About the Method of Deleting Reviews on Expedia and Measures Against Reputational Damage

Those who frequently travel abroad may have experience using Expedia. Expedia is a travel booking site where you can reserve accommodations and flights both domestically and internationally. It is used not only in Japan but also in countries around the world. Since the site allows reviews from people who have actually used the hotels they booked, there is a possibility of defamatory posts and resulting reputational damage. In this article, we will explain the nature of reputational damage on Expedia and how to deal with it.

Explanation about Expedia

Expedia is a global travel booking site where you can reserve accommodations and airline tickets both domestically and internationally. The number of contracted facilities exceeds 500,000 worldwide, and it deals with over 400 airlines, with bases in 31 countries around the world (as of December 2018). It is localized for each country and supports almost any language. The operating company is the Expedia Group, based in the United States, which originally started from the travel reservation system division of Microsoft Corporation. Expedia boasts one of the highest sales among online travel agencies in the world. The main reason why it has become a site with many users worldwide is its reasonable prices. The secret to its affordability is that it offers a package plan where the hotel fee can be completely waived if you book an airline ticket and a hotel at the same time.

In other words, if you book with Expedia, there is a chance that your hotel fee will be free. In addition, hotels are priced normally even during the high season, and there are no handling fees for airline tickets. Another strength of Expedia is the availability of members-only coupons. If you become a member, you will receive exclusive coupons via email newsletters. For example, you may receive coupons for weekday-only half-price hotel sales. It is also advantageous that you can make reservations until the last minute and it is easy to use. On the individual hotel pages, you can see reviews, but only those who have booked with Expedia and actually stayed can write reviews, so the content is reliable. What you should know is that Expedia is famous for its bad reputation. There have been complaints such as hotel fees being deducted from credit cards even after cancellation, and poor customer support. If you are accustomed to using it, the likelihood of trouble is low, but be sure to be careful when using it for the first time.

Potential Reputational Damage on Expedia

As mentioned above, you can check hotel reviews on Expedia. If defamatory posts are made in these reviews, the reputation of the hotel may decline, potentially leading to a decrease in users. Below, we will introduce some actual examples of such reputational damage.

Cleanliness of the Room

When reviewing, you are required to rate the cleanliness of the room on a five-point scale. If the hotel room is dirty, it can spoil an otherwise enjoyable trip. In fact, there were reviews with the following content regarding cleanliness:

• The Japanese-style room I stayed in was a bit dirty
• The facilities are getting old
• The wall in the bathroom is peeling off
• The futon has a stain that won’t come off
• The towel is dirty
• There’s a bad smell when you enter the room
• I was surprised by the number of bugs

If a hotel gets a reputation for being dirty or having bugs, the number of users may decrease.

Comfort of the Room

Like cleanliness, the comfort of the room is also reviewed on a five-point scale. In a hotel room, not only do you want to recover from the fatigue of sightseeing, but you also want to enjoy a comfort that you can’t feel at home. In fact, there were posts with the following content:

• The amenities are not well stocked
• There are few items available for rent
• The view is not good
• The walls are thin and you can hear the next room

In a hotel where the room is not comfortable, you may hesitate to use it.

Service and Staff Response

The content of the service and staff is also one of the subjects of the five-point evaluation. Since a hotel is a special place for travelers, many people would want a gentlemanly and polite response with a heartfelt touch. Among the reviews, there are many contents related to the response of the staff. Here is an example of the content of a review regarding the service and staff response:

• I couldn’t use the hotel restaurant I was looking forward to
• The buffet breakfast is poor
• The hotel that won’t lend me an umbrella is the worst
• The light bulb was about to go out
• The front desk staff lacks kindness in their manual response
• There are employees who are very good at customer service and those who are curt, making me feel that there is inconsistency in the service. I want them to properly train their employees
• A female staff member who handled a cancellation was complaining in front of the customer
• I was ignored by the staff because they were busy

If a hotel gets a reputation for having problems with the quality of service or staff response, the number of users is likely to decrease.

Hotel Condition

• Access from major cities is not good
• There are few restaurants around because it is a residential area
• The parking lot is far away
• The guidance for the shuttle bus is hard to understand
• The view is bad because it is surrounded by buildings

Hotels with inconvenient features may make people hesitate to use them. This tendency is particularly noticeable in travel for pregnant women and the elderly. In this way, there is a possibility that defamatory posts may be made about various aspects of hotel services. If you find a defamatory post about the hotel you operate or work at, you will want to delete it as soon as possible. Next, we will introduce how to delete defamatory posts on Expedia.

How to Remove a Post from Expedia for Violation of Terms

The “Review and Photo Submission Rules” set out in Expedia’s Community Guidelines state that users are considered to have agreed to the following when they submit a review to Expedia:

(1) You retain all necessary rights, consents, approvals, authorities, and licenses for all content and information you provide to Expedia, and for Expedia and its sublicensees to exercise the rights granted under these rules.
(2) The content must not infringe any third party’s property rights or other rights, and must not contain any information that is defamatory or illegal.
(3) All information contained in the content must be accurate.
(4) The content is not confidential and is non-proprietary.
(5) The use of any content you provide does not violate the contents of these rules and does not cause harm to any individual or corporate organization.

https://www.expedia.co.jp/p/info-other/reviewandphotosubmissionrules[ja]

The rights granted to Expedia under these rules, as stated in (1), are as follows:

① For all content that you post or transmit to Expedia (regardless of whether this is before or after the publication of these rules), to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, publicly display and perform, regardless of country, reason, or medium (whether it is a known medium or a medium that will be devised in the future).
② To use the name you submitted with the content. Expedia has the right, at its sole discretion, to monitor, modify, and delete any content or part thereof at any time. However, it is not obligated to do so.

https://www.expedia.co.jp/p/info-other/reviewandphotosubmissionrules[ja]

Since it is stated that Expedia “has the right, at its sole discretion, to monitor, modify, and delete any content or part thereof at any time,” it is possible that reviews deemed inappropriate by Expedia may be deleted.

The issue is the criteria for deletion. The “Review and Photo Submission Rules” state that the content to be submitted must meet the following conditions:

• Must be original
• Must not be for commercial purposes
• Must be relevant
• Must be considerate of public order and morals and family-friendly
• Furthermore, the following prohibitions on content are also set:
• Must not infringe on the copyright or property rights of a third party
• Must not include content for commercial purposes such as logos or brands
• Must not contain any blasphemous or obscene content
• Must not include content that personally attacks others
• Must not make defamatory comments or comments that damage the reputation of others, etc.

In other words, content such as copy-pasting that infringes on the property rights of a third party, or insulting content such as “not worth staying” or “a waste of time and money” can certainly be subject to deletion. However, these are ultimately at the discretion of Expedia. If Expedia deems it acceptable, a post that you think constitutes defamation may not be deleted. If there is a review that you really want to delete, you will need to make a deletion request to the site yourself. Since there is no dedicated inquiry form for deletion, try contacting customer support. After entering your name and email address in the form, please state in the message field that you want to request deletion. At that time, it would be easier for the customer support representative to understand if you also convey matters such as the URL of the relevant review, the part you want to delete, and which part of the rules it violates.

Claiming Illegality and Requesting Removal of Reviews on Expedia

If Expedia does not respond to your removal request, you may consider asserting illegality in court. In cases of illegality, defamation is often claimed. Defamation requires three elements: it must be “public,” “factually accurate,” and “infringe on the rights of others.” You must assert that the review in question meets these three requirements from a legal perspective. Such claims can be difficult for laypeople, so it is recommended to consult a lawyer. However, even if the above requirements are met, if “public interest” or “public nature” is recognized, defamation will not be established. For example, a post stating “Illegal gambling was taking place in the hotel’s casino” would be considered providing information about a crime, and even if it damages the hotel’s reputation, it would not constitute defamation if it is true.

https://monolith.law/reputation/cases-not-recognized-as-defamation[ja]

How to Remove Expedia Reviews through Provisional Disposition

It is possible to achieve the goal of removing reviews through provisional disposition without going to court. Provisional disposition is a method that brings about the realization of the claim before substantial examination, and because things progress quickly, it is a commonly used method. However, even in the case of provisional disposition, it is essential to conduct legal arguments and convince the court, just like in a lawsuit, so caution is necessary.

https://monolith.law/reputation/provisional-disposition[ja]

How to Identify Expedia Review Authors through Provisional Disposition

In provisional disposition, in addition to deletion requests, it is also possible to identify the author of a review. If the author can be identified, it can prevent recurrence by the same person. This can be said to be a method that is more likely to lead to a fundamental solution. However, please note that identifying the author is more complicated than requesting deletion. First, you need to request the disclosure of the author’s IP address from the operator of Expedia. Once you have obtained the IP address, you then request the disclosure of the author’s personal information, such as address and name, from the provider. In other words, two types of requests are necessary. As the provider also has a demand for personal information protection, there is a high possibility that they will not easily comply with the disclosure of information. Be prepared, as this is not a straightforward method.

https://monolith.law/reputation/identifying-contributors-after-deletion[ja]

Summary

We have introduced various measures regarding reputational damage on Expedia. Expedia allows users to review the hotels listed, so there is a risk of reputational damage. You can use the “Review and Photo Submission Rules” to make a direct deletion request to the site, and you can also consider claiming illegality in court. When claiming illegality, legal discussion is essential, so it is recommended to consult with a lawyer who is an expert.