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Complaining about bad tourist amenities is about to get a lot harder in Italy if a new law being considered by the country’s parliament gets the go-ahead.
The proposed law, supported by Italy’s tourism minister, Daniela Santanchè, will put the onus on travel review sites like Tripadvisor to verify that anyone leaving a review has actually visited the establishment they are reviewing and is not getting paid to write positive appraisals.
Any reviews will have to be verified with a valid ID and the reviewer will have to prove that they were at the establishment within two weeks of writing a review.
The law, which is expected to pass through both houses of parliament unopposed, is meant to curtail unfair competition, expose hidden advertising, and root out fraud, according to the draft of the bill.
“Today marks an important step for the protection of our businesses,” Santanchè said as she introduced the legislation. “We are keeping our commitment made in defending the entrepreneurial fabric of Italian tourism by guaranteeing a fair and transparent market.”
She said that “regulatory intervention” will guarantee that reviews, which are often the primary factor in deciding to book a hotel or make a restaurant reservation, will be truthful, she told parliament. That, in turn, will protect jobs and bolster the quality of tourism.
How reviews are written will also be impacted, and the right to reply and demand the removal of bad reviews by hotels or restaurants is also covered in the legislation draft. The law also allows tourism entities to request the removal of any bad reviews — even true ones — after two years if the problem has been demonstrably addressed.
CNN has approached Tripadvisor for comment.
What about influencers?
The new law would also make it illegal to pay someone to write a positive review, or to offer incentives like discounts for services if they do, according to Italy’s Communications Regulatory Authority, which would be tasked with enforcing the legislation.
A spokesperson for the unit told CNN that codes of conduct for managers and guidelines for monitoring compliance were yet to be finalized.
The law would be the first of its kind in Europe.
Confescercenti Nazionale, an association that represents small tourism entities, said the proposed law doesn’t go far enough.
“We expected a lot and we find very little,” the group said in a statement after the bill was introduced Tuesday. “It is certainly insufficient to effectively enhance the system of Italian micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.”
Assoutenti, an Italian association of nonprofit organizations, warned that the bill should be extended to social media sites and not just official review sites.
“Any measure that guarantees greater transparency to consumers in the choice of products and services is welcome,” the group said in a statement.
“In the same way, however, it is necessary to regulate the sphere of social networks more effectively, where a myriad of influencers and micro-influencers review restaurants, clubs, spas and accommodation facilities every day through contents that appear to be personal and disinterested opinions, but which in reality are the result of commercial agreements or grants of gifts that are not always clearly communicated to the public.”
The bill is currently only meant to cover hotels, restaurants and private sites, but could eventually extend to goods and services, including reviews left on major international sites like Amazon.
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