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    Google Deletes Warere Beach Hotel’s Negative Reviews, Restores Ratings

    Francis MuliBy No Comments3 Mins Read

    Google has removed negative reviews from a Zanzibar Hotel’s business page that was spammed over the weekend. Warere Beach Hotel in Zanzibar was on the receiving end of negative reviews, poor ratings and social media backlash after a lady narrated how she was almost raped at the premises.

    Google removes all reviews that contain obscene, profane or offensive language or gestures from business profiles. Their policies also ban mass or bulk reviews that are posted within a short period of time.

    A Nigerian lady Zainab Oladehinde  shook the Twitter streets after she narrated her horrific ordeal at the vacation spot in Zanzibar. She recounted how she was almost raped by unidentified staff at Warere Beach Hotel during a solo trip on her 23rd birthday last year.

    Read: Zanzibar-based Warere Beach Hotel Responds to Nigerian Guest’s Sexual Assault Allegations

    The twitter thread went viral within a few hours, attracting over 5,000 comments, 90,000 retweets and 150,000 likes in just under 24 hours. Angry netizens decided to support the lady by reporting or leaving negative reviews for the establishment on Google. Prior to the story, Warere Beach Hotel had a 4.4 rating from around 400 users.

    Within ten hours, the number of reviews had risen to 12,000, with a 1.1 average rating. Within two days, the number of reviews had risen to 13.6k.

    Users marked the establishment as permanently closed and in a statement, Warere beach claimed that their official website had been hacked and brought down.

    Read also: UK Company to Provide Mobile Internet Powered by Aerostat Balloons in Zanzibar

    “Within 3 hours we received over 4,000 negative reviews on Google from people who had never stayed at our hotel”, said Warere beach in their response to the matter on Facebook.
    The hotel has since come out to deny the allegations claiming the lady was accompanied by the staff member with her full consent, and that she declined to take the case further after she reported it to the hotel last year.
    Despite Google deleting the bad reviews and ratings, Warere Beach may have to do a good clean up exercise given the backlash on multiple social media platforms. The viral story has also prompted Tripadvisor to issue a notice asking its users to do due diligence before visiting.
    “Tripadvisor has been made aware of recent media reports or events concerning this property which may not be reflected in reviews found on this listing. Accordingly, you may wish to perform additional research for information about this property when making your travel plans,” the Notice says.

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