TripAdvisor will warn users about hotels with sexual assault incidents, but only for a while
TripAdvisor is naming and shaming hotels where cases of sexual assault have been reported -- but the black mark is only temporary.
The travel platform has begun placing digital warning badges on the pages of hotels where people have reported sexual assault.
The badges will identify "health, safety and discrimination issues in all of the website's travel categories," according to a New York Times report.
However, the badges are only temporary, lasting for a period of three-months.
Here's what a listing with the badge looks like:
A company spokesman added that the badges were intended to be "informative, not punitive."
The badges only last three months.
Speaking to the New York Times, Kevin Carter said that the three-month time period for the badge would only be extended if users continued to report incidents at the hotel.
That means if there aren't any more complaints after three months is up, it's likely that the badges will disappear, making it difficult for future clients to know if there were ever incidents of sexual assault at that hotel.
The move to place warning badges comes after the travel site was criticised earlier this month for removing a review of the Iberostar Paraiso Maya resort in Mexico.
35-year-old Kristie Love had accused a security guard at the resort of raping her, and wrote a review about it in 2010.
TripAdvisor later apologised for removing the review and has since restored it, seven years later, saying that "at the time, we had a policy whereby we judged content...if it did not adhere to family-friendly language."
But for many, TripAdvisor's apology was a case of too little, too late.
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Love additionally came forward later, saying she had never heard "a word from TripAdvisor, and certainly not an apology."
According to news outlet the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, more than a dozen tourists have come forward accusing TripAdvisor of removing their reviews, which contained descriptions of rapes, assaults and blackouts at Mexican resorts.
Yvette is a Viral Content Reporter at Mashable Asia. She was previously reporting for BBC's Singapore bureau and Channel NewsAsia.
