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expat paper in Spain POPPING IN: Michelle
Ladies who lunch QUEEN Sofia was summoned to Mallorca’s ‘most expensive home’ to have lunch with Michelle Obama this week. The former first lady declined to leave the sprawling estate in Esporles, preferring instead to invite Spain’s queen mum for a long lunch. It is third time Michelle has stayed at the home, which her friend, former US ambassador to Spain James Costos, rents out every summer. Michelle invited Queen Sofia and her friends the Fruchauds, from Paris, for lunch at 2pm on Monday. The leading ladies had lunch and enjoyed a sobremesa’ until 5pm, when Sofia returned to Marivent Palace.
Security
Michelle - who is travelling solo - is expected to stay on the island until Monday. She has been pictured just once getting off a yacht. It is the second time she visited Spain this year, having been over with husband Barack and daughters Sacha and Malia last month. Strong security measures have made it virtually impossible to photograph Michelle. The estate, which is said to be one of the island’s most expensive, is owned by Mallorcan millionaire Marieta Salas.
The gag is up THERE have been ZERO fake food poisoning claims by Brits on package holidays to Spain this year. It comes after 2013 saw a 500% hike in the bogus claims, which were dubbed by the Spanish hotel industry as the ‘diarrhoea scam.’ Last year was one of the worst on record in the Balearics, with Mallorca’s Hotel Federation announcing false gastroenteritis claims had soared by 700% since 2015 and had cost hotels on the island €50 million in 2016 alone.
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Vol. 2 Issue 36 www.theolivepress.es August 30th - September 12th 2018
‘You can’t get prosecuted… it’s just cheating’
Faking it
BUSINESSES in Spain are paying to post dozens of FAKE fivestar reviews on TripAdvisor in a bid to increase their rankings. An Olive Press investigation has unearthed companies offering packages of 50 glowing reviews for just €400. Restaurants, hotels and garages have utilised the services of Malaga-based company GCI Global, which promises ‘genuine reviews’ that will be ‘tailored to your business’. We can reveal that one of its clients, a Malaga restaurateur, managed to get to number one in his town on TripAdvisor after ‘purchasing’ dozens of ‘excellent’ reviews over just two months. In total, 99% of the comments for his restaurant - which we are not naming for legal reasons - are ‘excellent’ 5/5 with only one ‘very good’. “The restaurant was over 100 (in the list) but look at it now,” GCI boss Ben Fisher boasted to
launches probe, as Olive Press exposes a Spanish business ‘selling’ fake customer reviews on to the global giant’s website EXCLUSIVE By Laurence Dollimore and Elisa Menendez
the Olive Press this week. “It doesn’t matter if (the reviewers) eat there or not, although if you want to pay a bit more we can actually send someone,” added Fisher, who lives in Alhaurin de la Torre. “In fact if you pay we can send four people to share one pizza. Then we spread the reviews out over a few days. “I have dozens of clients.” The Olive Press probe was launched after we were approached by an angry reader, targeted by an unsolicited email from GCI last month. The advert read: “We offer
tailor made profes- sional review packages giving your business a boost and the edge over your competitors.” Posing as potential clients with a holiday rental business in Marbella, our reporters were told by Fisher that the reviews would be ‘from real people’. “The reviews are from real people on the Costa del Sol, it’s not a bunch of fake accounts putting reviews on,” said Fisher,
Please forgive us! In an open letter to Spain, the Olive Press apologises for our unruly tourists
We’re Sorry Dear Spain, WE ARE SORRY.
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by the sinvere ask that you judge us Brits not balconies or guenzas who choose to poo over your but by the perform oral services for a free cocktail, privileged to majority of respectful expats who are home. country beautiful your call Seriously though, how did we get here? manners and puncBrits used to be famed for their polite drinking excessive our tuality. Now we are better known for ed by the senseless and outrageous party antics compound alcohol-fuelled sport of ‘balconing’. injuries after falling or deSome 46 patients were treated for between 2010 and 2015 liberately jumping from balconies - and 60% were Brits. grow, with almost The last two years have seen this number 10 Brits dying this year alone (CHECK). whole catalogue of outraAnd that’s only one example from a high jinks sink to a geous behaviour that has seen holiday shocking new low. from Benidorm which Just this week we were sent a videopenis in the mouth of a showed a British reveller putting his passed-out compatriot.
girl who performed oral And who can forget the brazen British or the man who fell sex on 24 men for a free drink in 2016, while trying to defecate from a balcony in Mallorca last month over the edge. stabbings at Costa del Closer to home, beach club brawls and summer. last Sol haunts dominated the headlines streets of Puerto Banus Two rival gangs’ fight spilled onto theto run over his rivals. and ended with one member trying biggest resorts are Is it any wonder that some of Spain’s starting to resist tourists? are the terrorist,’ are just ‘Tourists go home’ and ‘Tourist, you graffitied across toursome of the messages that have been years. few past the ism hotspots in from visiting Brits every Just because resorts make a killing up with such antics. year, it doesn’t mean they have to put the next time you roll your We hope you will bear this in mind about a British reveller eyes in disgust at yet another story on behalf of the apology our behaving badly, and accept whole damned lot.
Dusculpanos
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“If you really want to know if a restaurant is good or not, ask someone you trust or go yourself!” Last night TripAdvisor thanked the Olive Press and confirmed it was ‘investigating the case’. “We strongly oppose any attempt to manipulate a business’ ranking,” said a spokeswoman, adding that its investigations team was ‘proactive and effective’ at catching anyone who attempts to market paid review services. “We take serious steps to penalize any properties caught using their services,” she added. After revealing ourselves as journalists, Fisher told the Olive Press: “People pay for direct traffic, people purchase the reviews, then a team of four will go into the premises, share food and leave a review on their experience… it’s a service that is genuine and helps everybody… the reason my clients pay is to cover the cost of the food purchased by each customer!” Opinion Page 6
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from Hull. “A potential customer doesn’t know if they are real or fake. It is not illegal. You can’t get prosecuted... it’s just cheating.” Describing himself as a ‘web marketing specialist’, he explained how if our reporters bought 50 reviews, our new business would receive two five-star reviews per day from his network of users consisting of ‘friends and family friends’. He offered to do 20 reviews for €150 or the 50 reviews for €400 - with payments made by cash or PayPal. So confident was he that it would boost our business ranking he offered a 100% satisfaction or a ‘money-back guarantee’. “You’re paying for direct marketing - the higher you go on TripAdvisor the more you pop up as recommended and the more business you get,” he insisted. Sadly, the process is not new. TripAdvisor has been caught out before, including a famous stunt pulled off by VICE website in which an undercover reporter set up a fake restaurant, The Shed at Dulwich, and made it the number one restaurant in London. Just this week a simple Google search unearthed a US-based company, Reviews that Stick, offering packages on the global
supersite from $69 per month. “We can provide TripAdvisor reviews that would help your hotel or restaurant to improve its reputation and increase its number of customers,” it offered. Local hoteliers and restaurateurs were quick to support out investigation. “I’m sure it is very common with restaurants here,” said Mark Wardell, manager of the Sunset Beach Club in Benalmadena, Malaga’s biggest hotel. “TripAdvisor is particularly very open to manipulation and fake reviews. “You often see these small places pop up with phenomenal reviews that quickly sink without trace,” he added. Restaurateur Robert Grimmond, of well-established El Jardin restaurant in Frigiliana, added he had been aware of this practice for years. “It’s disappointing that businesses on the coast are still buying reviews in this way,” he added.
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