Remove a Tripadvisor review that breaks the rules

Tripadvisor removal grounds

Tripadvisor says a review may be removed if it was posted on the wrong listing, breaks its review guidelines, or looks suspicious. In practice, these are the grounds that work for Philippine properties:

• No first-hand experience: the reviewer never stayed, ate or booked, or is writing on behalf of someone else.
• Hearsay: the review repeats what another guest, a news report or a Facebook post said, rather than the reviewer’s own experience.
• Conflict of interest: Tripadvisor does not accept reviews from owners, staff or anyone affiliated with a property, nor from people affiliated with a competing property nearby.
• Too old: reviews must be submitted within one year of the experience.
• Wrong property: a guest confused your resort with another one with a similar name in Boracay, El Nido or Panglao.
• Abusive or private content: threats, hate speech, insults aimed at named staff, or personal details.

How we report to Tripadvisor

Tripadvisor moderates on behalf of travellers, not owners, so a report must show a guideline breach, not a disagreement. We do not need access to your Tripadvisor Management Center, the owner account linked to your listing: we contact Tripadvisor’s support and review moderation team directly, as your authorised representative. Moderators review contested reviews, which can take a few business days.

1. Assessment. You send us the review links. We match each one to a guideline and check your booking records for the reviewer’s name and dates.
2. Authorisation. You sign a short mandate letter naming NetClearer as your representative. We never ask for your login, never take over your listing and are never added as a user: you keep full control.
3. Report. We send Tripadvisor the review with one precise ground and a short factual explanation: no matching reservation, the date of the dispute, the competitor link.
4. Follow-up. We track the moderators’ answer and, if the review stays, send a reasoned request with new information. If Tripadvisor asks the listing owner to confirm something, we tell you.

Blackmail reviews

Tripadvisor classes as blackmail any bad-faith attempt by a guest to get something of value, such as a refund, an upgrade or a free meal, by threatening a negative review or offering to remove one. A guest who simply says they will write about a real problem is not blackmailing you.

Timing matters. Tripadvisor accepts reports of a blackmail threat before the review is posted, so moderators can flag it in advance. Send us the details the same day: the guest, booking, date and exact words, with emails, chat messages and voicemails, and we report the threat to Tripadvisor on your behalf. If the review has already been published, it is reported as a guideline breach, with the threat as evidence. We handle both cases, and we prepare the timeline so moderators do not have to piece it together.

Renovation and ownership resets

Some old reviews describe a business that no longer exists. Tripadvisor can treat a documented change of ownership, and in some cases a major renovation, differently from a normal report. Ownership changes need proof, such as a deed, a transfer document or a long-term lease; new management alone is usually not enough. We tell you whether your case qualifies and send the request to Tripadvisor on your behalf, rather than reporting old reviews one by one.

If Tripadvisor refuses

• New information sent with a second request, when the first one lacked evidence.
• Another ground: a review refused as fake may still contain a staff name or hearsay.
• Management response: a short, polite reply under the review. Travellers read them, and Tripadvisor has its own rules for responses, which we follow.

What we never do

• No reviews written by us, your staff or your friends: Tripadvisor can penalise properties that post or solicit fake positive reviews.
• No pressure on guests to change or delete what they wrote.
• No reports on honest negative reviews about service, cleanliness or price.

Price and other travel platforms

₱1,400 for one review, ₱3,800 for three, ₱10,550 for ten, taxes included. Most resorts are also on booking sites: see Agoda review removal, remove Booking.com reviews, remove Hotels.com and Expedia reviews and remove Trip.com reviews. All platforms: remove fake reviews. All prices: content removal prices.