A hostel owner says graphic images of used syringes and bloodied bedding attached to fake TripAdvisor reviews are costing him business, but the American travel giant won't do anything about it.
Online reviews of Silver Fern Backpackers, in Auckland's Hobson St, also included images of a swarm of bedbugs lurking in a mattress and a drunk man passed out in a hallway.
One post even described the backpackers as the "seventh circle of hell".
But when Auckland Council staff visited they found no evidence to substantiate the gruesome scenes, according to correspondence obtained under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act.
Inquiries by Stuff confirmed the confronting images originated from years-old blog posts, reviews of accommodation in other countries and a Youtube video from an unrelated hotel.
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Dominic Sharpe, owner of the inner-city hostel, complained to TripAdvisor and provided evidence showing the real sources of the images.
He also threatened legal action, though he conceded he did not have the resources to take on the billion dollar American company.
The website responded to him by saying it had investigated and the photos complied with its guidelines and would remain on the page.
TripAdvisor did not respond to a request for comment from Stuff.
Sharpe said the photos, which appeared in several reviews under different names posted around the same date in February this year, were posted by a disgruntled Australian guest upset he was placed in a multi-bed dormitory with an elderly man who snored loudly.
He believed there should be more recourse for hoteliers against websites which host fake reviews.
"People just write whatever rubbish they want," he said.
Receptionist Emily Webb said the reviews and images gave her pause for thought before applying for her job but she checked and found there was no substance to them.
She said someone had come to reception and said their friend was reluctant to stay there after seeing the TripAdvisor listing.
"So they wanted me to take them around the room to prove that actually this is a nice place to stay."
A Commerce Commission spokesman said it had not conducted any investigations into TripAdvisor reviews.
That said, the Commission recently filed charges against holiday home rental company Bachcare for allegedly misleading consumers by removing negative comments from some consumer reviews before publishing them on its website.
Bachcare is also alleged to have not published any reviews where consumers gave a star rating below 3.5 out of 5.
False or misleading statements are prohibited by the Fair Trading Act, but this only applies to those "in trade", meaning inaccurate reviews posted by customers may not be covered, the spokesman said.
"Our guidance is that businesses should take steps to verify that reviews about their business are from genuine customers, and reply to reviews they consider to be inaccurate rather than change them."
