Travel retailer My Holiday Centre is offering customers the chance to win one of three holidays if they mention its brands in the headline or first sentence of a TripAdvisor review. And the simple competition strategy has worked.
There are now lots of reviews on TripAdvisor that plug My Holiday Centre brands (eg: “My holiday was Booked by My QLD Holiday with all the extras, reef trip, white haven beach, all included, it was great”).
But the issue is they throw further doubt on already contentious review screening process of TripAdvisor – a methodology the company, which now owns the world’s most popular travel site, will not reveal.
So, the promotion…
My Holiday Centre urges its customers to “share your experience (good, bad or indifferent) by posting a review on the hotels and/or tour companies page on TripAdvisor with a reference to My Bali, My Fiji, My Hawaii, My USA, My Malaysia, My Thailand, My QLD Holiday or My Holiday Centre in the title or first sentence of your review.
“Things to consider: the service we gave as your travel provider, how were your transfers, did the hotel and airline live up to your expectations, did you feel the overall package was great value?
“By simply sharing your experience on TripAdvisor and sending us a screen shot of your post, you will go into the draw to win a holiday for two.”
The promotion has generated lots of branded TripAdvisor reviews and you can see below for examples sent in by a TravelTrends correspondent.
But does it contravene TripAdvisor guidelines?
Hard to say as the TripAdvisor terms and conditions are obtuse and arcane.
However, they do advise users that: “By using any Interactive Areas, you expressly agree not to post, upload to, transmit, distribute, store, create or otherwise publish through the Site any of the following:
- “Unsolicited promotions, mass mailings or “spamming”, transmission of “junk mail”, “chain letters,” political campaigning, advertising, contests, raffles, or solicitations
- “Content containing commercial activities and/or sales without our prior written consent such as contests, sweepstakes, barter, advertising, and pyramid schemes”
The onus here would appear to be on the user – people posting reviews – to do the right thing rather than the promoter.
You be the judge.
Here are some example of the review generated by the promotion:
Reef View Hotel (my Qld holiday promotion) – http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g255085-d257108-r165517468-Reef_View_Hotel-Hamilton_Island_Whitsunday_Islands_Queensland.html
Sofitel – Fiji (my Fiji promotion)- http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/ShowUserReviews-g612490-d589657-r165975034-Sofitel_Fiji_Resort_Spa-Denarau_Island_Viti_Levu.html
Outrigger on the lagoon – Fiji (my Fiji promotion) http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/ShowUserReviews-g294336-d307144-r164242515-Outrigger_on_the_Lagoon_Fiji-Sigatoka_Coral_Coast_Viti_Levu.html
Hyatt Waikiki (my Hawaii promotion)- http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/ShowUserReviews-g60982-d242435-r164663365-Hyatt_Regency_Waikiki_Resort_Spa-Honolulu_Oahu_Hawaii.html
Ayana Bali (my Bali promotion) – http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/ShowUserReviews-g297696-d302249-r165414872-AYANA_Resort_and_Spa-Jimbaran_Nusa_Dua_Peninsula_Bali.html
Avista Phuket: (my Thailand promotion) – http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/ShowUserReviews-g1210687-d1526109-r165506644-Avista_Phuket_Resort_Spa-Kata_Beach_Phuket.html
Andaman Malaysia – (my Malaysia Promotion) – http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/ShowUserReviews-g298283-d302018-r165743249-The_Andaman_A_Luxury_Collection_Resort-Langkawi_Langkawi_District_Kedah.html
What do you think?
PS: My Holiday Centre is a significant business. It is part of the Ignite Travel Group, which call its self “Australia’s leading travel innovator” and also owns Group Buying Escapes and RewardsCorp.
Ignite Travel Group, founded by Randall Deer, was named fastest growing travel company for 2011 and 2012 by BRW Magazine, while Mr Deer was the the 2012 Gold Coast Young Entrepreneur of the Year. It was the second consecutive year he had won that award.
It seems that TripAdvisor will remove the reviews (eventually) if you report them as being suspicious (add a link to the My Holiday Centre competition page in your comments). However, its a case-by-case manual process that is only enforced retrospectively. It is not stopping any new (incentivised) reviews from going live. So the gaming of TripAdvisor is still quite easy to do as it is the responsibility of the hotels to monitor and report.
Whilst its great to get such positive reviews, it definitely impacts the credibility of the reviews when you see the blatant advertising driving the comments. So overall, it hurts the hotel as people mistrust the authenticity of the reviews. My Holiday Centre have found a loophole here and plenty of copycat campaigns will follow in their footsteps.
TripAdvisor will be mad if they don’t see the warning signs here and take more proactive action.