July 2, 2026, 11:56 am | Read time: 4 minutes

The British consumer portal “Which?” found in a recent study that AI summaries of Tripadvisor reviews often downplay or even completely obscure serious complaints from hotel guests. For instance, mentions of hygiene issues, food poisoning, or even sexual harassment were simply not included. The AI summary is supposed to provide users with quick and easy information. However, the sometimes overly positive reviews left out crucial details.

Food Poisoning Instead of Impeccable Cleanliness

As an example, the consumer portal cites the AI summary from Tripadvisor for the 5-star all-inclusive hotel Riu Palace Santa Maria in Cape Verde. According to the AI overview, it is popular with many travelers, has spacious rooms, and offers a variety of restaurants. It also mentions impeccable cleanliness.

The “real” guest reviews for the hotel, however, paint a completely different picture. The hygiene is rated as exceptionally poor, and there is a lack of basic cleaning and hygiene standards. The food is described as terrible and inedible. Guests report raw chicken and show photos of flies and birds at the buffet.

The consumer portal then investigated and found that there were more than 100 reports of food poisoning from this hotel. Numerous reviews explained that at least one member of the travel group became seriously ill with food poisoning, and many had to be hospitalized. The hotel is now involved in a class-action lawsuit.

In the AI summary from Tripadvisor, however, there was no mention of these disastrous conditions and negative reviews.

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AI Chatbot Also Fails

According to “Which?”, Tripadvisor uses AI not only for summaries but also for a chatbot called Ollie. You can ask it questions. In the case of the hotel in Cape Verde, the chatbot also failed. Instead of warning travelers about poor hygiene, the AI responded to a direct question about the risk of food poisoning by saying it was unlikely and that the hotel had an excellent reputation for high hygiene standards.

Tripadvisor explained to the consumer protection portal that the summaries reflect both positive and negative feedback from the community. The AI assistant Ollie also draws on various reviews to generate its responses. However, the product is still in development.

The consumer protection portal provides additional case examples. For instance, guests at a hotel in Turkey reported repeated sexual harassment by hotel staff. The AI summary, however, described the service as friendly and only mentioned a few service shortcomings.

Tripadvisor Rejects Allegations

According to “Which?”, Tripadvisor stated that the AI tool is monitored and optimized, and cases where reviews do not match are also investigated. They are confident that the feature does exactly what it was developed for–to provide travelers with a quick overview of other vacationers’ feedback.

Summaries are updated monthly and are based on reviews from the past twelve months. Tripadvisor emphasizes that AI summaries are not meant to replace individual reviews. Users can still view all reviews with a click. Comprehensive safety measures have been taken to ensure that important safety information is accurately represented on the platform, they added.

Tripadvisor also pointed out to “Which?” that the introduction of these tools has not suppressed or hidden any reviews. The claim that the summaries pose a danger to travelers is unfounded. They are confident that the community understands that AI technologies are still in development and that users have enough common sense to verify AI recommendations.

The consumer portal recommends ignoring such summaries for now and instead reading guest reviews, especially one-star reviews.