Online reviews are today one of the most influential elements in travel and consumer choices, but also one of the main challenges for hotels, restaurants, and tourism operators. Fake reviews, anonymous content, and unverified judgments have often penalized businesses, directly impacting bookings, reputation, and revenue. With the introduction of new rules in Italian legislation (including Law 34 of March 11), the system changes: more stringent criteria for the validity of reviews are defined along with new responsibilities for platforms and operators.
Online reviews influence bookings, trust, and revenue, but for hotels, restaurants, and tourism operators, they also represent one of the most sensitive areas of digital reputation. In Italy, from April 7, 2026, new rules come into effect addressing fake reviews, unverified content, and unfair practices related to incentives. For anyone managing a business in Italy, the issue is not just understanding the law, but knowing what really changes in practice: which reviews can be challenged, which behaviors become riskier, and how to set up a proper management of feedback requests.
This also applies to foreign operators managing properties in Italy or promoting Italian tourism services on international platforms. In this guide, we simply explain what the new Italian regulation on online reviews provides, why it should not be confused with a European directive, what are the most relevant points for hotels and restaurants, and what actions are advisable to activate immediately to protect reputation, work better with Google, TripAdvisor, and Booking, and reduce the risk of disputes or non-compliant practices.
Summary
What really changes with the new rules on online reviews
In summary:
- Reviews must be published within 30 days
- They must be verifiable with proof of purchase or service documentation
- Any incentive in exchange for reviews is prohibited
- Reviews older than 24 months can be contested
What the Italian regulation on online reviews says
The new Italian regulation establishes that an online review is considered lawful only if it meets certain precise requirements. The goal is to reduce the impact of fake, delayed, or unverifiable reviews and to make the relationship between platforms, customers, and businesses more transparent.
1. The review must be published within 30 days
The customer has a maximum of 30 days from the use of the service to publish the review. A review posted a long time after the stay, meal, or experience becomes more easily contestable.
What this means for hotels and restaurants: if you receive a negative review long after the service date, you have a concrete element to report it and dispute its credibility.
2. The review must be verifiable
The online review must be traceable to proof of the service received: receipt, invoice, booking, ticket, or other document consistent with the purchase or stay.
What this means: a review without proof is not automatically false, but it is weaker in terms of verifiability and therefore more easily contestable.
3. No incentives in exchange for the review
Offering discounts, gifts, vouchers, upgrades, or other advantages in exchange for online reviews is prohibited. This principle also applies when a positive review is not explicitly requested, but simply a review “in exchange” for something.
What this means: any incentive, even informal, can become problematic. It is advisable to immediately remove messages, internal scripts, or automatisms that link economic benefits to review requests.
Attention: incentives were already against platform policies
For many businesses, this is an important clarification: the prohibition of incentivizing reviews did not come out of nowhere. In particular, Google Maps already prohibits incentivized reviews and considers them a form of fake engagement. This means that offering discounts, gifts, or prizes in exchange for a review was already a risky practice even before the new Italian regulation came into effect.
In other words, Italian law reinforces a principle that was already present in the policies of some platforms: today, however, for those operating in Italy, the issue becomes even more relevant on an operational and reputational level.
Online reviews after 24 months: what happens
The Italian regulation also introduces a very important principle: online reviews older than 24 months become contestable because they no longer reliably represent the current situation of a structure or service.
- Old reviews can become subject to reporting
- Reputation increasingly relies on the present
- Those who have improved the structure, service, or management can recover more easily
For hotels and restaurants, this point is particularly interesting: many very old negative reviews continue to influence the business’s image even when the current experience has deeply changed.
Sanctions for fake reviews and unfair practices
The Italian regulation provides for sanctions up to €50,000 for various unfair behaviors related to online reviews, including the publication of fake reviews and the purchase or incentivization of reviews.
- those who publish fake reviews
- those who purchase online reviews
- those who improperly incentivize reviews
Platforms will also have to comply with the new Italian framework, although the operational and application steps will be crucial to understand the real timing and methods of enforcement.
What hotels and restaurants must do immediately
For those managing a business in Italy, the most useful immediate actions are very concrete:
- Remove incentives linked to reviews
- Send review requests within 48 hours from the service or check-out
- Keep customer data, bookings, and fiscal documents
- Monitor suspicious or inconsistent reviews
- Train staff on what can and cannot be requested
Those who today work well on collecting authentic reviews will also be stronger tomorrow, because they will be able to rely on a more recent, more verifiable, and more defendable reputational profile.
What changes for foreign operators with activities in Italy
This issue does not concern only Italian businesses. It also concerns international hotel groups, foreign investors, food chains, property managers, and foreign tour operators who manage activities, structures, or services on Italian territory.
The key point is simple: the regulation is Italian, but the impact is international. A foreign operator working in the Italian market or receiving reviews related to a property located in Italy must know these rules, even if they use global platforms like Google, Booking, or TripAdvisor.
FAQ: the most searched questions by operators
Can I ask customers for reviews?
Yes. Asking for a review is allowed, as long as there are no incentives, advantages, or rewards linked to the request.
Can I have false reviews removed?
Yes, especially if the review is unverifiable, does not match your records, or appears published outside the prescribed time limits.
Can negative reviews be deleted?
No, if they are authentic. A genuine negative review cannot be removed simply because it damages the business’s image.
Does this apply to Google and TripAdvisor as well?
Yes, the Italian regulation concerns reviews related to businesses operating in Italy, even when published on international platforms.
Does this also apply to Booking, TheFork, or Airbnb?
The principle generally concerns platforms hosting reviews related to properties and services in the Italian territory, although the specific methods of compliance will depend on the individual platforms.
Italian regulation and European context
The Italian regulation fits within a European context where the issue of review transparency was already relevant, but introduces rules specific to Italian legislation. The 30-day window, the 24-month expiration, and the proof of service criterion are elements that go beyond the general European framework and apply to businesses subject to Italian jurisdiction.
For this reason, in the international versions of the article, it is crucial to clarify that this is not a rule valid throughout the European Union, but a national Italian regulation with concrete effects for those operating in the Italian market.
Why this regulation really changes the sector
For hotels, restaurants, and tourism operators, online reviews have always been decisive but difficult to control. Today something changes: there are finally clearer tools to defend against fake reviews, contest unverifiable ones, and work on a reputation more aligned with the real experience.
But the difference will be made by those who act immediately. Internal organization, proper collection of feedback, data archiving, and active review management will be the true competitive advantage in the next months, especially for those operating in an international market but needing to comply with Italian rules.
Pubblicato in Digital Travel, Hospitality
Be the first to comment