TripAdvisor Reviews may not be real for Hawaii
Are reviews on Tripadvisor Phoney?
TripAdvisor is owned by a multinational corporation (IAC, Expedia, Barry Diller) and is uncomfortably close with both the hotel and airline industries creating a conflict of interest that begs examination. For example, ResorQuest Hawaii, who manages 35+ Hawaii properties was bought by IAC (Expedia,TripAdvisor) and then later "spun off" (see Resortquest comments below). We get a lot of calls from customers saying they read bad reviews on TripAdvisor after we recommend Hawaii Hotels and are just baffled by what we are hearing!! Yaling and Bruce discuss why these reviews are flawed and discuss why you should use real people in Hawaii like our agents as your trip advisors. There are places all over the net you can get paid to write reviews and get paid which are sold out to third parties and then end up on TripAdvisor.
Aloha Bruce:
Thank you for your time today. We appreciate your willingness to present ResortQuest Hawaii’s position during your upcoming podcast. Here is the information we would like to communicate:
Statement made on podcast: “So be careful with the reviews you’re reading that are going to be the ResortQuest hotels because you know right away, these are owned by Expedia, they’re owned by TripAdvisor, so… it loses credibility. I don’t know about other hotels, you know, Expedia doesn’t own.”
Fact: TripAdvisor and the sites comprising the TripAdvisor Media Network are operating companies of Expedia, Inc.
Fact: Expedia was spun off from IAC in August 2005 and is a separate corporate entity from IAC.
Fact: Interval Acquisition Corp., an affiliate of Interval International, purchased ResortQuest Hawaii in May 2007.
The statement made on the podcast of 10/26/07 that ResortQuest Hawaii properties are owned by Expedia and TripAdvisor is completely inaccurate and misleading. ResortQuest Hawaii is owned by Interval Acquisition Corp., an affiliate of Interval International which is owned by IAC. As Expedia and IAC are separate companies, to insinuate that the favorable reviews that ResortQuest Hawaii properties have recently received on TripAdvisor are the result of a business relationship is damaging.
TripAdvisor enables the public to rate properties as they see fit, and the site would not enjoy such widespread confidence if there was even a whiff of tampering with the reviews. Just because many recent reviews of ResortQuest Hawaii properties are positive is not evidence of a “conspiracy.” Specifically in the case of Papakea Resort (which you incorrectly reference as a 2-star property), Expedia recently downgraded its star rating from 3.5 to 3.0. In September 2006, TripAdvisor’s overall traveler rating of Papakea was 4.1 and the property’s Popularity Index was #30 out of 57 hotels in Lahaina (documentation available). In October 2007, the overall traveler rating is 3.5, and the Popularity Index is #27 out of 33 hotels in Lahaina. Neither the downgrade nor these ratings trends indicates any sort of favoritism.
You are entitled to your opinion that your company offers travelers better information than TripAdvisor does. What we take exception to is the false statement that ResortQuest Hawaii is owned by Expedia and TripAdvisor when in point of fact we are not, and the assertion that our good reviews are a result of this relationship, which in fact does not exist.
Thank you again for your willingness to set the record straight. Please advise when the new podcast is posted and the site content has been updated. Mahalo!
Sharon McAuliffe
Senior Director of E-Commerce
ResortQuest Hawaii
Show Music: GoJimmyGo
Published by Bruce Fisher
Since 2006 Bruce has been writing and producing the Hawaii Vacation Connection Podcast and the Hawaii Vacation Blog which create daily content about Hawaii Travel and Tourism. His postings reflect the Hawaiian Islands, their culture and their lifestyle as accurately and thoroughly as possible. The tone is anecdotal, breezy, and devoid of any commercialism.
7 comments October 26th, 2007
