A MOTEL owner has told travellers not to trust TripAdvisor after a wave of complaints that it features false or malicious reviews.

Bob Feal-Martinez took aim at the website, despite the Carpenter’s Arms being listed as the third-best hotel in Swindon.

The venue, in South Marston, has attracted 17 excellent ratings’ and just one classing it as ‘poor’.

But Mr Feal-Martinez claims the website is allowing people to damage businesses by leaving vicious comments under fake names.

“We are up to number three on the list but I have never subscribed to it being a good medium, even though we get good reviews,” he said.

“People are allowed to write what they want without having even proved they’ve even stayed at a place.

“Some of the people have never stayed in a particular establishment, while others book somewhere that is offering one-star prices and then expect five-star service.

“The fact they are not vetted just makes a mockery of the whole system.”

Mr Feal-Martinez has responded to people commenting on his motel in Old Vicarage Lane, but believes the site is loaded in favour of reviewers.

“You have got to be able to prove in a court of law that something is false to get it taken down,” he said.

“Yet the owners have to prove who they are to respond to comments and they are not allowed to accuse reviewers of lying.

“You have to be extremely careful how you word it, or they won’t put responses up. All owners can do is try to find out who was working on a particular evening if they can and post a management response.”

Hoteliers have taken legal action against TripAdvisor and last September the Advertising Standards Authority launched an investigation into claims that a large proportion of the 50 million reviews are fake.

Dragon’s Den entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne has branded the site ‘despicable and cowardly’, complaining that a fake review compared his Charlton House spa hotel, in Somerset, to Fawlty Towers.

Mr Feal-Martinez said: “Expedia’s website expects guests to prove they have stayed at a place, TripAdvisor doesn’t. One way to improve the site would be though the automated booking numbers which are generated by nearly all establishments.

“TripAdvisor should ask for these to support a review and then establishments can check if a person actually stayed there.”

Tripadvisor say they offer hoteliers the chance to respond to every review and have a content team responsible for eradicating fake reviews.