Is Splitsville soliciting fake reviews, before it even opens?

[jsilvers]

Unfortunately, I think so.

• If you visit Splitsville’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/pg/SplitsvilleAnaheim/reviews/?ref=page_internal), it already has 30+ reviews - all 5-star, and all without comments.

• The oldest review, dated October 20, is from a former Splitsville Orlando employee. A current Splitsville Orlando employee has commented on it: "Suck up sheesh”. And the Sales and Event Manager at Splitsville Anaheim has liked that comment.

• There are patterns to the reviews. Sixteen of them were posted on November 30. Eighteen more were all posted on October 20-21. That certainly suggests that there have been two "waves" of solicitations, rather than spontaneous reviews by real people. (Also note that one of these reviews was also liked by the Sales and Event Manager at Splitsville Anaheim.)

• And who are the reviewers? For the November 30 batch, 2 identify themselves as Splitsville Orlando employees, and most appear to be from Cincinnati (where I note that there is another Splitsville).

• For the October 20-21 batch, most of the reviewers appear to be from Orlando; six specifically identify themselves as current or former Splitsville Orlando employees, including the one mentioned above (and another reviewer is an employee of Splitsville Tampa). Plus one of the reviews is from the Sales Manager at Visit Anaheim.

This looks like unethical marketing at its finest (worst).

 

[Purerockfury1]

That’s ridiculous. My husband and I were just talking about how we have no desire to go “luxury bowling” while on a Disney vacation.

 

[sherilaine]

I don't believe there is any form of validation done on Facebook reviews - which is why one should never rely on them being credible. I think Trip Advisor would likely not allow someone to post a review for a hotel that is yet to open though. If you have looked at this and it's turned you against the business, then that is the risk they take in this type of behavior.

But I agree with the above comment - when I am at Disney - unless the big Mouse is bowling with me - I won't be!! However, this business is likely more there for people who are trying to fill an off park day or even local customers.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Thanks for the heads up. That's messed up.

 

[bumbershoot]

Seems like it’s obvious they are employees. Doesn’t seem awful to me. If they pretended to not be employees then that’s icky.

Makes sense to me that the reviewers would be in the cities that have locations.

 

[StormyCA]

That’s ridiculous. My husband and I were just talking about how we have no desire to go “luxury bowling” while on a Disney vacation.

Hear, hear!!!

Bowling had a resurgence in popularity as a 'fad' a few years ago (i.e. blacklight bowling, Disco bowling, etc) but I think that fad has already had its day. Hardcore bowlers aren't going to want to pay Splitsville prices and locals will try it once and say 'meh'. My DH used to bowl on leagues (before an injury 'benched' him) and when I told him about Splitsville he just rolled his eyes at me.

WDW has more tourists and those tourists stay longer and are more prone to have extra days to do other things whilst there. We built in a day for Disney Springs as well as a day to drive over to Cocoa Beach and a few other places. DL tourists stay their hopper days and go to the parks. Maybe they'll do USH. But I don't think they're going to build in a day to go bowling. And DTD isn't worth a whole day, anyway. I think Disney will be sorry they went for this. A Disney Co-op would have been a better idea.

 

[katyringo]

I told my husband about this and he was like “we can do that here at home!”

If you live by any bigger city these fancy bowling lanes are available to you. We literally have one very similar to this set up about 10 mins away. It’s not something we would do while we are at Disneyland. Maybe it will be a hit- but I didn’t get that “spend a day here” vibe from DTD. Maybe they are trying to change that?

 

[V.I.N.CENT.]

I know they have other locations, maybe it is people familiar with the brand?

 

[BayouQueen]

I can see it being a popular venue for birthday parties or other celebrations. I think it would be fun to have a bowling party, with decent food available. Seems like the population of So Cal could keep it busy with just that kind of thing. I can't imagine people taking away park time to bowl, though.

 

[sweethannah]

I don't have anything quite like this in my area so I think it sounds like a fun novelty especially since we usually have a couple of down days when we visit. That being said it's no different than having a movie theater and people grabbing a movie in the afternoon when they have nothing else to do on a non Park day. Plus new food options are always welcome.

 

[figment_jii]

I think it's a fine line between trying to create an initial buzz and being unethical. If Splitsville paid those people to give it 5 Stars before it opens, then I'd say that is unethical advertising. Otherwise, I think it's just how things work these days and I don't think it's Splitsville that is being unethical. I take any and all online reviews with a grain of salt; after all, you have no way of knowing if the people actually went to that location or not, even if it's open. My feeling is that once the venue opens, a larger number of reviews will be posted and the rating will change, most likely over-riding the initial chunk of 5 stars reviews.

 

[sherilaine]

Most of what is in DTD is available elsewhere - sure maybe the stores are a bit different due to the location such as the Lego Store and Build a Bear - but they are no more Disney than bowling. It's just a dining/shopping area next to the parks which is great.

 

[jsilvers]

I think it's a fine line between trying to create an initial buzz and being unethical. If Splitsville paid those people to give it 5 Stars before it opens, then I'd say that is unethical advertising. Otherwise, I think it's just how things work these days and I don't think it's Splitsville that is being unethical.

New York, at least, has prosecuted this kind of "astroturfing." See https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/23/new-york-fake-online-reviews-yoghurt. So if anything, I may have been too soft-spoken. It's not just likely unethical - it's likely illegal.

 

[sherilaine]

New York, at least, has prosecuted this kind of "astroturfing." See https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/23/new-york-fake-online-reviews-yoghurt. So if anything, I may have been too soft-spoken. It's not just likely unethical - it's likely illegal.

You will notice this article talks about many online review sites but mentions nothing about Facebook. Not sure how it escaped. The # of stars on FB is also a bit of a joke - anyone can give a 5 star or 1 star and not add a comment, in which case their review really carries no water from my opinion. However, given this business has many different locations - they can likely get away with these reviews because the user could simple claim they were giving the company as a whole a review and not this particular location.

I often wonder too if sometimes these reviews might be unknown to the Facebook user - how many stupid things do people click on and they have no idea what happens with their information - there are a lot of traps on Facebook people fall into.

 

[cmwade77]

That’s ridiculous. My husband and I were just talking about how we have no desire to go “luxury bowling” while on a Disney vacation.

Yeah, I think this is geared more to the local crowd, unfortunately, I think the overestimate the popularity of bowling among them. If they had opted to put it something like Adventurer's Club, it would do extremely well out here due to the massive number of locals.

 

[chickapin parterre]

reading the Disney press releases you find the words ....spectacular...comfortable..... modern vibe...expansive patio ....state of the art kitchen.....It is not being built for us but for folks who will be making reservations at the 5 star lodging.... DTD as we know it now will disappear with each new 5-Star floor being built.

 

[TheZue]

We might give it a try. The parks are closing at 8 while we are there, it might be fun to play a bit & grab a snack before heading back to the hotel.

Having reviews before pop up it is even open is just stupid.

 

[tarheelalum]

Fake reviews are very common all over the internet. Facebook, Yelp, Trip Advisor and Amazon are probably the biggest offenders with tons of them designed to sway your opinions and purchases. Its all really shady.

 

[rkstocke5609]

I’ll chime in as I have been to Splitsville in Orlando. We went for a DVC members night thing. It was a reserved thing where you got an appetizer to share and an entree for each person. You got paired up with another DVCer on the adjacent lane. I dreaded this thing when my wife pitched it to me. However, I am pleased to report that it was a great time — and I am not a bowler. We had a tuna sushi appetizer that was recommended by our lane mate and it was really great (and I’m not a sushi guy). The food was unexpectedly good and the whole thing was fun. It was basically way enough food, drinks and bowling for a two hour window. So, basically a way to have an activity based dinner which was great with kids! As a different spot to hit when you need a break from the parks it may work out OK in California too.

As far as employees writing reviews in advance of opening? Nothing short of tasteless & tacky. I do, however, hope that local officials can find something better to do with tax dollars than chase this sort of thing whether illegal or not.

 

[emmagator]

Personally, I think Splitsville is a great upgrade from House of Blues.