Not for the first time do I find myself agreeing with chef Oliver Dunne of  Malahide's Bon Appetit restaurant, who backed the Carlton Hotel Grioup over the weekend.

Carlton was in the news last week, accused of encouraging staff to post positive reviews of their hotels on TripAdvisor.

'Fair play to them', said Oliver.

'Fair play to them' say I.

Fiirst up- who knows a hotel better than the staff and if they post positive reviews they know what they are talking about. Conversely of course disgruntled employees can post negative reviews.

TripAdvisor may be hugely popular, but it is a flawed system which allows reviewers to remain anonymous without any check on their genuineness, motivation or knowledge. It is therefore wide open to abuse from rival hotel and restaurant owners or from mischief-makers. In these circumstances, I don't see why hotels cannot also use the syetem to boost their ratings.

Sorting out TripAdvisor is a job for its management- not for the hotel industry.