Matthew Steeples suggests TripAdvisor needs to reform its ways
I’ve written about the ‘Trippies’ (those who write reviews on TripAdvisor) before and just like the ‘Groupies’ (voucher loving Groupon users), I’ve had direct experience of their type. They’re an accursed nuisance.
In the main, ‘Trippies’ and ‘Groupies’ can be surmised as the sort that visit restaurants and bars and then take to the Internet to whinge about everything from starters to side dishes. These people don’t order wine, they don’t drink coffee and they don’t tip. Instead, these Little Hitler’s love marker pens and tap water and best of all – and what they’re best at – is writing rogue reviews. As the Dragons’ Den star Duncan Bannatyne once said, what’s worse are the founders of TripAdvisor themselves:
“They have tried to bully me, they have sent threatening letters and emails, they have urged me to shut up, but they won’t speak to me directly… TripAdvisor is a despicable and cowardly organisation”.
News, therefore, that a Glasgow pub owner has had to plead with TripAdvisor to remove his venue from TripAdvisor’s restaurant listings speaks volumes and once again shows the flaws of this ridiculous website.
Many would surely argue that publican Frank Spence should have been delighted to learnt that his pub, The Pot Still, was sixth out of 1,136 restaurants in Glasgow. He was not as all it has done is cause him problems as diners come expecting “a Gordon Ramsay experience” when what he actually offers is “soup and a pie” and a “dessert menu measured in drams” [the pub has 566 whiskies on its menu].
In an email to TripAdvisor, Spence pointed out that The Pot Still being listed as a “restaurant” was:
“Unfairly skewing the results for the other fantastic and proper restaurants in Glasgow, who all deserve to be one place higher up than we are allowing them to be”.
Mr Spence is a wise and honest man and we most definitely must all raise a dram to him. TripAdvisor, on the other hand, should just TripOut.
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