Tennessee Hotel Sues TripAdvisor over “Dirtiest Hotel” Claim

The Grand Resort Hotel & Convention Center in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., has filed a $10 million lawsuit against TripAdvisor.com for naming the property the “dirtiest hotel in America” in January 2011. The 425-room resort was featured in Tripadvisor’s Top 10 list given out annually. The hotel owner contends that TripAdvisor acted irresponsibly by creating and publishing such a list without validating or investigating whether such a claim is truly warranted.

John T. Milburn Rogers, a Greenville, Tenn.-based attorney, said the purpose of the suit, filed in state court in Sevier County, Tenn., is to expose TripAdvisor’s flawed and defective system. In its Sixth Annual Report of the Dirtiest Hotels in America, TripAdvisor claims “to hold true to its promise to share the whole truth about hotels to help travelers plan their trips.” The suit alleges that TripAdvisor uses negativity as its main PR vehicle to provide publicity for itself at the expense of businesses all around the globe.

The suit claims TripAdvisor has made a direct claim about the Grand Resort based upon reviews that it cannot authenticate. “Not only has my client’s hotel been negatively affected by such an outlandish claim, but thousands of other hotels in the United States and other countries are being negatively affected by a system that we believe is far from perfect,” said Rogers.

The suit says the hotel is not disputing the true, authentic reviews of guests that have stayed with it, but is disputing the title unjustly bestowed on the hotel by TripAdvisor, as well as its methods, or lack thereof. It also questions how TripAdvisor made such a determination.

The Grand Resort Hotel & Convention Center, which opened in 1982, is located in the center of Pigeon Forge, Tenn., in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, between the cities of Gatlinburg and Sevierville. The lawsuit alleges that growing negative practices and the role of TripAdvisor and other online websites are creating false images of businesses across the globe and giving false pretenses about good businesses. It says websites like TripAdvisor now make it possible to post positive reviews for one’s own business as well as negative reviews for the competition. For more information, visit www.grandresorthotel.com or www.tripadvisor.com.