TripAdvisor Adds Safety Filters After Hotel Rape Allegations

NEEDHAM, MA — Travel website TripAdvisor introduced new search filters, making it easier for customers to find safety information following a Guardian report that the company promoted hotels where women guests said they were sexually assaulted by staff members. Needham-based TripAdvisor, the largest travel site in the world, has 456 million visitors every month, and had already provided a section for user reviews. But now, TripAdvisor added a filter that lets customers search for reviews with safety-related incidents at hotels and businesses.

Last March, TripAdvisor was criticized for not doing enough to prevent sexual assaults at hotels and businesses they promote. Several women came forward with allegations that employees at hotels promoted on TripAdvisor's website sexually assaulted them. Although these hotels had reviews warning potential guests, sexual assault survivors argued that the reviews are not enough, especially since many of the hotels with reviews describing sexual assault still had good overall ratings. The Guardian found 40 examples of such reviews.

TripAdvisor responded with new safety filters. The new filter lets customers search for reviews containing warnings about sexual assault, death, drugging, sex trafficking, armed robbery and physical assault. The company said the feature is available in 28 languages.

Another new feature adds a safety warning at the top of reviews mentioning safety concerns.

The notice reads, "This review may contain information about traveler safety at this business."

TripAdvisor told the Guardian it found 1,100 reviews on its site with concerns about sexual assault just in 2018.

"The need for better access to safety information while travelling has never been greater,"Lindsay Nelson, TripAdvisor's president of core experience, wrote in the company's blog. "Today’s culture of always-on news has made it increasingly difficult to discern fact from fiction, while safety-related information about specific neighbourhoods or businesses is often hard to find or nonexistent online. Often, something tragic must happen in order to engage in a dialogue about traveller safety, which by then is far too late."

The company is planning to add other new safety feature later this year.