Meriton found to have withheld emails of serviced apartment guests who had complained

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Australian property giant Meriton has been ordered to pay $3m for manipulating TripAdvisor reviews about its serviced apartments, in breach of consumer law.

Meriton was found by the federal court to have withheld from the travel website the emails of guests who had complained or had a negative experience between November 2014 and October 2015.

In other cases, the property manager added the letters “MSA” to email addresses, ensuring they were invalid and guests were not prompted by TripAdvisor to leave a review.

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Justice Mark Moshinsky on Tuesday ordered Meriton to pay $3m for breaching consumer law, after finding it engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct late last year.

“Meriton’s conduct created an unduly favourable impression,” Moshinsky said in a written judgment.

“The contravening conduct occurred on a large scale, and the TripAdvisor website, where the misleading impression was created, attracted a very large number of consumers. In these circumstances, I consider that a large penalty is required.”

“This conduct created a more positive or favourable impression of the quality and amenity of Meriton’s serviced apartments, and had the effect of reducing, in the minds of consumers, awareness of the prevalence of service disruptions at Meriton’s properties.”

Meriton was also banned for three years from selecting, filtering or limiting guest email addresses supplied to TripAdvisor without the person’s consent.

It will also have to set up a program to train employees about their responsibilities under consumer law.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission took Meriton to court over the issue and said potential customers deserved to see the full picture when deciding where to book.

“Meriton’s management directed staff to engage in ‘masking’ to stop potentially negative reviews from appearing on TripAdvisor,” commissioner Sarah Court said in a statement.

“This gave the impression Meriton accommodation was of a higher standard than otherwise may have been the case.”

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“This case sends a strong message that businesses can expect ACCC enforcement action if they’re caught manipulating feedback on third-party review websites,”

Meriton did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The company had previously disputed that the practice had any effect on its TripAdvisor rating and it stopped withholding customers details as soon Triguboff –who was rated Australia’s wealthiest man in 2016 – found out.

The ACCC had initially sought a $20m penalty.