The hugely popular internet travel advice specialist TripAdvisor is under legal threat.

A group, which represents more than one hundred hoteliers and includes user reviews of thousands more, is preparing itself for a transatlantic assault.

The UK-based hotel reputation management company Kwikchex has said that around 120 hotels, predominantly from the US and UK have agreed to join the class action which centres on how certain information is contained in some of the reviews of the properties it represents.

Chris Emmins, Co-founder of KwiChex, , said the number of hotels willing to participate is increasing daily after it announced legal action against TripAdvisor, owned by Expedia, if certain demands are not recognised. These demands relate to how reviews appear on the website, specifically those that are less favourable, despite TripAdvisor’s policy of allowing a property the right of reply. Many hoteliers are aggrieved that untrue and damaging allegations from reviewers are impacting unfairly on business, stating that such claims are legally unsubstantiated.

Emmins says the KwikChex represented hotels are being seriously defamed by negative comments which range from food poisoning to allegations of theft and even assault by members of staff. KwixChex has prepared a dossier containing such details to send to TripAdvisor, demanding that the website remove all slanderous comments of face legal action, with a potential class action being prepared on both sides of the Atlantic. The group claims that is no suitable response is forthcoming it will launch legal action in the US in the first instance. A TripAdvisor spokesperson said that the company would not make any statement on the impending action.