The fake listing went undetected on Tripadvisor for about two months. In May 2013, a fake restaurant was set up by a disgruntled businessman and reportedly had diners looking for the eatery in an alley filled with garbage cans. Tripadvisor responded: "We are committed to ensuring reviews on Tripadvisor offer useful and accurate information, and we are very aggressive in catching fake reviews and pursuing the fraudsters behind them." Phantom establishments Its survey of nearly 250,000 reviews for the ten top-ranked hotels in ten popular tourist destinations around the world found that one in seven had "blatant hallmarks" of fake positive reviews. In September 2019, consumer organisation Which? said Tripadvisor was still failing to stop fake reviews. In November 2017, Oobah Butler, a journalist for Vice Media, claimed to have made money posting positive reviews for restaurants he never visited, in exchange for payment. In March 2014, Tripadvisor's Chinese site came under scrutiny when a user was found to have reviewed 51 Parisian restaurants in one month, while also reviewing 50 hotels in other countries. Nevertheless, media reports indicate that the concern continues in 2020. Tripadvisor itself potential has stated that it understands "'blackmail' - when a guest threatens to write a negative review unless a demand for a refund, upgrade, or other request is met - is an occasional concern", and, in 2018 took a step to try and manage down this risk for businesses that accepted a requirement to have a user account with them. Tripadvisor initially stated the review complied with their submission guidelines but later removed it following social media backlash. In May 2021, Tripadvisor faced criticism for allowing an offensive review to be posted about the Auschwitz concentration camp museum in which a visitor described bringing a baby to the gas chambers. Tripadvisor has been the subject of controversy for allowing unsubstantiated anonymous reviews to be posted about any hotel, bed and breakfast, inn, or restaurant. Controversies and criticism Criticism of reviews The company's other websites include Airfarewatchdog, Bokun.io,, Cruise Critic,, , (including, , and ), .uk, Holiday Watchdog,, ,, ,, ,, ,, and. In 2019, Tripadvisor earned 33% of its revenues from Expedia Group and Booking Holdings and their subsidiaries, primarily for pay-per-click advertising. It features approximately 859 million reviews and opinions on approximately 8.6 million establishments-including 1.4 million hotels, inns, bed and breakfasts and specialty lodging, 842,000 rental properties, 5.2 million restaurants, and 1.2 million travel experiences worldwide. The website has versions in 48 markets and 28 languages worldwide. In December 2020, the website drew 90.2 million visits, and the Tripadvisor app was among the top 10 travel apps in 26 countries as of January 2021. The company's most notable brand,, reached 463 million average monthly unique visitors in 2019.
He remains in his position until the new CEO is appointed. In November 2021, Kaufer announced that he will retire in 2022. The Cyberspace Administration of China stated that the apps were "illegal", and that public concerns were raised around "obscene, pornographic and violent information or fraud, gambling and prostitution". On Dec 8th, 2020, China blocked 105 apps, including Tripadvisor, from mobile app stores. The reduction was due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company also said they would be closing offices in downtown Boston and San Francisco (though the Needham, Massachusetts headquarters is in the Boston metropolitan area). On April 28, 2020, Tripadvisor notified employees the company will be eliminating 600 jobs in Canada and the United States and 300 more in other countries as part of a 25 percent reduction in their workforce around the world. In February 2020, the company changed its name from TripAdvisor to Tripadvisor, using a lowercase "a". In April 2009, Tripadvisor launched in China. Seed money was obtained from Flagship Ventures, the Bollard Group, and private investors. We also had a button in the very beginning that said, 'Visitors add your own review', and boy, did that just take off." "We started as a site where we were focused more on those official words from guidebooks or newspapers or magazines. Kaufer has stated the original idea was not a user generated social media review site: Tripadvisor was founded by Stephen Kaufer, Langley Steinert, Nick Shanny, and Thomas Palka in February 2000.