I am a manager at a hotel in San Francisco and it's true that Tripadvisor takes a long time to review good posts. And forget about trying to responsd to a bad review with a hotel's own explanation. At least for our little place, we are not allowed to be specific and reply to someone's lies. Can't tell you how many times a guest tells half the story or outright lies (like never mentioning that maintenance issues that took only 2 minutes to fix were never told to the front desk until the day of check out but warranted a 1 dot review). Good luck trying to respond to that review even though the guest themselves sent me an email stating that they never complained to the front desk becuase they thought the issues would take too long to fix (one of them being they did not turn on the fridge - which is why it didn't work!). This email was sent to Tripadvisor asking that we be allowed to address this review but were denied.

Tripadvisor allows anyone to post but limits who can respond. Reviews on places like Expedia and other booking engines can only be posted if you have made a reservation at the establishment. I still read the reviews when I travel but when I see a bad one, I see how it is written and most times, you can tell if the person is just out to get the place.