Root

Reviews policy

Last updated: 3 November 2026

Root doesn't show reviews yet. This policy sets out how they will work when they launch, so producers and visitors know the rules in advance. It follows the EU Unfair Commercial Practices Directive as changed by the Omnibus Directive, and the UK Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, which bans fake reviews and concealed incentivised reviews.

Today, people can send trip reports ("open", "closed", "sold out") and corrections. These help keep listings accurate and follow the same rules on honesty and moderation as reviews.

Who can leave a review

  • Anyone who has visited or bought from the place. You don't need an account to read reviews.
  • Owners, staff and their family can't review their own business or a competitor.
  • No one can be paid, given a discount or offered anything else for a review unless the review says so clearly. We remove reviews that hide an incentive.

How we check reviews come from real visitors

We will say on each review how it was checked. The checks we plan to use are:

  • the review was posted from a signed-in account, with spam protection, and we limit how many reviews one person or device can post;
  • where we can, a link to a real visit, such as a trip report from near the place on the same day, which we mark as "Visit checked";
  • checks for patterns that suggest fake reviews, such as many reviews from one network or bursts of reviews for one place, with a person looking at anything flagged.

Reviews we could not check are labelled that way. We will not claim reviews are from verified customers unless we have taken reasonable steps to check it.

We don't hide negative reviews

  • We publish negative reviews on the same terms as positive ones. Businesses cannot pay to remove, hide or reorder reviews, and Root Pro or a Sponsored placement does not change this.
  • Reviews show newest first by default, and the rating shown for a place is the average of all published reviews, not a selection.
  • A business can reply to a review once, publicly, and can report a review that breaks this policy. We decide on those reports by this policy, not by whether the review is good or bad for the business.

When we remove a review

We only remove or edit a review when it:

  • is fake, or written by someone with a conflict of interest;
  • hides that it was paid for or incentivised;
  • is not about a real visit or purchase;
  • is illegal, for example defamatory, discriminatory or threatening;
  • includes someone's personal data, such as a phone number or a staff member's full name;
  • is spam or advertising.

When we remove a review, we tell its author why and how to appeal, as described on Digital Services Act information. Anyone can report a review using the report form.