Tripadvisor's new AI-generated review summaries are omitting critical safety warnings about hotels, including reports of food poisoning, sexual harassment, and serious hygiene failures, according to an investigation by consumer watchdog Which?.
AI Summaries vs. Guest Reviews
When browsing Tripadvisor, holidaymakers now see an AI summary at the top of hotel pages. While these summaries appear to offer quick information, guest reviews often tell a different story. For example, Tripadvisor's AI describes the five-star Riu Palace Santa Maria in Cape Verde as 'popular with many travellers', with 'spacious rooms', 'diverse restaurants' earning 'rave reviews', and 'spotless' cleanliness.
However, guest reviews reveal 'exceptionally poor hygiene', 'no basic cleaning or hygiene standards', and food that was 'awful, bland, unsafe and inedible'. One guest reported being served raw chicken; others shared photographs of flies and birds in buffet food, and one spotted 'dead little roasted mice by the sitting area'. A guest whose family fell ill wrote: 'This place will destroy holidays, and [has the] potential to take lives.'
Food Poisoning Outbreaks and Legal Action
When Which? checked in March 2025, there were 102 mentions of food poisoning at the Riu Palace. The resort had 32 one- and two-star reviews between December 2025 and April 2026, 14 of which reported at least one member of the party fell seriously ill with food poisoning. Many were hospitalised, some flew home early, and one guest died this year. The hotel is now involved in a group legal action representing at least 412 holidaymakers, with seven deaths reported since 2023.
Negative reviews are not concealed but appear in the review section. However, experts warn that most users do not click through to find them. Martyn Slack, who runs family travel YouTube channel Three Tickets Anywhere, says the problem is that most people 'don't take that extra step' to check reviews directly. He adds: 'For budget-conscious parents especially, an inaccurate overview isn't just annoying, it can mean an unrefundable non-cancellable booking that turns out wrong for their kid.'
AI Chatbot Ollie Also Misleads
Tripadvisor's interactive trip planning bot, Ollie, also failed to warn about poor hygiene. When asked directly about the risk of food poisoning at the Riu Palace, Ollie said it was 'quite unlikely' and that the resort had a 'strong reputation for high hygiene standards'. Tripadvisor told Which? that its summaries 'surface a range of both positive and negative community feedback' and that Ollie 'draws from a selection of reviews based on detail and recency', but it is a 'product in development' and is actively looking into examples where reviews did not match.
Other Hotels with Missing Warnings
Which? found similar issues at other hotels. The Garza Blanca resort in Cancun had guests reporting illness, including a wedding party, yet its AI overview describes 'immaculate cleanliness' and positive dining feedback. The Occidental Caribe in the Dominican Republic had recent reviews calling it a 'disaster and disturbing', with one guest saying her room smelled of sewage and half of a 68-person wedding party fell ill. The AI summary mentions 'abundant' amenities with only a vague nod to 'inconsistent' cleanliness.
Sexual Harassment Reports Minimised
At Kaia Coracesium on Turkey's Antalya coast, several reviewers reported sexual harassment from male staff, including inappropriate jokes and gestures, and requests for social media details. Two guests reported staff following their daughters. The AI summary describes service as 'friendly', with the closest reference being 'lapses [in service] noted by a few'. This suggests the AI can identify serious allegations but does not consistently highlight them, and language often minimises their significance.
Comparison with Google
Which? compared Tripadvisor's AI summaries with Google's. For the Riu Palace, Google's overview warned of 'potential for illness' and flagged 'outbreaks of illness' and 'concerns over birds in the buffet areas'. For Britannia International hotel in London, Google accurately stated the chain is 'frequently rated as one of the worst hotel chains in the UK' and highlighted 'filthy' conditions and 'horrendous' service. Tripadvisor's summary said guests 'often praise the clean rooms' and described the atmosphere as 'charming'.
Expert Criticism
Oli Huggins, CEO of ExpertEdge and VP of Partnerships at Packt Publishing, says AI summaries fail 'in three predictable ways': they are trained to be agreeable and lean positive, they rely on clichés like 'charming' and 'convenient location', and they hallucinate when lacking information. 'A pool drained two years ago is described as a highlight,' he says. Nupur Khurana, a former AI consultant, adds: 'The danger isn't that [AI summaries] are wrong, it's that they present with total confidence regardless of accuracy.'
Rory Boland, Editor of Which? Travel, said: 'Tripadvisor may insist users can still fact-check its summaries against real reviews, but this ignores the fact that it made the decision to push these summaries to the very top of the page. This failure to surface critical safety information is unacceptable and potentially life-threatening.' He advises users to scroll past summaries and look at guest reviews, especially one-star ratings, and check other sites to ensure their next stay is safe.
