I've been working for TripAdvisor for close to three years now, and during that time I've seen my shares of rejected reviews, even rejected some of them myself. Great reviews that, except for maybe one or two teeny tiny mistakes, would have been accepted immediately.
That's a shame. Most of the time, those reviews would've been really helpful regarding which place to choose (or to steer clear from). So I'm going to let you know what to write, what to avoid and generally what to do to get your travel experience be accepted and shared with the rest of the world.
First Thing First
Quality has nothing to do with quantity. Just because you've written enough text to fill a paperback, doesn't mean it will be automatically published. Conversely, a short text will always have the same chance to be accepted (as long as it meets the guidelines).
Sure, we have a 200 minimum characters requirement, but that's more to prevent lazy, unhelpful "Nice place, nice food, nice waiter" or "Best place I've ever visited. Will return here" kind of reviews rather than to encourage writing competition among users.
With that in mind, let's see some of the most common reasons why your reviews are rejected and what can we do to avoid that.
1. Absolutely No Profanity, Ever!
You might think that inserting one or two profanities in your review might reinforce the statement or even make your review sound more badass. But TripAdvisor is a family-friendly website and we have zero tolerance for profanities, regardless if it's a praise or insult. So "This burger is fucking delicious!" or "The night shift manager was a bitch" will receive the same treatment, which is rejection.
Also, please don't try to be clever and mask your profanity, expecting it will slip through. Even if you're trying to cover it by writing "s***hole" or maybe "f#&@ you", trust me, we'll know. And even on the off-chance it somehow does go through, sooner or later someone will see it, report the review and it will be taken down, earning you a mark.
On a related note, this family friendly policy also extend to photos. So no matter how memorable that last visit to the nudist resort was, you really shouldn't post pictures you took while you were there, unless they are photos of the facilities (lobby, room, etc). But that photo collection of sunbathing topless (or nude) guests ? Yeah, no.
2. Also, No Hearsay (AKA "A Friend of a Friend Told Me")
How many times have you submitted a review to TripAdvisor, only for the review to be returned (so to speak), accompanied with an email that basically says, "Sorry dude, no gossiping here" and you're left scratching your head, wondering which part of your review is considered hearsay.
The thing is, "hearsay" here means anything other than what you experienced yourself. So no repeating what other people say, no quoting what you read in the newspaper, and absolutely no copy-pasting that article you found on reddit (because if it's on the internet, it must be true, right?).
Less known but still common examples including physician's diagnosis ("Our GP confirmed that those were indeed bug bites on our skin") and police statement ("The officer back home said as per their record it was the third robbery in as many months"). So unless you also brought the doctor and the police officer with you on your holiday, their words are still considered hearsay.
3. No URL Or Link to Other Sites
This is a short one. Basically, don't put any URL in your review, be it Facebook, Instagram or even the official website. So instead of saying, "You can check the opening hour of this place at www.randomrestaurant.com", you say, "You can check the opening hour of this place on their official website". Goes without saying you also can't put "For more in-depth reviews, please subscribe to my channel 'youtube.com/user/somerandomtraveller'"
4. Keep It Relevant (AKA "Don't Change The Subject")
When you're trying to review a place, try to limit yourself by what actually matters. Don't comment about anything not related to the service. Example, "Our waitress is so fat. It was not easy on the eye" is not okay. Whether she is overweight or not has no bearing on her ability to serve you.
Ranting and commenting about religion and political ideology is also not okay. So saying that a place is bad because "..it is run by a couple of Muslim who must be funding the terrorist with our money" is definitely will get your review rejected. Same with comparing anybody with Hitler or Stalin. A BIG no no
Any reviews that reference mental condition will not be accepted. It's not correct and it may offend people who has actual experience with said mental condition. Examples "The waitress was probably autistic to be able to mess our order so badly" and "What was she, retarded? How can you not listen to people talking to you?"
Conclusion
There are a lot of things that can make your reviews get the boot. This is just some of the most common ones. If you want, I can make a part deux and talk about other less common reasons why your reviews get rejected, like accusing other reviews as fake or reviewing on behalf of other people.
What do you think? Is there anything else you'd like to ask or clarify? Just post your questions in the comments below and I'll do my best to answer them!
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STOPhey @amarshall
i actually found your post interesting. I actually have a hostal in guatemala. so i have had to deal with costumer reviews and responding. in a way i wish the hotel wasnt on tripadvisor. we are always full, but the average guest at my place doesnt use trip advisor. so we have all these guests that love our spot and stay here for months and tell friends....but then those that write reviews are much fewer...and when these hyper critical folks stay at your place...it can honestly hurt. we do our best and most love it...our rating is 4 of 5. i know this isnt exactly to what your article was. but i found it interesting and felt to share my experience with tripadvisor. I wonder if you could tell me why hotels and restaurants cant ask to be removed.
i dont hate tripadvisor or anything....i just never asked for our hotel to be on and it stresses me out dealing with crappy reviews from crappy people that likely are just not happy in there lives.
Hi, first of all, great job on getting that 4 out of 5 rating! Not many business can get there, you know. You should be proud of that! And second, I know what you mean. Out of all the 1 and 2 stars review, majority are constructive criticism and should be quite informative to owners. But there are always people who are just nitpicking, commenting for the sake of giving bad reviews.
Regarding removing your business from TA, I apologize, but I'm afraid it's not possible. There are several reasons, but the main point is, if you operate a business which is open to the public, then the public have the right to post their reviews. Some people may not like it, but people have the right to share their experience, whether it's good or bad. This is the 21st century, after all.
The best thing you can do as the owner of a business that's already listed on TA is to register yourself as the rightful owner and take possession of that listing, so to speak. That way, you can respond directly to those critique. There are major benefits to this. I've seen people flock a place because of owners routinely responds to bad reviews. This shows that you care. Also, you can sometimes counter those harsh reviews and explain things from your point of view.
Finally, to answer your question regarding those people who loves your accommodation but never write a review, there's nothing wrong with encouraging them. Say something like "I'd be really honored if you share your experience on TripAdvisor, whether it's good or bad". Who knows, you might provide one PC, connected to the internet, at the lobby so people can share their experience while waiting to be checked out!
Hope this answer your question. If there's anything you'd like to know, feel free to shoot me a reply!