ADVERTISEMENTAlessandro Gilmozzi is a famed chef and president of the Ambasciatori del Gusto (Ambassadors of Taste) association, which promotes culinary excellence in Italy.
He is also one of the leading proponents of Italy’s crackdown on fake hotel and restaurant reviews, which is pushing for stricter regulations for both consumers and businesses.
“Someone once wrote that he ate a panna cotta in my restaurant,” the owner of two-Michelin-starred El Molin told the Italian daily La Repubblica, “but I’ve never made that dessert.”
Gilmozzi discovered that the reviewer had never been to his restaurant and had simply made a mistake. “But you can also do damage, even in error,” the chef said.
Italy is tackling the problem of both mistaken and malicious reviews with new rules requiring proof of a visit and banning incentives for positive comments.
“Today marks an important step for the protection of our businesses,” Daniela Santanché, Italy’s tourism minister, told the media when introducing the legislation.
“Reviews, which thanks to this regulatory intervention will actually be truthful, are fundamental for the success of companies and for the trust of consumers and tourists.”
But how widespread is this problem across Italy, and what is already being done to tackle fake reviews?
‘Fighting fake reviews is crucial to protect customers’
False or manipulated content impacts between 6 and 30 per cent of the revenue of businesses in the hospitality and tourism sector, according to Italy’s ministry of enterprises. Many hotels contacted by Euronews Travel have had their own personal experiences of receiving reviews like this.
“Like many establishments in the industry, we too have encountered reviews that do not reflect a real experience or are clearly influenced by external factors, such as unfair competition or expectations not aligned with the service offered,” says Simona Lollini, Director of Revenues at Palazzo di Varignana, a hotel in the hills just outside Bologna.
“Sincere and authentic reviews are essential not only to ensure fairness, but also to allow our potential guests to understand our real positioning and the value of the experience we offer."
Forte Village on the island of Sardinia says it has also received unfair and misleading reviews.
“Unfortunately, there are a growing number of cases that then prove to be fake information from guests looking to receive benefits from the hotels as a result, or by people who have never stayed at the property,” the resort says.
“Fighting fake reviews is crucial to protect consumers and provide businesses with effective tools against unfair competition.”
What are Italy’s new rules on writing hotel and restaurant reviews?
In January, the Italian government proposed a draft law to clamp down on misleading or damaging reviews about the country’s hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions.
ADVERTISEMENTFake reviews are already illegal in Italy, but the country is stepping up its regulations to try and stop them from being left in the first place.
The legislation, which is still to be approved by parliament, will require anyone wanting to write a review to demonstrate proof of their visit - such as a receipt - and provide verifiable ID.
Reviews will have to be written within 15 days of a visit and should be detailed, transparent and relevant to the experience.
The draft law prohibits the practice of paid-for or incentivised reviews - such as offering customers freebies in exchange for positive appraisals - and selling content.
ADVERTISEMENTIt also allows for the right to reply to comments, with establishments able to request their removal if deemed false or misleading.
Businesses will be able to ask for reviews that are more than two years old to be taken down as well as those that are no longer relevant (a comment about a hotel not having a lift that has now been installed, for example).
It is not yet clear how review sites such as Booking.com and Tripadvisor will account for the new rules, such as the requirement for proof of visit.
“We have long had in place a reviews system where only customers who have booked a reservation through our platform are able to leave a review, while enabling accommodation owners to respond to comments left by customers. We are monitoring the development of this law and how it applies to us,” Booking.com told Euronews Travel.
ADVERTISEMENT‘There seems to be a certain carelessness in leaving negative reviews’
Fines for violating the new rules will reportedly be between €5,000 and €10 million. The hefty sums reflect the frustrations of hospitality businesses, which say that, thus far, misleading comments have gone unpunished.
“There is perhaps an imbalance between the ‘right/power’ of customers to leave negative reviews and the ‘right/power’ of the company to defend itself,” says Mauro Brasioli, communication and distribution manager for AG Hotels.
“In general, there seems to be a certain carelessness in leaving negative reviews probably because there's no risk involved; upon closer inspection, even when it's proven that the review is false, the customer remains unpunished (except for complicated, lengthy legal cease and desist actions) but the damage to our image, albeit temporary, remains."
Who will decide whether a review is fake or not isn’t yet clear, but the responsibility of checking content and issuing eventual fines will be given to the anti-trust watchdog Italian Competition Authority (Autorità garante della concorrenza e del mercato).
ADVERTISEMENT‘One step ahead of the bad actors’
Travel booking and review site, Tripadvisor, recently released its annual transparency report, which shows that fighting fake reviews is a concern across the board, not just in the Italian tourism sector.
“Tripadvisor continues to tackle fraudulent activity, including fake reviews that are designed to manipulate business listings’ ratings and rankings,” the company wrote in its report.
“Through a combination of advanced technology, human analysis, and community engagement, Tripadvisor successfully safeguarded travellers from 2.7 million fraudulent reviews in 2024.”
Around 9,000 businesses received warnings for engaging in incentivised reviews - where businesses ‘bribe’ customers or ‘reward’ employees for positive ratings - the report added.
ADVERTISEMENT360,000 removed reviews were linked to employee incentive programs, where businesses offer rewards to their own staff in exchange for positive feedback.
“With fraudulent review schemes evolving, Tripadvisor has strengthened its fraud detection models and reinforced policies that lead to penalising businesses on our platform, continuing to stay one step ahead of the bad actors,” the company said.