Tonight I had a chat via MSN with a source within the travel industry regarding a rumour that TUI UK Limited has acquired Holidays Uncovered – a site where holidaymakers write reviews on package holidays and hotels.

After further investigation, I’ve found that the records at companies house for Holidays Uncovered has changed [not sure when] to the registered address of TUI UK Limited. If the rumours are true what effect does this have on impartial holiday reviews?

Will we see more holiday review sites being bought out by the large travel operators? From a marketing perspective these sites are great platforms to promote a travel brand, and user generated content is like gold dust to travel companies like Thomson.

Would you trust reviews on a travel operator owned review site?

Update: Whilst there isn’t official confirmation from TUI UK I have completed further investigation and it appears that the TUI acquisition of Holidays Uncovered could in fact be true. Due to data protection Act, I’ve chose not to publish this evidence publicly. Watch this space.

• Holidays Uncovered Holiday Reviews Offline
• Update on Sale of Holidays Uncovered to TUI Travel
• TUI re-launch Holidays Uncovered
• My thoughts on the future of online travel

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