How hotels can remove online defamation

Hotels and other parts of the hospitality industry, are highly susceptible to the posting of defamatory online reviews. But unlike some restaurants, who are more flexible in picking and choosing their diners, hotels tend to lack the means of filtering out guests who are known for posting online defamation.

Defamatory online reviews against hotels

How many negative reviews would it take to put people off booking a hotel

Why are hotels so susceptible to defamatory online reviews

How to remove defamatory online reviews about a hotel

Defamatory online reviews against hotels

The most common place on the internet for the posting of defamatory online reviews against hotels is Facebook. Unlikely TripAdvisor, where a certain degree of control still exists for some hotels to remove defamatory online reviews under their business listings, on Facebook, a user may post a defamatory online review with little possibility for the hotel to control or facilitate the removal of the defamatory online reviews.

Regardless of whether the defamatory online review was posted on Facebook or on TripAdvisor, or on another business review website, it is, in nearly all cases, possible to have the defamatory online review eventually removed.

How many negative reviews would it take to put people off booking a hotel

It is relatively easy to put people off from booking their holiday in a particular hotel. Most people, if in doubt, would rather not take risk and book a hotel with significant negative online reviews. The significance, when it comes to posting defamatory online reviews against hotel, is not necessarily in relation to the number of the defamatory online reviews but it is more to do with the nature of the review and what has been posted.

For example, a single defamatory online review which falsely sates that the bed sheets were stained with blood, or that the guess spotted a mouse in the room, would be enough to put most people off booking a holiday in the hotel in questions. If a group of visitors to the hotel decide to all post similar defamatory online reviews, the impact on bookings would be even harder for the hotel to maintain.

Why are hotels so susceptible to defamatory online reviews

Sometimes guests threat the hotel that they will leave negative online reviews if the hotel did not adhere to certain unreasonable demands, such as room upgrades, free nights or a discount on the booking.

This effectively is a form of blackmail. To be able to handle this type of situation, the hotel will need to have a robust process for handling defamatory online reviews and for having them removed fast.

How to remove defamatory online reviews about a hotel

How we approach facilitating our clients with the removal of defamatory online reviews about a hotel, would depend on the circumstances of each case. We look at the content of the review carefully, we will take steps to identify the individual who posted the defamatory online review and we will consider the various options which may include communicating with person who posted the defamatory review, communicating with the website operator, communicating with Google or taking steps to obtain a court order to remove the defamatory online review as quickly as possible.

Having a robust system in place for removal of defamatory online reviews, helps avoid reputational and financial damage and more importantly, it discourages other from posting defamatory online reviews against the hotel in the future.