By Walt Hickey Welcome back! Five Stars Google will pay a €1.1 million fine over its hotel rating system in France. Like many companies that make a living rating hotels, restaurants, movies and more, Google pretty much punted their evaluations of hotels in France to a custom, internal algorithm, doling out stars based on a secret proprietary sauce. In France, this is a problem because the standard classification system of Atout France, which is the public tourist board, also relies on a commonly accepted star system and has applied those stars to 7,500 establishments. The hotels — accustomed to one extremely specific star system — got mad at Google for pushing their identical but different system, and the French consumer watchdog agency pounced. Remember, it’s only a five-star rating system if it’s from the Champagne region of France, anywhere else and it’s just sparkling downvotes.
Numlock News: February 16, 2021 • Perseverance, Fluff, Detective Chinatown 3
Numlock News: February 16, 2021 …
Numlock News: February 16, 2021 • Perseverance, Fluff, Detective Chinatown 3
By Walt Hickey Welcome back! Five Stars Google will pay a €1.1 million fine over its hotel rating system in France. Like many companies that make a living rating hotels, restaurants, movies and more, Google pretty much punted their evaluations of hotels in France to a custom, internal algorithm, doling out stars based on a secret proprietary sauce. In France, this is a problem because the standard classification system of Atout France, which is the public tourist board, also relies on a commonly accepted star system and has applied those stars to 7,500 establishments. The hotels — accustomed to one extremely specific star system — got mad at Google for pushing their identical but different system, and the French consumer watchdog agency pounced. Remember, it’s only a five-star rating system if it’s from the Champagne region of France, anywhere else and it’s just sparkling downvotes.