TripAdvisor allegedly deleted dozens of reviews warning about rape and assault at resorts

More than a dozen travelers from across the country have said that travel website TripAdvisor removed their reviews detailing blackouts, sexual assaults, and alleged rapes at Mexican resorts, a new report published by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel detailed Wednesday.

Kristie Love, 35, says she was raped seven years ago by a uniformed guard at the Iberostar Paraiso Maya in Playa del Carmen and that when she alerted hotel staff, they were unwilling to call the authorities. When Love returned to Playa del Carmen to file police reports, the hotel refused to cooperate with the investigation, so she decided to take matters into her own hands.

"I chased it any direction I possibly could," she said. "At that point, the only thing left I could do was to go TripAdvisor."

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Soon after her post was published, TripAdvisor deleted the review and called it a violation of the company's "family friendly" guidelines. In a statement to the Journal Sentinel, a TripAdvisor spokeswoman said, "It's important that anyone who suspects foul play or illegal activity contact the local authorities rather than use a review platform as their primary way to share their experience."

On Oct. 19 — seven years to the day after Love says she was raped — TripAdvisor re-published her original review from 2010 detailing her assault. Read more from travelers who say their posts were deleted at the Journal Sentinel.