TLDR
- You can't delete a customer's review on Google or Tripadvisor. You can report one that breaks the platform's rules, and the platform decides whether it comes down.
- Since 6 April 2025, UK law has banned fake reviews outright, and the regulator can fine a business up to £300,000 or 10% of its worldwide turnover.
- While a report is open, reply once, calmly, and without the word "fake". Tripadvisor removes owner replies that accuse a reviewer of fraud.
- A review written about another venue with the same name can be reported too. Google's policy says a review should reflect a genuine experience at the place it is left on.
On 26 March 2026 the Competition and Markets Authority opened investigations into five businesses over their reviews, two of them food businesses. It has not reached any conclusions. They are its first review investigations under its new powers.
That law changed what can happen to businesses that write, buy or commission fake reviews. The button an owner can press stayed exactly where it was.
Take a cocktail bar in Leeds. On a Saturday morning the general manager opens the bar's Google Business Profile to a one-star review from a name nobody on the team recognises, describing a cocktail that has never been on the list. The question is always the same: can we get this taken down?
Can you remove a Google review as a business owner?
No. An owner can't delete a customer's Google review. You can report it, and Google's help page on reporting reviews says only reviews that break its policies are eligible for removal. Google makes the decision, says evaluation typically takes several days, and gives you one appeal if it says no.
What you control is your own reply, which you can edit or delete yourself. The review belongs to the person who wrote it.
The same Google page is blunt about the rest: "Do not report a review just because you disagree with it or dislike it." The UK regulator draws the same line. The CMA's fake reviews guidance (CMA208, published 4 April 2025) says a review isn't fake just because the business it's about disagrees with it, as long as it reflects the reviewer's genuine experience.
So the first job with any review that looks wrong is to sort it into one of two piles. A review that breaks the platform's rules can be reported. A review that is harsh or mistaken, but written by someone who actually came in, stays up, and your reply is the only tool left.
How can you tell if a review is fake?
You usually can't prove it from the outside, so look for evidence the platform can check. Google's content policy removes reviews that don't reflect "an actual experience with a business", reviews paid for "directly or in kind", and reviews from a conflict of interest, which covers current or former staff, family and industry competitors.
Four checks help you build a report:
- Your records. Check the booking system and the tills for the date in the review. For a bar, a missing booking proves little, because many guests walk in and pay at the bar. A missing card payment on a quiet night says more. Keep what you find for the report, and out of your public reply.
- What the review describes. A dish that has never been on the menu, or a member of staff who doesn't exist, is something a moderator can weigh.
- The reviewer's profile. Open it. A run of one-star reviews across venues on the same street in the same week is worth a screenshot.
- The timing. Several one-star reviews in a day from new accounts may fall under what Google's policy calls "unusual volumes or patterns of review contributions". Write the dates down.
Keep one thing out of that list: a one-star with no words. In booteek's analysis of 3,798 one- and two-star Google reviews at 1,104 UK restaurants and bars (measured September 2026), about 1 in 10 (9.5%) came with no written comment. Blank bad reviews are common enough on their own, so a missing comment is not evidence either way.
And accept that we found no published figure that tells you how common fake reviews are in hospitality. The UK government's own 2023 study of fake online reviews measured product reviews on shopping sites, and says its findings do not extend to services. Tripadvisor says it blocked or removed 2.7 million fake reviews in 2024, in its 2025 Transparency Report. That is Tripadvisor's own figure, global and across every kind of listing, and it says nothing about the share of your reviews.
How do you report a fake Google review, and how long does it take?
Report it from your Business Profile, then follow it in Google's Reviews Management Tool. Google says evaluation "typically takes several days", and it states no timescale for an appeal. These are the steps on Google's reporting page:
- Go to your Business Profile.
- Select Read reviews.
- Next to the review, select Report.
- Select the reason, for example Spam.
- Select Send report.
Pick the reason that matches the evidence you gathered. A review from a rival is a conflict of interest. A batch from linked accounts is spam. A reason that fits the facts gives the moderator something to check.
The Reviews Management Tool then shows one of three statuses. "Decision pending" means nobody has looked yet. "Report reviewed – no policy violation" means Google kept the review. If you disagree, you get one appeal: in the same tool, choose to check a review you reported previously, select Appeal eligible reviews, pick the review (up to 10 at a time), and fill in the form. The status becomes "Escalated – check your email for updates", and the result arrives by email.
Use the appeal for your strongest cases. Google gives you one per review.
Two further routes sit on the same page. You can report the reviewer's whole profile from the Google Maps app, which suits one account leaving several bad reviews. And if someone demands money to stop posting negative reviews, Google has a separate route for reporting review extortion scams, linked from the top of that page.
What if the review was meant for another venue?
Report it, and reply so the next reader sees the review describes another place. Google's content policy says a contribution should "reflect a genuine experience at a place or business", and its off-topic rule asks for content "based on your experience or questions about experiences at a specific location". A review of a different pub is not an experience at yours.
In a recent r/AskUK thread, staff at pubs that share a name with another pub traded stories of guests who booked a same-named pub fifty miles away, turned up with luggage at the wrong one, or left a Google review about the food at a pub that serves none.
Priya runs a pub in Shrewsbury that serves no food, and it shares its name with a pub fifty miles away that does. Guests come in asking for the chips on the other pub's menu. Google reviews arrive about meals Priya has never served, and a regular has started to reply to each one to explain the mix-up. One such review is a mistake. Three in a month is a pattern her bar manager, Tom, now writes down.
Priya's story is based on accounts that pub staff shared on Reddit. We changed the names and places to protect them.
Three things help:
- Check the review against what you are. Food at a pub with no kitchen, a room at a venue with no rooms, a dish that has never been on your menu. Write down what doesn't match. That is your evidence, and the report is where it goes.
- Report it, and reply once. Google's reporting page names only "Spam" and "Profanity" as examples, so read the full list in the report window and pick the reason that fits best. Then reply calmly with your town: "Thank you for writing. We think you may have visited another pub with our name. We're in Shrewsbury and we don't serve food. If it was us, please email me so I can look into it. Priya"
- Make your profile unmistakable, without changing your name. Check the address, category, opening hours and photos of the front and the sign. Do not add the town to your profile name to stand apart. Google's guidelines for representing your business say the name "should reflect your business' real-world name" and treat added location words, such as "Equinox near SOHO", as not acceptable. A town belongs in the name only when it is on your sign.
How do you report a fake review on Tripadvisor?
Report it through the Management Center. Tripadvisor's owner help page says its moderators will tell you the outcome, and your options for appeal, within 3 to 5 working days. The steps:
- Log into the Management Center.
- Click the Reviews tab.
- Click the review you want to report.
- Select Report Review.
- Give your reason, leave a comment and click Submit.
Tripadvisor's review guidelines give you two firm grounds. They refuse a review from anyone who "did not experience the business as a guest or potential guest". And they refuse reviews from someone who owns or works at a business in the same category in the same municipality, or within 10 miles of yours.
Blackmail has its own rule. Tripadvisor acts only once a specific review is posted, and it needs written evidence: an unedited email file, a complete screenshot or a PDF showing the sender and the date. A threat made out loud across the bar can't be investigated. So keep every written message from a guest who ties a review to a refund, and report the review the day it appears.
For how the two platforms compare on everything else, see Google reviews vs Tripadvisor.
What should you do while you wait for a decision?
Reply once, calmly, and leave the accusation to the report. The next guest reading the page sees your reply before they see any decision, and Tripadvisor's management response guidelines remove owner replies that contain "accusations of review fraud" or guess who the reviewer is.
Calling a review fake in public is rare. In booteek's analysis of 1,037 owner replies to one- and two-star Google reviews at 428 UK restaurants and bars (measured September 2026), about 3 in 100 called the review fake, false or spam, or said the reviewer had never been in.
Those replies were not spread evenly. They came from 19 venues, and one venue pasting the same reply made up 8 of the 35 matches. A reply that only disagreed ("that's not our experience") was not counted, because the CMA's line holds here too: disagreeing with a review is not the same as calling it fake.
The limits matter. The sample leans on Manchester and holds a share of each venue's reviews, never all of them. It counts what owners wrote. It says nothing about how many of those reviews really were fake, or whether calling them fake did any good.
A reply that works on both platforms keeps what you checked out of it and offers a named way to talk:
"Thank you for writing. We'd like to understand what happened. Please email me at [address] with the date of your visit so I can look into it. [Your name], general manager"
It accuses nobody and invites the writer to get in touch. If the guest was real, you have opened a conversation. If not, the next reader sees a calm owner and an unanswered offer.
Tripadvisor's own advice is to write a response even after you've reported a review, so readers see your side while it's assessed. If the review is removed, your response goes with it. For worded examples, see our review response templates, including one for a suspected fake, and for the harder case of a real bad night, how to respond to a 1-star review.
What does UK law say about fake reviews?
Since 6 April 2025, UK law has banned fake reviews outright. Schedule 20 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 bans businesses from writing, buying or commissioning fake reviews. It also bans publishing reviews in a misleading way, which includes hiding the bad ones while showing the good ones.
Keep two dates apart. The ban took effect on 6 April 2025, under the commencement regulations. The CMA published its guidance, CMA208, two days earlier, on 4 April 2025.
The Competition and Markets Authority can now fine a business directly: up to £300,000 or 10% of its worldwide turnover, whichever is higher, under section 182 of the Act. That is the maximum the law allows. The March 2026 investigations are the first test, and none has an outcome yet.
Google has its own sanctions for UK businesses. Under commitments it gave the CMA in January 2025, a UK business caught using fake reviews gets a public warning on its profile and can't receive new reviews. Repeat offenders lose all their reviews for six months or more. Diners can also now report an incentive, such as a free drink offered for a review.
The CMA's guidance says "Fake reviews could be positive or negative", so the ban can reach a rival who posts fake bad reviews about you. It applies to you as well. The guidance gives, as examples of banned conduct, offering a guest a refund or a gift card if they change their review so that it no longer reflects their genuine experience, and it says asking your staff to write reviews can count as commissioning them.
Can you pay to remove Google reviews?
You can pay a company, but a company can only report the review through the same routes you have, and Google still decides on its policy alone. The Report button, the Reviews Management Tool and the one appeal are the process Google publishes for owners.
Four things owners try that do not work:
- A paid "removal service". Whatever it charges, it reports through Google's routes and Tripadvisor's. If it goes further and offers the reviewer something to take the review down, it breaks both platforms' rules on your behalf.
- Offering the reviewer something. Google's policy bans offering payment, discounts or free goods "in exchange for posting any review or revision or removal of a negative review". Tripadvisor penalises anyone representing a venue who does the same.
- Threats. Tripadvisor bans owner responses that "threaten or coerce a reviewer", and penalises pressure to remove a review. Google tells owners not to attack reviewers personally, on Maps or in person.
- Burying it under five-star reviews. Reviews from staff, family or friends are a conflict of interest under Google's policy. Asking your team to write them can count as commissioning fake reviews under UK law, and Google's sanctions include a public warning on your profile.
None of these touches the review you're worried about, and each one puts your own profile at risk.
Google, Tripadvisor or UK law: who decides what comes down?
Each route has its own referee and its own clock. The table sets them side by side.
| Tripadvisor | UK law | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Who decides | Tripadvisor's moderators | The Competition and Markets Authority | |
| What counts | Fake engagement, conflict of interest (staff, family, competitors), paid or incentivised reviews | Not a guest or potential guest, a competitor nearby, incentivised reviews | Writing, buying or commissioning a fake review, or hiding bad reviews |
| Stated time | "Typically takes several days", then one appeal | Outcome within 3 to 5 working days | No timescale. The March 2026 investigations have no conclusions yet |
| What happens to offenders | Public warning, no new reviews, repeat offenders lose all reviews for six months or more | Ranking penalties or a red warning badge | Fines up to £300,000 or 10% of worldwide turnover |
For a single review, the platform's report is your route. The law sets the rules both platforms and every business now work under.
This week, open your Business Profile, select Read reviews, and sort your worst recent review into one of the two piles. If it breaks a rule, or describes another venue, report it and write down the date. If it doesn't, write the reply.
Where booteek fits is the reply. On the review in front of you, on your Google Business Profile, Tripadvisor or another review platform, the booteek Chrome extension drafts a reply, which you read, edit, copy and post yourself. It posts nothing for you, and whether a review comes down stays the platform's decision. What it costs is on the pricing page.
Report the fake, answer the real, and the next guest sees a fair deal.
Where do these figures come from?
- booteek's study of text-less bad reviews (booteek, measured September 2026). The sample is 3,798 one- and two-star Google reviews at 1,104 UK restaurants and bars. The reviews were posted between 2011 and 26 September 2026 and captured between January and September 2026. The data comes from the Google reviews booteek holds for UK restaurants and bars in eight cities, and the sample leans on Manchester. It holds a share of each venue's reviews, never all of them. It counts reviews with no written comment and shows nothing about which reviews were fake. There is no public page for it yet.
- booteek's study of owner replies that call a review fake (booteek, measured September 2026). The sample is 1,037 owner replies to one- and two-star Google reviews at 428 UK restaurants and bars, from the same reviews as the study above, with the same posting and capture dates. A reply counts when it calls the review fake, false or spam, or says the reviewer never came in. A reply that only disagrees does not count. The matches clustered at a few venues: 35 replies at 19 venues, and 8 of them were one venue's pasted reply. It shows nothing about how many of those reviews were really fake, or whether the replies did any good. There is no public page for it yet.
- Fake and misleading reviews: 5 businesses under CMA investigation (Competition and Markets Authority, press release 27 March 2026) — the five investigations, opened on 26 March 2026, two of them food businesses, with no conclusions yet. CMA press release
- Fake reviews, CMA208 (Competition and Markets Authority, 4 April 2025) — a review is not fake because the business disagrees with it, fake reviews "could be positive or negative", and the examples of banned conduct, such as a refund offered if a guest changes a review so that it no longer reflects their genuine experience. CMA guidance
- CMA secures important changes from Google to tackle fake reviews (Competition and Markets Authority, 24 January 2025) — Google's warnings, review blocks and review removal for UK businesses that use fake reviews. CMA and Google
- Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, Schedule 20 (legislation.gov.uk, Royal Assent 24 May 2024) — the ban on businesses writing, buying or commissioning fake reviews, and on hiding bad ones. Schedule 20
- Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, section 182 (legislation.gov.uk, Royal Assent 24 May 2024) — the maximum fine of £300,000 or 10% of worldwide turnover. Section 182
- Commencement No. 2 Regulations 2025, S.I. 2025/272 (legislation.gov.uk, made 4 March 2025) — the ban taking effect on 6 April 2025. Commencement regulations
- Fake online reviews research (Department for Business and Trade, 25 April 2023) — measured product reviews on shopping sites, and says its findings do not extend to services. No hospitality figure. DBT study
- 2025 Transparency Report (Tripadvisor, 18 March 2025) — 2.7 million fake reviews blocked or removed in 2024. Tripadvisor's own figure, global, across every kind of listing. Tripadvisor report
- Report inappropriate reviews on your Business Profile (Google Business Profile Help, read 28 September 2026) — the report steps, the statuses, the one appeal and the "several days" to decide. Google: reporting a review
- Guidelines for representing your business on Google (Google Business Profile Help, read 9 October 2026) — the business name must reflect the real-world name, and added location words are not acceptable. Google: business name guidelines
- Pub staff stories of same-name mix-ups (r/AskUK thread, read 9 October 2026) — staff describing guests who booked, visited or reviewed the wrong same-named pub. Anecdotes, not a measurement.
- Prohibited and restricted content (Google Maps User Contributed Content Policy, read 28 September 2026 and 9 October 2026) — the rules on fake engagement, conflict of interest and paid reviews. Google content policy — including the rules that a contribution should reflect a genuine experience at the place, and the off-topic rule.
- Owners Reporting a Review (Tripadvisor, read 28 September 2026) — the report steps and the outcome within 3 to 5 working days. Tripadvisor owner help
- Review Guidelines (Tripadvisor, read 28 September 2026) — the grounds for refusing a review, including a writer who was never a guest and a competitor nearby. Tripadvisor review guidelines
- Owners reporting blackmail by traveler (Tripadvisor, read 28 September 2026) — the rule that Tripadvisor acts only on a posted review, with written evidence of the threat. Tripadvisor blackmail help
- Management Responses Guidelines (Tripadvisor, read 28 September 2026) — owner replies that accuse a reviewer of fraud or threaten them are removed. Tripadvisor response guidelines