Before I started writing for Your Mileage May Vary, I used to share my hotel comments on the review site TripAdvisor. While TripAdvisor has evolved into a travel booking portal that provides price comparisons and reviews, user reviews are still helpful. In addition, you’ll find real-life pictures of properties, not only professionally curated shots designed to show a hotel at its best.
If you know how to read the reviews to get useful information, they’re extremely helpful in eliminating the worst hotels and pointing you toward better properties.
TripAdvisor Removing Reviews
The reviews on TripAdvisor go back for as long as you want to read. When researching a hotel, you can often tell if a hotel is under new management if there’s a sudden change in the types of reviews, either positive of negative. However, did you know that a hotel can get past reviews removed?
I’m not talking about nefarious actions to target negative reviews and have them deleted. In fact, there’s a legitimate reason for a hotel to ask for previous reviews to be removed.
I previously received a notification that one of my reviews was removed because the hotel had undergone a renovation. In fact, the hotel in question was closed for months and reflagged from a Holiday Inn to a Marriott. I haven’t posted to TripAdvisor for a while, so I was a little surprised to find another of my reviews is being removed.
We would like to let you know that Hotel Mela Times Square has recently gone through a major renovation. As a result, all reviews and photos posted before the change including yours, have been removed in accordance to our policy.
It’s been years since we’ve stayed there, so my review was outdated, but this made me think about how a hotel gets TripAdvisor to scrub past reviews.
How do hotels report a major renovation?
TripAdvisor has pages for property owners. On those pages, they can request the deletion of a property’s pre-renovation reviews.
If you have completely refurbished your property and want to start with a clean slate, let us know by following these steps:
- Visit the owner support page.
- Fill out the form with the required information.
- Attach the relative documentation. We require official proof that a top-to-bottom renovation took place, and you will see the list of accepted documents in this form.
- Click Submit.
Upon verifying the documentation provided, we will get in touch via email within 3-5 business days. If your property’s renovation meets our criteria, and substantially changes the traveler’s experience, we will delete the old reviews and photos that were written prior to the renovation. Please note that this removal is irreversible and may affect your ranking.
TIP: Cosmetic changes – such as new carpets, paint, or a new sign – do not qualify.
Hotels have to provide documentation and official proof of a top-to-bottom renovation in order to remove past reviews. While hotels may want to remove these reviews if they are negative, it will also affect a hotel’s ranking so it’s not something they take lightly.
I particularly appreciate that TripAdvisor lets hotels know that cosmetic changes do not count as a major renovation.
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