrote a review.
It was an amazing stay! We're here for 7 nights, and we are now in day 4. The service was outstanding as a Marriott Ambassador. The service is excellent, if not better than any other we have received. We stayed recently at the Cosmo in Las Vegas as well as the Marriott Villas Newport Beach. We are welcome with friendly smiles and exceptional service. The Revive area of the property is just steps from the beach. We have stunning views every morning. I don't care about the negative reviews. As a Los Angeles native, this is the best place to stay in Mykonos. As we continue our stay, I will follow up with you! Thank you!
This review is so bizarre on so many levels.
Negative reviews are not to be taken into consideration
Los Angeles is a place you can confidently say you will be staying when you visit Mykonos.
This is a comparison to the Cosmo in Las Vegas or Marriott Villas in Newport Beach.
These are just a few examples. But there is something about so many reviews that seems off. I'm not saying they are fakes, but I am curious about how other people analyze these reviews.
While I cannot say with any certainty what the reviews are, I know that it isn't the first time the hotel has been in the review game on Google Reviews. A relative of someone who holds a stake in the hotel leaves her review with her name praising the hotel (at a time when they had been closed for many month). The general manager replies to her to thank her and to say how much they would love to have her back at the hotel.
Bottom line
TripAdvisor is an excellent resource for travelers. There are many fake reviews on TripAdvisor. While most of them are obvious, I have started doing some research online to discover that some fake reviews are more complex than people may think.
How do you determine if TripAdvisor reviews are trustworthy, especially for accounts with multiple contributors?
