They’re now ‘changing their policy,’ but too little, too late?

Via CBS.

The investigation into an alleged rape of an American tourist at a Mexican resort in 2010 has uncovered shocking practices by one of the largest hotel review websites around, CBS Pittsburgh reports.

According to an investigative report by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, review website TripAdvisor is being accused of removing numerous comments by tourists who claim they were drugged, assaulted, robbed, or even raped at high-end resorts in Mexico. The report says the website has removed any comment that has called the safety of guests at these locations into question. In place of the reviewer’s post were messages from TripAdvisor that claimed the reviews were “inappropriate,” “off-topic,” or were not “family friendly.”

The startling revelations of the website’s alleged censorship of potential victims came to light after Kristie Love of Dallas fought to have her story told. Per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s in-depth report, the mother of two alleges she was raped by a security guard at a Mexican hotel run by Iberostar resorts. After hotel management reportedly refused to help the tourist call police, the woman posted the details of her attack on TripAdvisor.

“I just needed to be able to lay my head at night and know I did the best I could and I felt like I did the best I could in getting the word out,” Love told the Journal Sentinel.

Love’s mission was reportedly stalled by TripAdvisor, who regularly deleted her claims against the resort every time she posted them on the website. After continued pressure from reporters to address the presumed cover-up, TripAdvisor finally re-posted Love’s warning about the Iberostar resort in Riviera Maya, Mexico, seven years after the reported attack.

In a statement, TripAdvisor apologized to the victim and said their policies and procedures have evolved since she first reported the incident in 2010.

“We are horrified that this victim experienced this assault on her vacation in Mexico, and other travelers should be aware of this incident,” the statement read.

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