HomeAway's TrustPilot page

[ManxRed1]

Anyone seen HomeAway's Trust Pilot review page in the last few days? Dozens and dozens of five star reviews, all saying pretty much the same thing - extremely easy to use website - have been left there in the last couple of days.

Something obviously doesn't smell fishy whatsoever!!

https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.homeaway.co.uk

There are about 15 one line reviews on one page that were all posted within the same hour!!

[jafa]

I see Homeaway now also have Premier Partners. One criteria is good reviews. Checked a few out, loads don't have any.
I rang them and if a Property manager has a good review on at least one of their property portfolio, then they all get it.

he then told me the only thing I need to do is to allow on line payment. So he confirmed they take the money and release it one day after the guests arrived. So as I'm mainly winter bookings, I aske him who would be paying my mortgage for the next 12 months if they have my money? Also he couldn't confirm to me that they actually have authority to hold TP client funds. He`s meant to be e-mailing me this afternoon with the relevant authorisation, so will see what he comes up with!!

[AndrewH]

Yesterday (Tue. 06/02/2018) HA(UK)'s "Trustscore" was 0.3 out of 10. Today it is 4.1 out of 10. They have changed their category to "Collecting", which means in Trustpilot's words:

Collecting: The company is using Trustpilot’s services to send out invitations and collect reviews from their customers.

Their bad rating was getting perilously small.

[Dusty]

Mmm, maybe it's end of year appraisal time and one of managements objectives is to improve TrustPilot rating. It's easier to fudge the figures than change the service.

[Hells Bells]

I've left them a 1 star review for their lack of enquiries and bookings, and the fees charged to both me abd guest, then deactivated my listing. I've had enough.

[gardenboy]

Oh dear i have just read the bad reviews. If we as homeowners had these reviews we d be out of business.

My service fee paying guests really think they will be looked after by ha in the event of problems.

[delilah]

Hi, been a while since I called in here. I too having so many issues with OD since Homeway took over, to the point I seriously considered selling the cottage, but can't really afford to lose that income. Some months ago I rang them re the online payments and they told me they were recognised the problems re our cash flow and were "working on" a get paid now system. Phoned the other day and the guy didn't seem to know anything about it. Also supposedly "working on" the rates page, which one of the times I phoned they agreed there was no way I could input data to get an accurate quote for things like 2 night stays, which currently just get lifted off the nightly rate. Been with OD for 5 years but the last few months have been such a pain in the neck.

[COYS]

Per original post, it's still happening with alarming regularity on their HAUK Trustpilot page. Flooded with dubious looking 5* single line comment all saying more or less the same thing - great service, easy to use blah, blah, blah.
I can only assume that Trustpilot's compliance system is aware & at least looking into it. If they are all genuine & not manufactured or coerced, no problem but if so it would represent a truly spectacular turnaround. It's not like HA would deliberately manipulate the marketplace is it?

[AndrewH]

It's not like HA would deliberately manipulate the marketplace is it?

If you look at the top of all these dubious reviews, you will see a ticked circle with the words "verified order". Hover a mouse over that and you will see what it means: "Mr. xxxx was invited to write this review by HomeAway United Kingdom". This is Trustpilot's explanation:

Reviews on Trustpilot are marked “verified order” when we have information connecting the reviewer to an experience with the business they’ve reviewed.

We receive this information if:

the reviewer was invited by the company to leave a review, and the invite was sent using our systems, or the reviewer has provided Trustpilot with documentation showing their buying or service experience.

# 1. Where invitations are sent via Trustpilot All businesses using Trustpilot are welcome to invite customers to leave reviews - regardless of whether they subscribe to our paid services or not.

However, if they use our automated systems (via our free or paid services), we’re able to match the review with the invitation and email link that was originally sent to the reviewer. This lets us automatically mark the experience as “verified”.

Companies that link their webshops (sic) to Trustpilot can automatically send review invitations to customers following each purchase. Those invited reviews will be marked as “verified”.

Note: If companies send out review invitations, we ask them to invite all of their customers equally and identically (or using a neutral system), and with neutral language. See our Company Guidelines (US, UK) or article on best practices for creating invitations.

It appears that HA(UK) send out review invitations, but only to travellers, and they do this immediately a booking is confirmed. Most of these reviews (if not all) relate to the quality of the HA website itself and to the booking process, and nothing much else. I do not see a single "verified review" from an HA owner/customer. This is not the "equality" that Trustpilot request in their note (above).

[e-richard]

It appears that HA(UK) send out review invitations, but only to travellers, and they do this immediately a booking is confirmed. Most of these reviews (if not all) relate to the quality of the HA website itself and to the booking process, and nothing much else. I do not see a single "verified review" from an HA owner/customer. This is not the "equality" that Trustpilot request in their note (above).

HA are indeed following the guidelines and sending invites to all of their customers. Remember that owners are not customers - they are inventory

[AndrewH]

HA are indeed following the guidelines and sending invites to all of their customers. Remember that owners are not customers - they are inventory

Yes . But unlike inanimate inventory, like say boxes of bananas or hundreds of fridges sitting in a warehouse, this particular inventory can talk back and has the option of walking out of the door if it so chooses. The likes of Expedia's Homeaway have set themselves an uphill task in having to persuade people that it is better to book through them and pay a lot more money than deal directly with a home owner. Also, I don't think they expected their inventory to turn on them and give them so much flak.

Expedia's stock price has recently taken a nosedive following publication of their 4th. quarter results. The experts are full of learned monetary theories for this, but none of them have hit on the real truth in my opinion.

[Igor]

Expedia's 4th quarter (not to mention 3rd quarter) results are worthy of having their own thread. I'll start one when I have a moment unless someone beats me to it.

[Tremewan]

Anyone seen HomeAway's Trust Pilot review page in the last few days? Dozens and dozens of five star reviews, all saying pretty much the same thing - extremely easy to use website - have been left there in the last couple of days

Everyone should do what I have just done - leave a one star review. If enough people did that (with supporting evidence, of course) then it would help to pull their average down - just like has happened to the Owners Direct Trustpilot reviews.

[COYS]

Anyone seen HomeAway's Trust Pilot review page in the last few days? Dozens and dozens of five star reviews, all saying pretty much the same thing - extremely easy to use website - have been left there in the last couple of days

Everyone should do what I have just done - leave a one star review. If enough people did that (with supporting evidence, of course) then it would help to pull their average down - just like has happened to the Owners Direct Trustpilot reviews.

+1
Interesting that HA aren't employing the same unethical tactics with their stablemates at OD - yet. Perhaps they are giving up on the brand & will drop it altogether as soon as they have convinced or bullied enough of it's inventory to embrace their future model. Then we can all look forward to being quiet, anonymous & malleable under the one brand

[ManxRed1]

Anyone seen HomeAway's Trust Pilot review page in the last few days? Dozens and dozens of five star reviews, all saying pretty much the same thing - extremely easy to use website - have been left there in the last couple of days

Everyone should do what I have just done - leave a one star review. If enough people did that (with supporting evidence, of course) then it would help to pull their average down - just like has happened to the Owners Direct Trustpilot reviews.

Done that, got the T-Shirt. Also asked Trustpilot to investigate this, but I suspect, as per AndrewH's post, that this is 'sort of' above board, albeit the comments may well be from people who have simply got the confirmation back that their booking has been accepted, and have yet to experience the double booking late cancellation/accommodation doesn't exist and is a scam/property is nothing like as advertised/travel with confidence guarantee that doesn't actually exist* (* delete where appropriate). I wonder what happens then?