Twenty-five years since the platform’s launch, we speak to Irish hoteliers about the impact of reviews, from high praise to claims of mosquitoes in Kilkenny…
Tripadvisor was launched 25 years ago
Picture the scene. You’re planning a hotel break, find a great spot and pull it up on Tripadvisor to check the reviews, only to see this: “Hygiene is zero. Algae on all steps, slippery and hazardous. Toilet and bathroom really dirty. Breakfast had mould on avacado (sic) and tomato. Mosquito bites galore.”
It’s a grim read for anyone, but it hit Peter Wilson particularly hard. He’s general manager at Avalon House Hotel in Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny, about which the Tripadvisor “review” was written this summer.