Dispute or Remove Guest Reviews OTAs

Dispute or Remove Guest Reviews OTAs

There are several valid reasons to request the removal of a guest review. Each review platform has its own specific guidelines for handling these requests. Use the table of contents to quickly navigate to the platform where you need a review removed.

Tripadvisor 

Reasons for Removal 

  1. It’s inappropriate or not family-friendly
  2. It’s written by an ex-employee or competitor
  3. It describes an experience more than 1 year ago
  4. Review text is not consistent with the rating given
  5. This reviewer did not experience my business
  6. It’s a duplicate by the same member
  7. It contains commercial or promotional content
  8. Another reviewer already wrote about this experience 
  9. I disagree with the information in this review 
  10. It includes private information 
  11. I want to report something 

 Report a review:

  1. Log in to the Management Center.
  2. Click the Reviews tab in the top navigation bar.
  3. Select Report a Review.
  4. Under 'What is the problem with the review?' select the most appropriate reason.
  5. Select the title of the review in question.  
  6. Leave your comment and click Submit. 

The TripAdvisor moderation team will review the report and respond via email in the next 3-5 business days.

Please note that we only remove reviews that violate our review guidelines, are suspicious, or are posted in the wrong location.

Find more at https://www.tripadvisorsupport.com/en-US/hc/owner/articles/346. 

YCS Agoda

Reviews are moderated by Agoda to make sure that only verified and constructive reviews appear. Our goal is to make sure that all reviews on our site are authentic, honest, accurate, and constructive. And while we want all our partner properties to get the best reviews possible, they will not remove reviews simply because they are negative.
  1. The review is left by a no-show guest
  2. The whole review is spam or gibberish
  3. The review is submitted for the wrong property
  4. The review is a duplicate. Guests are permitted only one review per stay
  5. The review contains profanity, discriminatory comments, personal attacks, defamatory comments, or sexual references that are inappropriate for a general audience.
  6. The review contains references to illegal activities
  7. The review contains an individual’s personal information

Report a review:

If you come across a review that violates any of the scenarios listed above, you can request that the review be removed by contacting Agoda support for further assistance.

Find more at https://partnerhub.agoda.com/can-i-request-for-a-review-to-be-removed/ 

Booking.com

By law, Booking.com must provide a way for all guests who stay at a property to leave a review. Booking.com guests are encouraged to always leave an honest and fair review based on their experience. Some guests who’ve made a booking but did not stay have the right to leave a review. Read about our policy on non-stayed reservations reviews in the content guidelines here. 

Also, if you’ve had a bad experience with a guest, you can report it via the extranet or the Pulse app through the report guest misconduct feature.

If a guest reaches out directly, informing you about making a mistake while leaving a review, you can advise them to correct their feedback by logging into their Booking.com guest account or contacting a customer service agent.

Reasons for Removal:

  1. The guest canceled their reservation and confirmed that they didn’t arrive at the property.
  2. The reservation isn’t canceled at the last minute (24 hours prior)
  3. Reservation is marked as a no-show, and the review doesn’t detail the guest’s experience
  4. You canceled the booking on the day of planned check-in because of an invalid credit card
  5. Booking.com determines that the guest reviewed the wrong property
  6. Booking.com believes the guest is using the review to blackmail you ‐ Booking.com needs written evidence to remove a review for this reason

 Report a review:

If you’d like to speak to the Booking.com team about a review, follow these steps to send a message via the Extranet:
  1. Log in to the Extranet
  2. Click Inbox
  3. Select Booking.com messages
  4. Click See contact options
  5. Select Guest Reviews as the topic
  6. Click See all contact options
  7. Choose your preferred contact method
  8. If you chose Message, indicate the booking number and explain the issue

Expedia Partner Central

Reasons for Removal:

If the review contains:

  1. The full name of a property staff member
  2. Evidence of violence against a child or child pornography
  3. Evidence of serious injury or death of any guest
  4. Discriminatory language
  5. Nudity or other inappropriate photos

If the review is:

  1. A duplicate submission
  2. Given to the wrong property
  3. Has a recommendation disparity (for example, a positive comment with a 1-star review)
  4. Proven to be submitted by a no-show (a guest who didn’t arrive on the check-in date without cancelling)
  5. Proven to be fake, coerced, or fraudulent (written by someone who did not attempt to stay)
  6. Dispute a review

If a review falls within one of the categories above, you can submit a review dispute form for Expedia Group to consider.

Find more at <https://apps.expediapartnercentral.com/lodging/help/help-article/guests/reviews/about-removing-guest-reviews?domain=HOTEL> 

Google - Hilton, IHG, and Choice Properties

Google will remove reviews that violate Google’s review policies.

Understand which reviews to report for removal

  • Only report reviews that violate Google’s review policies. 
  • Do not report a review because you disagree with it or don’t like it. 
  • Google will not get involved when businesses and customers disagree about facts.
    • There’s no reliable way to tell who’s right about a particular customer experience.
  • You can’t report third-party hotel reviews. To flag an inappropriate third-party review, contact the third-party provider directly. 

Policy Violation Categories

  1. Low quality information - Review is off-topic, contains ads, or is gibberish or repetitive
  2. Profanity - Review contains swear words or has pornographic or sexually explicit language
  3. Harmful - Review contains content that encourages, promotes, or provides instructions for self-harm, misuse of dangerous items or substances, or details or encourages graphic violence to people or animals
  4. Bullying or harassment - Review personally attacks a specific individual
  5. Discrimination or hate speech - Review has harmful language about an individual or group based on identity
  6. Personal information - Review contains personal information, such as an address or phone number
  7. Not helpful - Review doesn’t help people decide whether to go to this place
  8. Report a legal issue - This requires a separate form to be completed

Tip: Be patient. It can take several days to assess a review.

Flag a review in the Reviews Management Tool

  1. Go to the Reviews Management Tool.
  2. Check that the email address shown is the one you use to manage your Business Profile, i.e., first.last@mckibbon or first.last@brand.com.
    • Tip: If you use another email address, click Switch account.
  3. Click Confirm.
  4. Select your business › Report a new review for removal.
  5. For each review that you want to flag, click Report.
  6. In the new tab, select a category for the review.
  7. Click Submit. 

Flag a review or user in Google Maps

  1. Open Google Maps.
    • Make sure you are logged into your work Google account, i.e., first.last@mckibbon or first.last@brand.com.
  2. Open your Business Profile
  3. Tap Reviews.
  4. Find the review you’d like to report.
  5. Tap More
  6. Report review.

Tip: Individuals and businesses can report abusive users from the Google Maps app. After a user’s activity and contributions (like reviews, photos, or edits) are reported, they’ll be reviewed. Learn more about contributor profiles.

  1. On yourAndroid phone or tablet, go to Google.
  2. Find your Business Profile.
  3. Tap Reviews.
  4. Find the review you’d like to report.
  5. Tap More 
  6. Report review.

Check the status of a flagged review in the Reviews Management Tool

  1. Go to the Reviews Management Tool.
  2. Check that the email address shown is the one you use to manage your Business Profile.
    • Tip: If you use another email address, click Switch account.
  3. Click Confirm.
  4. Select your business › Check the status of a review I reported previously.
  5. Possible statuses are:
    • Decision pending: The review is flagged, but it hasn’t been checked yet. 
    • Report reviewed ‐ no policy violation: The review was checked, and no policy violation was found. 
      • Tip: You can appeal this decision once. Learn how to submit a one-time appeal of a review below.
    • Escalated - check your email for updates: An appeal has been escalated, and the final decision will be sent to your email. This status means the review can’tbe escalated anymore.

Submit a one-time appeal of a review

If you flag a review but the verdict says that it doesn’t violate Google Policies, you can submit a one-time appeal.  Learn about what kind of content is restricted.
  1. Go to the Reviews Management Tool.
  2. Check that the email address shown is the one you use to manage your Business Profile.
    • Tip: If youuse another email address, click Switch account.
  3. Click Confirm.
  4. Select your business › Check the status of a review I reported previously.
  5. At the bottom of the page, select Appeal eligible reviews › the reviews you want to appeal. 
    • Tip: You can select up to 10 reviews.
  6. Click Continue › Submit an appeal.
  7. In the new tab, fill out the form and submit.
  8. You’ll receive an email with the verdict about your appeal. 
    • If the review isfound to violate our policy, it’ll be removed. 
    • If not, the review remains live, and its status remains “Escalated - check your emailfor updates” in the Reviews Management Tool.

Understand reviews removed by spam detection

Google uses automated spam detection measures to remove reviews that are probably spam. These measures help improve people’s experiences on Google and ensure the reviews they see are authentic, relevant, and useful. Some legitimate reviews may be inadvertently removed. Give feedback about this article.  

Google - RioSEO

Marriott Properties Only

  1. Log in to your Google account. Using your brand email address is the most effective. (First.Last@brand.com)
    • Follow the directions here if you do not have a Google Account associated with your brand email.
  2. Find the Review on your Google Business Profile: https://www.google.com/maps, then click the three dots.
     example review
  3. Report the Review / Question
    example review 
  4. Select the reason for the dispute.  

Escalate a reported review through mPortal.

If the review remains live 3 days after the original report, fill out Marriott’s Local SEO Google Review Report form and include the following for each review reported. When complete, reply to your ticket or send the form to ecommerce@mckibbon.com.

You will be asked to provide the following in the Review Report form

  1. The date the review was first reported
  2. The link to the Google Review 
    1. Go to Google Maps: https://maps.google.com/maps
    2. Search for your hotel
    3. Scroll to the Reviews section
    4. Find the review(s) you’d like to share
    5. Click the three dots > Share review
  3. Choose the Policy Violation

Please note that there is no guarantee that Google will remove the review submitted in this request, as they must determine if it violates their policies.

Also note: There is a limit of 30 reviews per ticket. Only include up to 30 reviews in your uploaded file. If the file does not include complete information, the correct review links, or the request does not appear in violation of Google’s guidelines, then the request may be declined.

Yelp

There are three main reasons why Yelp might remove a review
  1. The reviewer has an apparent conflict of interest
    • They appear to be a competitor or a former employee
    • They appear to be affiliated with the business
    • They’re receiving payment or other incentives for the review
    • They’re promoting the business or a competitor
  2. The review doesn’t focus on the reviewer’s own consumer experience
    • It’s about someone else’s consumer experience
    • It describes extraordinary circumstances (e.g., COVID-19, media-fueled stories)
    • It’s primarily disputing another Yelper’s review
    • It’s about a different business
    • It appears to be plagiarized from another source
  3. The review includes inappropriate material
    • It contains hate speech, lewd commentary, or threatening language
    • It contains private information about employees or patrons

How to report

  1. Locate the review in the Reviews section of your business account
  2. Find the More Options button (the three dots) and click Report Review

Yelp moderators will evaluate the review against the Content Guidelines, which may take several days.

Shortly after you report a review, you can see the status of your report by hovering your cursor over the flag icon that appears next to the review. This will explain whether Yelp is processing your report or if Yelp decided not to remove the content.

Check your email for a notification of our decision—you can see which email address you’ve registered with Yelp in Account Settings. 


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