Hotel accused of using fake AA ratings to mislead customers after ‘terrible’ reviews on TripAdvisor

A hotel has been criticised for misleading customers with a ‘four star rating’ despite receiving multiple negative reviews online.

The Snooty Fox in Cornwall has terrible reviews on Tripadvisor.

A hotel in Cornwall, England has been accused of misleading customers by displaying a fake Automobile Association (AA) four-star rating on its website.

Britain’s AA rates much of Britain’s hotel accommodation on a ranking system up to five stars for the plushest places.

The Snooty Fox in Looe, a coastal fishing town, has had a string of bad reviews on TripAdvisor, reported The Sun.

It was reported to the UK Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) by a member of the public for displaying an image with the AA logo and ‘AA 4*’ on its website.

Despite acknowledging the complaint, they failed to submit a “substantive response” to an inquiry by the Advertising Standards Agency, who deemed the rating as “misleading”.

The crackdown comes after The Snooty Fox was branded ‘terrible’ on TripAdvisor by a string of recent dissatisfied guests.

On the hotel’s website, it advertises ensuite accommodation with the “highest standards of comfort, hospitality and cleanliness”, with rooms costing up to £100 (AU$180) a night in high season.

Boats in the estuary at Looe, Cornwall, UK, near where the Snooty Fox sits. Picture: Alamy

But many who had stayed there took to TripAdvisor to complain about the hotel’s standards.

A user named adamharris0n, from Lincoln, in eastern England, wrote: “Don’t even bother. Run down, doesn’t do breakfast, overgrown grass, no one even at the property.”

User DianeHKent, from Wakefield, also gave the hotel a recent one star review and wrote: “Would definitely not recommend.

“We stayed for four nights and during that time did not meet any member of staff. The room smelt musty when we arrived as if it had been shut up for a while.”

And another user named 134theresav, from Worthing, southern England, said: “If you look at their website The Snooty Fox is advertised as bed and breakfast. It is not.

“It is simply a room. There is not anything, not even staff!

“There were a number of people staying at the same time as us and they were all appalled at the misrepresentation of this property. Stay anywhere, but not here.”

There were also some positive comments, praising the “tasteful” decor and “friendly owner” but recent reviews have been largely negative.

The Snooty Fox in Cornwall has terrible reviews on Tripadvisor.

Some say the property feels abandoned.

A spokesman for the Advertising Standards Agency said: “The ASA was concerned by The Snooty Fox’s lack of substantive response and apparent disregard for the code.

“We reminded them of their responsibility to provide a substantive response to our inquiries and told them to do so in the future.

“We considered that consumers would understand from the inclusion of the AA logo and star rating in the ad that The Snooty Fox had received a four-star endorsement from the AA’s hotel rating scheme.

“The Snooty Fox did not provide any evidence that they had received that endorsement and the AA did not list the hotel on its website or state that it had awarded The Snooty Fox a four star rating. We therefore concluded that the ad was misleading.”

It also detailed the action taken: “The ad must not appear again in the form complained about. We told The Snooty Fox not to claim or imply that they had received an endorsement if they had not. We referred the matter to the CAP Compliance team.”

Overall the hotel has a 3.5 rating on TripAdvisor, having received 275 reviews on the site with nearly a fifth (18 per cent) of them just one star.

Sun Online Travel has contacted The Snooty Fox for comment.

This article originally appeared on The Sun and has been republished with permission.