Skift Take
TripAdvisor's treatment of sexual assault allegations at hotels will not please people who would like to see these properties' listings pulverized. But for those travelers scoping out hotels for issues of concern, these feature changes are a modest, incremental, and positive step.
TripAdvisor, the world's largest travel website with 490 million monthly unique visitors, still won't delete a hotel listing because of sexual assault allegations or convictions, but it has made it easier to find guest reviews about sexual assault.
The site added a traveler safety filter atop a hotel's reviews so when a user checks a "See safety reviews" box, it surfaces the relevant reviews, and shows the number of such reviews. There is also a notice, "Traveler safety," above the reviews of such properties where there have been safety concerns.
TripAdvisor made the changes on its sites around the world, and the reviews appear in 28 languages.
For example, the Beaches Negril Resort and Spa in Negril, Jamaica has a user review from an 18-year-old South African woman alleging that her drink was spiked and she was raped at the property by another guest. Beneath the review is a management response saying it reported the allegation to law enforcement, which concluded that the woman's "allegation of having been drugged is not sustaina
