Last Updated: October 27, 2021
Content Policy
By posting content on HopLocal, you agree to abide by this policy. We reserve the right to remove any content, in whole or part, that violates this policy, our terms and conditions or for any other reason at our sole discretion.
In the event of repeated or severe violations, we may suspend or permanently deactivate the account(s) in question.
You can report the content directly or contact us to report content that appears to violate this policy.
The following content is not allowed on HopLocal:
- Content created solely for the purpose of advertising or other commercial content, including company logos, links, or company names
- Spam, unwanted contact, or content that is shared repeatedly in a disruptive manner
- Content that endorses or promotes illegal or harmful activity, or that is sexually explicit, violent, graphic, threatening, or harassing.
- Attempts to impersonate another person, account, or entity, including a representative of HopLocal
- Content that is illegal or that violates another person’s or entity’s rights, including intellectual property rights and privacy rights
- Content that includes another person’s private or confidential information, including content that is sufficient to identify a listing’s location
Policy violations
The following are policy violations specific to a type of the content:
Listing titles
- Listing titles that include information irrelevant to the listing type, style, or experience
- Listing titles that include symbols or emojis
Listing or profile pages
- Listings and profiles that provide fraudulent, false, misleading, or deceptive information
Community Center
- Content that is off-topic, doesn’t ask a question, or doesn’t offer knowledge in response to a question as part of a larger discussion
- Trolling or repeatedly targeting community members
Reviews
- Reviews that are biased or exhibit indications of extortion/incentivization, conflicts of interest, or direct competition
- Reviews that contain no relevant information about a host or guest, listing, or experience may be removed. Reviews that contain mostly irrelevant information are also subject to removal, but only where the otherwise relevant information would not be expected to meaningfully inform the booking decisions of other community members.
Review Policy
In order to build a platform of trust, we ask our community to help ensure that reviews on HopLocal are useful, informative, and don’t expose our community to harm. Therefore, we expect that all reviews adhere to the following:
1. Reviews should not violate our content policy
Some content is never allowed on HopLocal. You can review our content policy mentioned above to find out more.
2. Reviews should be unbiased
Reviews are most helpful when they provide unbiased and objective information. Therefore, we don’t allow individuals or entities who own or are affiliated with a listing or experience to post reviews of their business. We also don’t allow individuals who are confirmed to offer competing listings or experiences to post reviews of their direct competitors.
You’re not allowed to incentivize positive reviews, to use the threat of a negative review to manipulate a desired outcome, or to influence another’s review with the promise of compensation.
You’re also not allowed to accept fake reservations in exchange for a positive review, use a second account to leave yourself a review, or coordinate with business partners to get positive reviews.
3. Reviews should be relevant
Keep your reviews relevant to HopLocal and your stay or experience, since guests are reading your reviews to learn about the host and their listing. Reviews that are off-topic can be distracting and don’t help other guests make informed booking decisions. For this reason, reviews should focus on your interactions with other community members and your time during the stay or experience.
To keep reviews relevant, we recommend avoiding the following:
- Commentary about a person’s social, political, or religious views
- Profanity, name calling, and assumptions about a person’s character or personality
- Content that refers to circumstances entirely outside of another’s control
- Content about services not related to HopLocal (for example, an airline, rideshare, restaurant, etc.)
- Commentary about past HopLocal reservations, hosts, or guests, or about the HopLocal product where it does not relate to the listing, host or guest you are rating
When we receive a report of a review that violates this policy, we may remove the review from our platform. Repeated violations may lead to suspension or permanent deactivation of the account(s) responsible for the reviews.
Reporting a review that violates our policy
To report a review for violating HopLocal’s review policy, contact us at hello@hoplocal.co.
If you feel a review is untrue
While we encourage and expect all community members to post reviews that contain objective and accurate information, HopLocal doesn’t mediate disputes concerning the truth of reviews. We expect the author of the review to stand behind the content of their review.