MERITON has been ordered to pay penalties of $3 million by the Federal Court for its role in “masking” TripAdvisor reviews.
The fines were declared today after Meriton was earlier found to have engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct in action brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) (TD 10 Nov).
The case centres on a practice in which customer email addresses were changed, or “masked”, by Meriton staff to stop guests receiving prompts to submit TripAdvisor reviews online.
“Meriton’s management directed staff to engage in ‘masking’ to stop potentially negative reviews from appearing on TripAdvisor,” said ACCC Commissioner Sarah Court.
“This gave the impression Meriton accommodation was of a higher standard than otherwise may have been the case.
“This case sends a strong message that businesses can expect ACCC enforcement action if they’re caught manipulating feedback on third party review websites,” she said.
Source: traveldaily