Trustpilot issued warning to Loveholidays about breach of rules

Trustpilot has taken action over Loveholidays’ website in Ireland after it spotted a breach of the reviews website rules.

A warning appeared on the LoveHolidays.ie’s Trustpilot page in August saying: “We’ve found out that this company is breaching our terms of use with the way they’re displaying Trustpilot content.

“They could be showing an inaccurate star rating or TrustScore, or displaying reviews they’re not permitted to use. This could be misleading.

“We take the integrity of our platform very seriously. When we uncover misuse, we take action and alert our community.”

A spokesperson from Trustpilot said its investigation about LoveHolidays.ie’s Trustpilot page earlier this year “found evidence that they were displaying an incorrect and non-compliant Trustpilot widget on its website”.

“This is a breach of our guidelines for businesses since it presents a risk of misleading consumers if the content displayed is not accurate and up to date, could also compromise trust in Trustpilot reviews,” said the spokesperson.

“A formal warning was issued to the business in July 2023, informing them of their violation and how they could resolve it.

“Since the business did not respond, on August 4, 2023 we issued a second warning and placed a public Consumer Alert banner on their Trustpilot page, alerting consumers to their violation.

“We then followed this action up by issuing a Cease & Desist to Love Holidays Ireland, requesting they remove all non-compliant Trustpilot content from their website with immediate effect.”

A loveholidays spokesperson said: “Earlier this year, we were alerted to the fact that the way our Trustpilot rating appeared on loveholidays.ie needed changing.

“This related to how our rating was coded on our website and was rectified as soon as we understood the issue.

“Trustpilot has since removed the message from their website and we thank them for bringing this to our attention.”

Paul Hackett, chief executive of Irish OTA Click & Go, commented: “It is critically important for consumers in all markets to have trust in review websites such as Trustpilot.

“We, like most holiday and travel companies, use Trustpilot and we rely on the platform to provide and inform consumers on competing brands.

“Our industry is built on the trust that consumers have in holiday brands.”