TripAdvisor Dealt Another Blow: Hotel PR Exec Admits To Posting 100 Fake Reviews Online

by McLean Robbins on

Hotel and travel review site TripAdvisor.com has come under fire in recent years for the abundance of fake reviews on its website, but many travelers still see the platform as the industry’s leading place for “real” information about a hotel or destination.

But the site was dealt another blow this week when Peter Hook, a general manager of communications with Accor hotels in Sydney, Australia, admitted that he has posted 100+ anonymous reviews online in recent years, Travel Mole reported. Most of Hook’s reviews were positive reviews about Accor hotels or critical reviews of the brand’s competitors.

The company Kwikchex, which specializes in online reputation management, identified Hook, who wrote reviews under the name Tavare. Hook admits to writing the reviews, but claims that each “resulted from personally experiencing the product.”

A spokesman for TripAdvisor told the Telegraph: “It would clearly be inappropriate for a senior executive of a hotel company to review hotels within their own company. All hotel reviews posted by this member are being removed pending investigation.”

Sustainable or just plain weird? Accor hotels sell their used furniture on eBay

by McLean Robbins on

This week French hotel brand Accor launched

reBorn, an online store through eBay that will sell the hotel giant’s used furniture.

What can you snag? Everything from Luis XVI bedside tables to bronze chandeliers to 1980s wing armchairs, minibar furniture and even safes. About 2,500 items are on the site in total, with prices listed in Euros.

“The reBorn project satisfies a current social trend that gives new value to second-hand items in good condition by creating new circular economy models. Just look at the success of garage sales, second-hand swaps and bargain websites,” Sophie Flak, Accor’s executive vice president for academies and sustainable development told Hotels Magazine.

What do you think? Would you buy used hotel furniture online?

Accor hotels adds TripAdvisor reviews to its hotel sites

by Melanie Nayer on

While hundreds of hotels prepare to file a lawsuit against user-generated review site TripAdvisor.com, Accor hotels has decided to take another approach: promoting TripAdvsior.

The hotel group added feeds to TripAdvisor reviews on the homepages of each of its more than 4,000 hotels worldwide. The links include both good and bad reviews, along with the hotel’s overall rating on the site and a link to read user review. The hotel is even offering links to the official review on the TripAdvisor site.

Claire Wearne, Accor’s director of marketing, quality and consumer products, tells The Sydney Morning Herald that the decision to work with TripAdvisor is a nod to the importance of user-generated content. “We appreciate that the decision making of our guests is no longer limited to the information in our brochure,” she says. “We understand that they are making decisions based on valid information from other users.”

We want to hear from you. Is this a good move from Accor? Or, could TripAdvisor reviews do more harm than good?

[via HotelsMag.com]

Accor Hotels launches online game; winner wins trip to Europe

by Melanie Nayer on

We love a good game of hide and seek at Gadling, so when we heard about Accor Hotels’ new online game called “Around the World Photo Hunt” we had to investigate further. Seems the social media managers at the hotel are working to build brand awareness in North America by launching an online game where players win points by spotting the differences on two seemingly identical photos from a selection of Accor Hotels’ properties located around the world.

The grand prize winner will receive a 12-night European vacation for two adults to Paris, Berlin and Barcelona. Accor Hotels partnered with US Airways and Rail Europe to co-sponsor the 12-night European vacation that includes roundtrip airfare, first class train tickets, luxury Accor Hotel accommodations and daily breakfast.

Don’t fret game-goers, other prizes will be handed out including a SoBed™ package, digital cameras, flat screen TVs, DVD Home Theaters, and more. In addition, a $50 MasterCard gift card will be awarded randomly to one lucky player every day until July 23rd.

The online game will run from June 24th – July 23rd.