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TripAdvisor CEO’s Answer to Critic: We’ve Done More Than ‘Experts’ Ever Could

Dennis Schaal photo
Dennis Schaal

Photo Credit: TripAdvisor CEO Steve Kaufer is defending the integrity of its user reviews from criticism leveled by a prominent UK restaurant reviewer.  Tripadvisor

Skift Take

TripAdvisor has taken a few lumps in the UK and the bashing by a prominent UK critic in The Guardian undoubtedly was a factor in Kaufer's decision to pen a rare, formal response to a pundit.

TripAdvisor co-founder and CEO Steve Kaufer took an uncharacteristic step and responded to a prominent UK restaurant critic by publishing a blog post on TripAdvisor's blog and LinkedIn defending the company and its users. The Guardian Weekend magazine's restaurant critic, Marina O'Loughlin's opinion piece on TripAdvisor claims the site is "riddled with fakes and idiots," and "a huge number of otherwise sensible people continue to give credence to the aggregated opinion of, at best, unqualified strangers." Throughout the piece, O'Loughlin focuses almost exclusively on TripAdvisor restaurant reviews rather than hotels. Restaurant reviews on TripAdvisor may carry more weight in Europe where TripAdvisor's The Fork does restaurant reservations than they would in the U.S. market. She leaves no doubt about her opinion of TripAdvisor with a pinned tweet on Twitter:

No review. Instead, here's what I think about Tripadvisor. (Clue: I HATE it) https://t.co/fFPklCKZvE

— Marina O'Loughlin (@MarinaOLou

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