Accor’s director of communications, Peter Hook, has been ordered on a leave of absence after he was discovered posting negative reviews online for rival companies under a fake name.
According to the Herald-Sun, Mr Hook admitted to posting the reviews on TripAdvisor but defended his actions, saying they were his personal observations.
“It was a totally individual thing,” he said. “It was not sanctioned by the company at all.”
The reviews were posted on the travel website that allows the public to share their personal experiences and is based on a rating system of one to five stars. Reviewing under the handle Tavare, Mr Hook joined the website in 2006 and has contributed 105 reviews. Online reputation firm Kwikchex discovered he was posting the reviews after TripAdvisor introduced their new Facebook app, which includes users’ profile picture on their TripAdvisor account. In one review dated June 2, 2010, Mr Hook described the InterContinental hotel in Adelaide as “the ideal location but stuck in a time-warp and rather expensive”.
According to the Herald-Sun, Accor Hotels said they had placed Mr Hook on a leave of absence, pending further investigations and acknowledged a breach in their social media policy.
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