Delfino Blu.................

[Rover]

Jimbo, does this mean that a Hotel has to be "registered" on TA before posts can be made? That is provide contact details etc.? The mail to owners will then be automatic with each post.

[Jaxbubbles]

I think TA should be ashamed to post the latest review. I thought they read reviews before posting, surely they didn't read that one as it is nothing to do with the hotel, the same as the last review that was removed. The reviews should be about the hotel/restaurant not about why reviews are being removed. I dont think this post is about the Delfino Blu anymore it is about Trip Advisor. And I don't think it is correct that people think they can give a hotel a bad review or any review without even staying there or eating there because a previous review has been removed! After all this is peoples businesses and livelihoods you are talking about, and we all know that the lovely wonderful people of San Stef have felt a big decline in their businesses these last few years.

[Jimbo]

I think you're missing the point.

A perfectly sensible review by Silverstar of the very poor experience she had at Delfino Blu was removed without her being notified. TA did not respond to her request for reasons. Gavlah and I have asked for information and received no reply. The only place to point out that TA cannot be trusted is on TA itself, which is why two people have posted comments in the DB thread.

Other places - like Romanza, Little Prince, Nafsika - have not had adverse criticism removed. Owners have a right of reply. Why was that no used?

DB may be posh and expensive, but it does not have a God-given right to have criticism removed.

[Gavlah1973]

And it clearly states on the lastest Trip Advisor post........ "This is not a review of the hotel"

[Jaxbubbles]

Jim I am not missing the point, I agree Silverstars review should never have been removed, but for others to give DB reviews regarding posts being removed, surely isn't fair,  quote from yourself "We've now seen two examples of TA pulling things. In the second case, it make sense, because it wasn't a review"
 Put the question on the Corfu forum page and see what the results are, but not on DB review page.
And yes Gav it does say its not a review, so it shouldn't be there.

[Gavlah1973]

Trip Advisor should have the courtesy to respond to their emails then people wouldnt think that they need to resort to these measures just to get an answer!!

[Silverstar]

Jimbo - I haven't got the text of what I wrote unfortunately.

However update - had an email from TA:-

Hello,

Thank you for contacting TripAdvisor.

As our guidelines state, we do not post reviews that include things you have overheard from other guests or your account of another party’s experience.

We hope you will consider re-submitting a review that meets our guidelines:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/help/our_guidelines_for_traveler_reviews

Thank you for your understanding. Please feel free to contact me if you have any additional questions or concerns.

Kind Regards,Herwin
TripAdvisor Support Team


What a crock of pants!!!

Thoughts?

[Waspman]

I think you're missing the point.

A perfectly sensible review by Silverstar of the very poor experience she had at Delfino Blu was removed without her being notified. TA did not respond to her request for reasons. Gavlah and I have asked for information and received no reply. The only place to point out that TA cannot be trusted is on TA itself, which is why two people have posted comments in the DB thread.

Other places - like Romanza, Little Prince, Nafsika - have not had adverse criticism removed. Owners have a right of reply. Why was that no used?

DB may be posh and expensive, but it does not have a God-given right to have criticism removed.

It's hard to say it Jimbo but I agree with you.

[Jaxbubbles]

Trip Advisor should have the courtesy to respond to their emails then people wouldnt think that they need to resort to these measures just to get an answer!!

I would imagine TA get thousands of e-mails, and maybe haven't got round to responding to yours yet! However I still think it is very bad manners to give a hotel any sort of review if you haven't even stayed or eaten there.  TA should never have put the comments on DB page.  (not Silverstars comments because that was a real review)  I really I don't want to get into a big debate with anyone, I am just giving my opinion.

[Gavlah1973]

Silverstar.....

I've had one review removed before for a hotel in Egypt. It was posted onto TA then went about 2 days later. I got an email telling me I could alter it and post it again which I did.

A group of girls had their room robbed and were then treated like criminals themselves for complaining. It was only due to the intervention of me and another male guest that made the hotel investigate their claim correctly. They were taken to a police station for 5 hours and basically accused of being prostitutes and told that it was their fault.

I put this on Trip Advisor and was told that I couldnt make unsubstantiated claims. They might have been unsubstantiated to TA but they werent to the 20 or so guests who saw all of this play out!!
I was actually still giving the hotel 4/5 but was just pointing out to folk to be careful in the first place and that the hotel didnt really help in regards to this. 

[Jimbo]

Waspman agreed with me twice! I am delighted!

TA's response to Silverstar (after the effective prodding in the DB thread) is plainly a complete load of old toad-poo, since it was a first-person account and not a second-hand report.

Jaxbubbles - TA claim to respond in 5-8 days. They don't. So that's a lie. They claim that they will notify you if your post is deemed unworthy. They didn't, so that's a lie. Silverstar had to go to considerable effort to get any response at all. If they are pulling critiques in response to advertisers, that's bad practice. We have to query them on their own ground first; it's naive to think that posting something on a forum like this is going to worry TA - they won't read it and won't care.

They have invited Silverstar to re-submit. That's interesting, because it implies that the cage has been rattled slightly.

So Silverstar must re-submit. When doing this, write it first in a word-processor, save the file, then copy and paste into the submission form. That way it's kept for later comparison. We will then see how long it survives.

Finally - for now - it does no good for the other owners in Agios Stephanos for one owner to dominate TA.

[Woodman]

Silverstar - I seem to recall your TA review was almost word for word what you posted here, so I'd copy and paste from here and then re-read it to see if you think any of it contravenes any TA guidelines and amend it appropriately.

The TA reply looks like an automatic response rather than addressing anything specific you (or anyone else) questioned.  I doubt you'll ever get a personal response from a company as big as TA, but a company of that size should have a formal complaints team (for hosts as well as reviewers), but I'd imagine it would take forever to actually find the personal details of a person who would manage the complaint.  Try something generic like complaints@tripadvisor.co.uk - you never know.

[Silverstar]

Ok - I think you are right Woodman and my TA review was pretty much what I wrote on my opening this thread.

So I will amend and re-post BUT will post here first for your thoughts.

I think the second hand account that TA refers to can only be my saying that friends in SS say that is the way Kosta trains his staff - there is nothing else that isnt a first hand account.

[Jaxbubbles]

Jimbo I meant Trip Advisors forum not this one. There are other people who have mentioned reviews being removed.

[Silverstar]

Amended review - comments pls.   I have tweaked it to remove any possible reason for them for them to pull it.

I have eaten at the Delfino Blu several times in 2008/9 and have always really liked it and had good food and service.

I suggested to my parents that we eat there during our stay this year as for one reason or another they had never got round to eating there and quite fancied giving it a try especially after we had said how lovely it was.

My husband went to book a table during the day for 10 of us and was instructed by Kostas to deal with one of the waiters who would take all the details.  The waiter (who shall remain nameless…) then proceeded to pull faces and sigh and make out like it was a massive inconvenience to accommodate us and eventually said he would do it.   

We turned up at 8pm that night to be told that it was too windy to sit outside and had no tables free indoors so they had cancelled our table!!   Well, let’s just say that they were told in no uncertain terms that it was not too windy and we wanted them to sort the table sharpish!!

We were told to go to the pool bar to wait whilst they arranged the table and so we did.    However, the bartender couldn’t have had less personality or looked more fed up…..he was completely miserable to the point that we actually left the bar without waiting for our drinks and just waited near our table.   
 
Eventually the table is ready and the same waiter who took the booking is our waiter – rude, condescending and disdainful come to mind when thinking of his behaviour throughout the meal – the food was good (although we did have to send some fries back as they were cold) but I could tell that nobody was really enjoying the meal because of how we had been treated.  The waiter must have overheard some of our less than happy comments because at the end of the meal he bought us free drinks and plates of fruit – but the damage was done.

By the time we left we were really annoyed and I now feel that if you are not staying at the hotel then you are not always treated particularly well. 

I have eaten at some of the best hotels in the world (Savoy in London, George Cinq in Paris and the Danieli, Venice to name but three) and although I wasn’t staying in the hotel, I was treated with nothing but courtesy and respect.   Maybe the Delfino Blu should take note that tonight’s diners could be next year’s hotel guests……?