Our policy on customer reviews

Travelodge recognises that customer reviews are a vital tool for our guests when making informed decisions about their stay. We are committed to ensuring that our review practices are fair and transparent, giving you confidence in the information you see. This policy outlines our approach to managing customer reviews.

Our commitment to authenticity and transparency

We adhere to the principles of fair and honest business practices. We confirm that:

● we do not create, commission, or publish fake reviews under any circumstances;
● we do not publish or display any customer reviews in a misleading way on our website;
● we will never seek to remove a customer review simply because it is negative, as long as it reflects a genuine customer experience. We want to show a true picture of our products and services.

Incentivised reviews

Whilst we do not generally offer incentives, such as rewards or discounts, to customers in exchange for writing reviews, we do occasionally pay social media influencers or other third parties, or offer them free stays, to experience our hotels and share reviews on media platforms. In such cases, we require that the incentivised nature of the review is clearly and prominently disclosed by the reviewer (e.g. using a label like “AD” or “Incentivised Review”. We may also offer journalists a free stay in the event they are writing an article about their stay. In all instances, reviewers are reminded that their reviews should always reflect their genuine experience.

Our relationship with review platforms

To assist you in evaluating our services, we display the official ‘dot-rating’ for each hotel from Tripadvisor on our website. This rating is an aggregation of consumer feedback on Tripadvisor’s platform. To clarify:

● we have a contractual relationship with Tripadvisor, which allows us to manage our profile and respond to feedback. This arrangement does not give us control over the reviews themselves or how they are presented on the Tripadvisor platform;
● we take reasonable and proportionate steps to prevent the publication of fake or undisclosed incentivised reviews on Tripadvisor;
● with the exception of Tripadvisor’s official ‘dot-rating’, we do not publish customer review information on our own website;
● we cannot verify the reviews on Tripadvisor to confirm if they meet our review criteria, however, we are confident that Tripadvisor’s review policy and processes incorporates standards that ensure the reviews are fair, accurate, and transparent. For information on how Tripadvisor manages reviews on its platform please see its policy which can be found here. Further information can be found on the Tripadvisor website.

Rules on leaving reviews

When reviewing your stay with us on Tripadvisor or any other platform, please follow the relevant platform’s review guidelines. In particular, please remember your reviews should:

● be focused solely on your stay with us and the service you received;
● avoid mentioning other retailers or the specific price you paid;
● not include any personal information, such as full names or addresses;
● reflect your genuine experience (both positives and negatives);
● not manipulate ratings (for example, you cannot submit multiple reviews for the same stay);
● not be obscene, offensive, harmful or defamatory.

How we monitor, investigate and support in the removal of fake reviews

Where we have no commercial relationship with a third-party review platform, we will use reasonable and proportionate steps to identify and remove fake reviews or false or misleading reviews and consumer review information. Where reviews on a third-party site are found to be fake or misleading, we will report them to the platform for investigation and removal.

We regularly monitor the Tripadvisor website by spot-checking reviews, investigating any unusual patterns, and using the complaints process for customers to flag concerns. If we consider a review does not meet the Tripadvisor review rules or could be obscene, offensive, harmful, defamatory or fake, we will ask Tripadvisor to investigate and remove it.

We also use automated software designed to detect automatically fake reviews or misleading content across multiple platforms.

What to do if you think a review is fake or misleading

If you believe a review you have found in respect of our business is fake or misleading you can:

● if the review is posted on the Tripadvisor website, follow Tripadvisor’s process for reporting reviews. For further details click here; or
● contact us using the ‘Contact Us’ link on our website and our team will work with the relevant review platform to investigate this.

Reviews vs complaints

Any of our customers may leave a review on a third-party platform or other medium. We would love you to share an honest review of our hotels using Tripadvisor’s website. To leave a review on Tripadvisor’s website please follow the link that may have been sent to you following your stay or click here.

In the event that you also wish to make a complaint or have a question regarding your booking, please contact us using the ‘Contact Us’ link on our website. We will respond to you as quickly as we can and normally within 5 working days.