Jail time for dishonest hotel reviewer

The owner of PromoSalento, an Italian company that sold fake TripAdvisor review packages to hotels, was sentenced to nine months in jail and ordered to pay about $9,200, or €8,000, in costs and damages, by an Italian court.

“Writing fake reviews has always been fraud, but this is the first time we’ve seen someone sent to jail as a result,” said Brad Young, vice president, associate general counsel at TripAdvisor, in a statement.

The company notified businesses that had made use of PromoSalento’s review and demoted their positions in its popularity rankings. It also placed a red badge on its listing page warning travellers that the business had been trying to manipulate reviews.

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