TripAdvisor is trying hard to work a PR spin on the claims that many reviews on the site are fakes. Most of the fake reviews are positive, planted by the reviewed properties themselves, but a few are glaringly negative -- perhaps subterfuge by a competing entity. Either way, there are plenty of "users" taking full advantage of the anonymity that TripAdvisor allows. Unlike other sites that based user reviews (such as Amazon), TripAdvisor does not employ a "real person" check wherein a third party verifies that a reviewer is the person he or she claims to be. Travel guru Arthur Frommer has long bashed TripAdvisor for having fake reviews on the site; though slow to respond, the travel site is finally making some statements about the truthiness of the reviews.

For example:

We believe our nearly 25 million reviews and opinions are authentic, honest and unbiased, from real travelers, which is why we enjoy tremendous user loyalty. Also, the sheer volume of reviews we have for an individual property allows travelers to base their decisions on the opinions of many. The integrity of TripAdvisor reviews is protected by three primary methods: 1. Every review is screened prior to posting and a team of quality assurance specialists investigate suspicious reviews 2. Proprietary automated tools help identify attempts to subvert the system 3. Our large and passionate community of more than 25 million monthly visitors help screen our content and report suspicious activity When a review is suspected to be fraudulent, it is immediately taken down and we have measures to penalize businesses for attempts to game the system. Penalties are handled on a case by case basis.

In addition, they've added this warning message (in an ominous red font with a hazard symbol attached) to properties that are the most suspected of this kind of fakery:

Message from TripAdvisor: TripAdvisor has reasonable cause to believe that either this property or individuals associated with the property may have attempted to manipulate our popularity index by interfering with the unbiased nature of our reviews. Please take this into consideration when researching your travel plans.

My advice? Read through several reviews and form your own opinion; don't just take the good or the bad. Also, TripAdvisor, you might want to raise the bar just a little bit when it comes to user reviews -- perhaps you could aspire to the stellar level of, say, Yelp.