Guidelines to offer remedy for fake online reviews

Guidelines to offer remedy for fake online reviews
By admin


New guidelines for online reviews have been welcomed by the Accommodation Association of Australia as a “tangible” solution to the problem of fake online reviews.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) launched the new guidelines last month, with the AAA anticipating their effect will be felt by both businesses and the review platforms themselves.

"The Association has led calls for changes to the oversight of online reviews for some time,” chief executive Richard Munro said.

"There are no winners with fake online reviews – they are bad for consumers and even worse for the accommodation businesses who are the subject for them.”

He proposed a combination of consumer reviews with property inspections as the best way forward.

With the internet emerging as one of the most powerful influencers of the accommodation industry, steps to ensure accuracy of online reviews are now “even more important than ever”, Munro insisted.

He pointed to the “exponential” growth of third-party accommodation booking websites and called for closer scrutiny of online businesses that promote “non-compliant” accommodation in residential homes.

"The Accommodation Association may seek discussions with the ACCC and other relevant regulatory authorities on issues related to these e-businesses as well," he said.

Latest News

  • Partner Content

My journey: Before becoming a travel agent I was… a palliative care nurse 

Australind Travel & Cruise, Travellers Choice member Saibra Twigg reveals her life as paediatric nurse then to palliative care before a career leap to travel agent. How did you become a palliative care nurse?  ST I went straight from school in nursing and initially specialised in paediatrics, working at Perth’s Princess Margaret Hospital for Children. […]

Partner Content

by Travel Weekly

Travel Weekly
  • Destinations
  • News

APT Launches 2025 Asia Adventures

APT has launched its Asia Adventures for 2025, including new luxury holidays in India, Sri Lanka and Japan. Five new tours lead guests to the highlights of India, including a seven-night cruise along the rarely travelled Lower Ganges aboard the Ganges Voyager. Further south, Sri Lanka’s greatest destinations are revealed on a new 15-day Land […]

  • Cruise
  • Luxury
  • News

Seabourn announces Western Kimberley Traditional Owners as Godparents of Seabourn Pursuit

Seabourn has named Western Kimberley Traditional Owners, the Wunambal Gaambera, as Godparents of the ultra-luxury purpose-built Seabourn Pursuit. It is the first cruise line to appoint Traditional Owners as godparents of a ship. Seabourn Pursuit embarks on its inaugural season in the Kimberley region this June. The naming ceremony will take place on Seabourn Pursuit’s […]