Trip Advisor Slander, & Conspiracy to Commit Slander Needham Massachusetts

Company is guilty of conspiracy to commit slander. In the subject case, a non-accredited reviewer left us a bad review on Trip Advisor, but the reviewer is non-accredited because they never stayed with us. They falsified their dates of stay that they alleged on Trip Advisor's input form. The Trip Advisor Review is bundled by Google's review at https://www.google.com/travel/hotels/entity/CgoIoJ2l2Ovmw608EAE/reviews?g2lb=2502405%2C2502548%2C4208993%2C4254308%2C4258168%2C4260007%2C4270442%2C4274032%2C4285990%2C4288513%2C4289525%2C4291318%2C4296668%2C4301054%2C4303480%2C4305595%2C4308216%2C4313006%2C4315873%2C4317816%2C4317912%2C4320539%2C4324289%2C4326764%2C4329288%2C4270859%2C4284970%2C4291517%2C4292955%2C4316256&hl=en&gl=us&un=1&rp=EKCdpdjr5sOtPDgCQABIAQ&ictx=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiV8b7v7fHlAhWpHzQIHQB8CScQ4gkwDnoECA0QIg&hrf=KhYKBwjjDxALGBsSBwjjDxALGBwYASgAggElMHg1NGQwNmYyMWRiMWNjODBkOjB4M2M1YjBmMzZiYjA5NGVhMJoBJxolMHg1NGQwNmYyMWRiMWNjODBkOjB4M2M1YjBmMzZiYjA5NGVhMA&tcfs=EhoaGAoKMjAxOS0xMS0yNxIKMjAxOS0xMS0yOFIA

and the actual review may be seen at

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g60944-d15233329-Reviews-Lakeside_Hostel_Guest_House-Crescent_City_California.html

Yet inspite of this the Trip Advisor site says the reviewer stayed with us in September, and more likely than not the reviewer had to post a date into the Trip Advisor site in order to be allowed to post. Additionally the reviewer says we are probably not licensed, but this too isn't true (see attached letter from Del Norte County Tax Collector). Also attached is one of several messages I sent to Trip Advisor CEO Stephen Kauffer.

I have attempted on multiple occasions to issue a response, and Trip Advisor is defiant and will not allow us to post a response on their website. Initially they demanded a bunch of documents, including employer records, etc, etc, etc.

We couldn't offer what they wanted since they were not germane and we operate with independent contractors. But we did offer them a letter from the county tax collector confirming that we were registered and in good standing, and that the county's audit records confirmed that the non-accredited guest did not stay with us.

After all the effort of supplying this letter, Trip Advisor will still not allow us to issue a response, nor take down a non-accredited review. Additionally Trip Advisor CEO Stephen Kaufer would not give us the courtesy of a response, nor the decency of a reply. However, both Stephen and his subordinates did receive our correspondence, and through his subordinates we were placated.

And for the record, there are no less than four telephone numbers posted to the front door so the likelihood of the guest not being able to get in contact with someone is not probable. Most of our guests are greeted by a host, and those who are not greeted must pay by credit card  in advance -- even if they don't go through one of our third party travel partners.

We are currently using hostelz's website since we don't have our own website which also displays our phone numbers, and this guest likely found us on Google, or the Hostelz website https://www.hostelz.com/hostel/+374009-Lakeside-Hostel---Guest-House.

With respect to Trip Advisor's position, and burden of altering their policies, the burden appears to be small since they could incorporate an online verification of stay that is not solely dependent on guest input.

Example: links to review by this guest from a booking company that they booked through, or an automated response to the host that they stayed with who could also verify the stay. Links to a booking company review are relevant since the other booking companies won't let you post a review unless you were actually a guest that booked through them.

This is in contrast to Trip Advisor's loose policy which only requires a guest to certify they were a guest. I believe Trip Advisor does this for marketing and visibility in hopes of getting its name into Google search engines; either that or accepts money from the reviewer.  My point is that Trip Advisor has acted irresponsibly.

In summary, my complaint is against Trip Advisor, and not the guest. The complaint is due to slander. Evidence appears to be partially based on insufficient affinity nor verification, a failure to allow a response. Reading on the net there are other complaints relating to slander against Trip Advisor -- both on ripoffreport.com, as well as Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TripAdvisor