Safety: Hotel Crime Reports Banned From Online Travel Reviews

I live in Virginia--near DC--and a hotel nearby has been suffered from
a lot of crime lately, according to my local paper's crime report. It'd
be nice to warn fellow travelers by posting the brief crime report but
I have discovered this is banned at all major travel review sites
(Yahoo, Expedia, TripAdvisor, etc). What's the reasoning behind this?

Is there anywhere I can post this information in order to help fellow
travelers, or would it be a bad idea for me to do so (in which case
I'll just forget about it)?

I think it's a shame that hundreds of readers/viewers to these travel
sites will stay at this hotel based on the somewhat positive reviews
out there, none of which address the crime issue.

I wish there was a site that included this info--few things are more
important than personal safety and property protection when choosing a
hotel. Such a site could use a good tagline: "Get the real scoop on
personal safety during your vacation. View the information that hotels,
Yahoo, Expedia, and TripAdvisor DON'T want you to see!"

OK, here are my thoughts on what I read. Though I advise fellow
travelers to think twice before leaving unattended a $3,000 wedding
ring or a purse containing $550 (!).

Though Falls Church is a low-crime and affluent suburb near DC, Inns of
Virginia at 421 Broad St has apparently suffered from reported crime
problems lately. A recent weekly issue of _Falls Church News-Press_
online mentions ( http://www.fcnp.com/616/crime.htm ) it in 3 of the 13
incidents listed (2 cases where hotel guests were presumably victims; 1
in which the hotel guest was the perpetrator):

Fraud, Inns of Virginia, 421 W. Broad St., June 13, 10:05 a.m., unknown
person(s) left the establishment without paying the outstanding amount
of $237.45.

Larceny from Building, Inns of Virginia, 421 W. Broad St. , June 14,
7:23 p.m., unknown person(s) entered the room and stole a wedding ring
off the dresser. The ring is described a platinum band with one diamond
in the middle surrounded by 6 little diamonds. The total size of the
ring is 2CT. valued at $3000.00.

Larceny from Building, Inns of Virginia, 421 W. Broad St. , June 19,
between 9:30 a.m. 7:30 p.m, unknown person(s) entered the room and
stole $550.00 from a purse.

NotMyName wrote:
Post the news story to every appropriate newsgroup.
The hotel won't like the publicity, but if true, then you are
protected by the US Constitutuin!

Be sure to include the date of the news story, as well as page number
for reference.

Glad to see that some people are concerned about warning others.

Other warnings could include hotel names, where hotels infested with
bedbugs and cockroaches!

On 3 Jul 2006 10:00:27 -0700, "Takuro Ishii"
wrote:

I live in Virginia--near DC--and a hotel nearby has been suffered from
a lot of crime lately, according to my local paper's crime report. It'd
be nice to warn fellow travelers by posting the brief crime report but
I have discovered this is banned at all major travel review sites
(Yahoo, Expedia, TripAdvisor, etc). What's the reasoning behind this?

Is there anywhere I can post this information in order to help fellow
travelers, or would it be a bad idea for me to do so (in which case
I'll just forget about it)?

I think it's a shame that hundreds of readers/viewers to these travel
sites will stay at this hotel based on the somewhat positive reviews
out there, none of which address the crime issue.

I wish there was a site that included this info--few things are more
important than personal safety and property protection when choosing a
hotel. Such a site could use a good tagline: "Get the real scoop on
personal safety during your vacation. View the information that hotels,
Yahoo, Expedia, and TripAdvisor DON'T want you to see!"