Before booking a vacation it is always helpful to review a hotel or activity online. TripAdvisor is a well known, and popular website that shares information about hotels and travel along with user reviews, both good and bad, about various places. These user reviews are personal and always helpful when trying to make a decision on where to stay. Unfortunately it seems that some of those "helpful" reviews may actually be fake.

TripAdvisor is now being investigated by the UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) about possible fake reviews on their website. It seems that the site received numerous complaints from hotels claiming that many reviews were fake, misleading or defamatory. The claims further state that TripAdvisor does not check the reviews to make sure they are authentic. So now that they are under investigation they may have to provide evidence that the reviews are real from real people.

The news of this investigation is quite frustrating to travelers who depend on this information. So while you may or may not be able to rely on the reviews on TripAdvisor, be sure to do research when choosing a hotel or travel destination. Compare reviews on multiple sites, and of course look to family and friends for personal opinions on where they have traveled to.