I've been using tripadvisor to get real reviews of hotels from other users but there was this one thought that crossed my mind a few months back whether hotel companies hire other persons to post good reviews about them on sites like tripadvisor or they could also do damage to their competitors by hiring other persons to post negative comments about the hotel. I know that some consumer electronics manufacturer or software manufacturers do that on CNET.com.

Anyways, it seems that TripAdvisor may have noticed some hotels postig favorable reviews of their own or posting negative feedbacks on competitors. According to Associated Press, TripAdvisor has been quietly posting disclaimers to warn users of some of these hotel owners' actions.

The good news is that TripAdvisor is doing more than just posting disclaimers, they're also posting red warnings on hotels that they think are posting fake reviews. It's actually pretty easy to tell if reviews about a hotel are fake. I usually just look at the person's other reviews and if he only does 1 review about that particular hotel, chances are, it's fake.

Anyways, good thing that TripAdvisor has this safeguards up to protect consumers.