Australia: Meriton rigged TripAdvisor reviews

Meriton Serviced Apartments faces multi-million-dollar fines after the Federal Court found the chain prevented unfavourably reviews on TripAdvisor by stopping emails being sent to unhappy customers.

The hotel chain blocked people it believed would write negative reviews, such as complaints about no hot water or broken lifts, from using the travel website’s “Review Express” service.

Last November the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) launched a Federal Court action against Meriton — owned by one of Australia’s richest men, Harry Triguboff — alleging deceptive or misleading conduct between November 2014 to October 2015.

The ACCC’s action was prompted by an ABC investigation, which revealed that Meriton staff were ordered to stop TripAdvisor feedback forms being emailed to guests who complained to the front desk during their stay.

TripAdvisor’s Review Express allows customers to provide prompt feedback on a business that signs up to the service. It works by allowing TripAdvisor to ask customers for feedback using email addresses provided by the business.

The Federal Court found that over the 10-month period, Meriton prevented guests it suspected would leave negative reviews from receiving TripAdvisor’s Review Express email.

The ACCC said it was done by inserting additional letters into guests’ email addresses, and not sending other guest email addresses to TripAdvisor.

Full Content: News AU

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