“Dirtiest Hotel†dishes own dirt
TripAdvisor is being sued for US$10 million by the owner of the Grand Resort Hotel in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, which was named “America’s Dirtiest” in their annual review.
“Our complaint is that (TripAdvisor) went too far. Instead of just reporting what people said, they made a flat-out statement that it was the dirtiest," the Grand Resort Hotel's attorney, Sidney Gilreath, told USA TODAY.
The suit contends that TripAdvisor uses "a rating system which is flawed and inconsistent and distorts actual performance and perspective," according to The Mountain Press. It adds: "TripAdvisor has singled out [Grand Resort] and directly advised customers not to trust them."
The Grand gathered bad reviews from 87 percent of more than 200 reviewers.
"The best thing that could happen is that a meteor fall from the sky and reduce it to rubble," wrote one reviewer.
TripAdvisor has come under increasing criticism in recent months.
While TripAdvisor says it weighs multiple, constantly evolving factors in determining a review's accuracy and has "zero tolerance" for fake reviews, critics say it's too easy for anonymous posters to plant falsely positive or negative critiques.
A spokesman for TripAdvisor says it does not comment on pending litigation.
By David Wilkening
David
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