Tripadvisor Review Guide

Who uses Tripadvisor

Travelers researching places to stay, eat and visit, and the hotels, restaurants, attractions and tour operators that appear in its listings. Businesses typically use the free owner tools to keep listing details current and to answer reviews.

Claim your profile

1. Find or start from the business owner page and claim the listing for your business.
2. Verify your identity as a property representative, which Tripadvisor requires after claiming.
3. Open the Management Center from the My Business option in your profile menu.
4. If the business is not listed yet, submit a request for a new listing first.

Official guidelines: tripadvisor.com

Replying to reviews

Once your listing is claimed and verified, open the Management Center, choose the review you want to answer, type the response, enter a display name and business role, and submit. The review shows Response Pending, then Response Published or Response Rejected. Most responses are reviewed within a few business days.

• Responses appear directly under the traveler's review and are visible to everyone.
• A published response cannot be edited. To change it, delete it and submit a new version.
• Responses may not quote guest or third-party correspondence or snippets of reviews, must be non-promotional and relevant to the review, and are removed if they offer gifts, services or money. Links are only allowed when relevant to the review.
• Responses may not threaten or pressure a reviewer, accuse the reviewer of fraud, guess who the reviewer is, or include personal details such as names, addresses or phone numbers.
• Avoid lists, bullets and other formatting that will not display, and avoid unreadable machine translation.
• If you have reported a review, Tripadvisor suggests still responding so visitors see your side while the report is evaluated. If the review is removed, your response is removed with it.
• You can turn on email notifications for new reviews under Account info, Settings, Subscriptions (Emails for Owners).

Official guidelines: tripadvisor.com

Review rules

In our own words. The official page is the rule that applies.

• A review must describe the reviewer's own first-hand experience with a listed business. Reviews based on what other people said, media coverage or a brief phone call are not accepted, with narrow exceptions for serious safety incidents.
• Reviews should relate to the trip experience, be at least 25 characters long and be submitted within one year of the visit. Complaints that only restate a business's stated policies, hours or closures are generally not accepted.
• One review per experience, and one account per person. Repeat reviews of the same business are only accepted after a waiting period (three months for lodging, attractions and tours; one month for restaurants).
• People connected to a business may not review it. This covers current and former employees (including volunteers), relatives and friends of staff or owners, suppliers, and owners or employees of a business in the same category in the same municipality or within 10 miles (16 km).
• Businesses may not post reviews of themselves, buy or trade reviews, offer rewards for reviews, or reward employees for generating them.
• Businesses may not pressure guests to remove or write reviews, write reviews on guests' behalf, or contractually bar guests from posting critical reviews.
• Selective review requests (sometimes called review gating) are prohibited. Guests who report a good experience and guests who report a bad one must be sent through the same review process.
• Tripadvisor may penalize a listing that tries to manipulate its ranking, for example with ranking penalties, red badges or exclusion from awards.

Official guidelines: tripadvisor.com

Reporting a review

Tripadvisor's own process, step by step.

1. To report a review, open the three-dot menu at the top right of the review and choose Report review (signed out, Tripadvisor asks you to sign in first). Include any information that helps explain the situation.
2. Tripadvisor says it researches reported content within 48 hours and applies any penalties needed.
3. Tripadvisor states that its team checks every review reported by the community, both businesses and users, as possibly not meeting its guidelines.
4. Reviews may be removed when moderators determine they do not meet the guidelines.
5. Tripadvisor invites reports of suspected fraud, such as reviews from owners or competitors, through the reporting function on the site, and lists a content integrity email address for broader fraud concerns.
6. Tripadvisor also lists a separate email address for reporting offers of rewards in exchange for reviews.

Official guidelines: tripadvisor.com

Tips

• Claim and verify your listing so you can see new reviews and respond to them.
• Turn on review notifications and respond promptly, keeping the tone courteous and professional.
• Thank the reviewer, address the specific points raised and mention any fix you made, without repeating negative wording from the review.
• Vary your replies rather than pasting the same message into every response.
• Invite guests to review you after their visit, but do not offer anything in exchange and send every guest down the same path regardless of how their visit went.
• Keep your business details and photos current in the Management Center.