TripAdvisor is said to be facing legal action from up to 700 hotels who complain that they are victims of ‘unfair criticism’. The site, which has garnered over 35 million user-generated reviews since its launch in 2000, is to face calls of defamation – for which it is being held responsible.

Rochelle Turner from consumer group Which? told the BBC that review sites have transformed people’s holiday preparations over the past decade and that negative feedback provides an impetus for change among hotels which in the past may have continued to offer poor service.

However, hotel owner Louis Naudi says some users take things too far. He has already successfully forced TripAdvisor to take down two malicious reviews of his Royal Sportsman Hotel in Porthmadog, Snowdonia, and is involved in the current legal action. “They are cowards hiding behind their anonymity. You have to work out if they actually stayed and, if so, when. Then they won’t respond when you write to them.”

According to the BBC, even the world’s leading hotels are not immune. Six of the 197 people to have reviewed London’s Dorchester rate it as “terrible”.

The trouble with user-generated reviews, as we’ve said before, it that ratings systems can paint a distorted picture of a product if only a handful of people do most of the voting (much like the ‘power users’ on Digg). On Amazon for instance, only 5 percent of active Amazon users cast votes on more than 10 products. Voting doesn’t represent the general opinion of the community, just a small snippet.

Most consumers either have a very strong feeling towards something (love or hate), or just don’t care. This means that ratings tend to be either very low or very high, producing an extreme result.

It’s also important to remember that unfortunately, some people just like to complain. Naudi says that the inappropriate reviews of his hotel don’t match the service, or other people’s views. The majority of holiday makers are able to work this out for themselves. He’s done the right thing by reaching out and trying to resolve the issue with those posting a bad review, but much like people who leave purposefully controversial comments on blogs, not everyone wants to resolve a situation.

For the hotel owners who simply don’t want other people to see bad reviews of their hotel, there’s a certain element of there being no smoke without fire. As Turner points out, a poor review can be invaluable in terms of improving things in the long term, as it’s simply not possible to sweep a substandard level of service under the carpet any more.

Tags: legal dispute, legal implications, reviews, tripadvisor, user-generated content