We went to Saint-Tropez for the weekend and found ourselves in the middle of a cyber war. Our reason for visiting the world's richest little harbour was suitably trivial: neither of us had been there before. At this time of year it was fairly accessible. A couple of cigar-smoking Russians on the terrace of Senequier, a vista of exotic motor yachts, but plenty of locals too. And I had the rooftop pool of the Hotel de Paris to myself.
It was only after my swim, when I was reading Var-Matin over breakfast, that I discovered the hidden undercurrents. Apparently, hoteliers on the Côte d'Azur are worried about the impact of user-generated review sites, particularly Trip Advisor. It's not just that customers can undermine your hotels' glitzy image by placing bad reviews. It's also that the rival hotel across the street can place one too. Sometimes, the only way to fight back is to place fake positive reviews.
At a conference in Nice, Trip Advisor admitted that these could even be outsourced. "Fake reviews exist, and the companies that sell them are based primarily in Madagascar or Morocco," said a spokesman. He said the site, which receives 70 reviews a minute, was tackling the problem with automated detectors and a team of 100 fraud busters. But it just proves that you can only really trust the advice of friends. Otherwise, the only way to know is to go.
