TripAdvisor offers over 150m reviews and opinions

TripAdvisor has announced that it now has 150m reviews, comments and photos on its online review site.

A positive review posted by "Erin S" about the Cameron House inn in North Carolina, USA, became 150 millionth piece of user-generated content.

The user titled her review "A warm, and cosy retreat….you'll want to return!" after she visited the hotel with her husband for Valentine's Day.

Co-founded 14 years ago by now-chief executive Steve Kaufer, TripAdvisor lists nearly 4m restaurants, hotels and attractions around the world., Users can log in to rate, review and comment, as well as post photos.

The site now claims to attract more than two billion views a year; amid a recently-published report on behalf of the site suggesting that half of global travellers do not make a booking without checking out a place's rating first, and 80% of users saying they read at least 6-12 reviews before booking.

The site also regularly takes part in tourism research: only last week it found that six of the top ten best-rated B&Bs in the world were in the UK, including the top two: Bindon Bottom B&B in West Lulworth, Dorset, and the All Seasons Guest House Filey, North Yorkshire.

The most-reviewed places are both in Las Vegas: with 13,677 reviews for the hotel Luxor Las Vegas, and the Mon Ami Gabi restaurant with 4,729 reviews. The Eiffel Tower is both the most-reviewed attraction (24,413 reviews) and the most photographed (9,181 photos).

Despite its success, TripAdvisor has often been hit by controversy, due to stories emerging of fake or intentionally-malicious reviews, listings of restaurants and hotels that do not exist, and vendettas waged between business owners.

One such example was a Scottish hotel-owner couple being thwarted earlier this month, after trying to uncover the identity of two negative reviewers who posted what were alleged to be "defamatory, malicious and false" comments.

The Court of Sessions in Edinburgh stated it had no jurisdiction over the site, as all cases against TripAdvisor are legally required to be heard in the site's founding state of Massachusetts, USA, before any action can be taken.

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