How can I tell if a travel company’s testimonials are fake?

You can usually spot fake testimonials by noticing overly general praise, the same wording showing up over and over in many reviews, and a weird absence of concrete details about the guide, like the guide’s name or what the actual itinerary looked like. Trustworthy companies tend to have feedback that stretches across several years, and it appears on more than one separate platform.

To help confirm authenticity, try matching what you see on TripAdvisor with Google My Business and also look at each reviewer’s personal profile. Real travellers commonly have a record of commenting on different places around the world. If an agency suddenly gets a wave of five-star reviews from brand-new profiles that look empty or unused, that’s often a strong sign the feedback has been tampered with.