The fast-growing Swedish app company GuidePal has launched a hotel booking service on its webpage. GuidePal’s users are being offered an objective alternative to dubious reviews and user generated content on the Internet. The hotels in the GuidePal guides have gone through a meticulous selection process, and the booking is provided by renowned partners such as hotels.com and booking.com.

The new service was launched partly due to pressure from users, who felt fooled after having trusted false user reviews on booking sites.

“It makes me angry and frustrated when our users tell me how much they’ve enjoyed our guides, but that the standard of accommodation during their trip left them feeling disappointed. Many travellers trust user reviews blindly, but more often than not the hotels don’t live up to their five stars,” says GuidePal CEO Peter Schierenbeck. “This is why we have chosen to add selected hotels to our apps, and the possibility to see availability and book rooms directly from our webpage.”

False reviews are considered a serious problem in the travel industry, with some claiming that the inflation in positive user reviews has undermined the credibility of booking sites that depend on user generated content (UGC). According to Chris Emmins from Kwikchex, an online reputation management service, as much as 20 percent of the reviews on TripAdvisor are false. Recently, TripAdvisor was banned by ASA, the Advertising Standards Authority, from claiming that its reviews are from real travellers, or are ‘honest, real or trusted’.

The hotels featured in GuidePal’s city guide apps have gone through the same meticulous selection process as the other recommendations in the guides, where locals together with travel journalists have handpicked the best each city has to offer. Initially, the booking service will be available for a dozen selected destinations – it will be added to remaining destinations this spring. Booking service partners are booking.com, hotels.com, Expedia, Venere and Tablet. Current destinations are New York City, London, Paris, Singapore, Bangkok, New Delhi, Rome and Krakow.