To spot a fake airport parking review, look at four things: the timing (a burst of 5-star reviews within a few days), the content (vague sentences with no concrete detail), the spread of ratings (only extremes) and the reviewer's history. A genuine review talks about what actually happened: the wait for the shuttle, the key handover, the time of the return.
Why it matters: you are not choosing a restaurant. You are leaving your car, and often your keys, for a week. And the problem is real. In January 2022, consumer authorities from 26 EU countries, plus Iceland and Norway, checked 223 major websites. For 144 of them, they could not confirm that the reviews came from real customers.
In short
The most reliable signal: a concrete, checkable detail, such as a waiting time or a return time.
The law: since 28 May 2022, buying, selling or posting fake reviews has been banned across the European Union.
In France: a fake review is a misleading commercial practice, punishable by up to two years in prison and a 300,000 euro fine.
On Comparkly: only customers who completed a stay booked with us can leave a review, and we test the car parks ourselves through test bookings.
What the law says about fake reviews
In Europe: the Omnibus Directive
Directive (EU) 2019/2161, known as the Omnibus Directive, has applied since 28 May 2022. According to the European Commission, it explicitly bans selling, buying or submitting fake consumer reviews to promote products. It also requires websites to tell consumers clearly how reviews are handled.
In France: the Consumer Code
France transposed these rules through an ordinance of 22 December 2021. The French Consumer Code now forbids a business to pose falsely as a consumer, to claim that reviews come from customers without taking steps to check, to publish or commission fake reviews, and to edit reviews to promote its products.
A website that shows reviews must say whether they are verified, and if so, how. Penalties can reach two years in prison and a 300,000 euro fine.
Enforcement happens
In 2021, the French consumer authority (DGCCRF) imposed its first settlement fine for this offence: 30,000 euros on a restaurant business that had published fake reviews to inflate its reputation. In its investigations, the authority also found other practices: deleting negative reviews, publishing positive reviews quickly and delaying negative ones.
The French consumer authority (DGCCRF) also collects consumer reports, including on fake reviews, through its SignalConso platform.
The 6 signs of a fake review
A burst of 5-star ratings
Ten perfect reviews posted in the same week, after months of silence, should make you pause. Real customers leave reviews stay after stay, at a pace that follows the holidays. Sort by date and look for odd spikes.
Vague, interchangeable texts
"Great service, highly recommend." "Perfect, nothing to add." Those lines could describe any car park, or a hairdresser. A real customer mentions at least one specific thing: the welcome, the shuttle, the state of the car on return.
No travel dates, no context
A useful review says when the person travelled and for how long. Without context, you cannot tell whether the experience was last week or three years ago, before a change of management.
Only extremes
A page with nothing but 5-star and 1-star ratings, and nothing in between, rarely reflects real stays. Three and four-star reviews are often the most honest, and the most informative.
A reviewer with no history
Click on the profile. An account created the same day with a single review, or the opposite, dozens of 5-star reviews in different cities in the same week: be careful.
Repeated wording
The same phrases, the same mistakes, the same length from one review to the next. When several customers write in exactly the same way, it is often one person.
How to read reviews so they actually help you
A review is only useful if it answers your questions. Before you book, look for these three topics.
Shuttle timing
Do customers say how long they waited on the way out and on the way back? A shuttle car park is only convenient if the shuttle actually comes. Our guide to shuttle airport parking explains how much time to allow.
Key handover
Where does the car go, who keeps the keys, how does the return work? For airport valet parking, these are the reviews worth reading first.
Late returns
What happens when a flight lands three hours late, at midnight? Reviews that describe a difficult return, and how the car park handled it, tell you more than a page of compliments.
Read the owner's replies too. A precise, calm answer to criticism is a good sign. Aggressive or copy-pasted replies, less so.
Reviews on Comparkly: who can leave one
On Comparkly, a review can only come from a customer who completed a stay booked with us. Nobody can rate a car park where they did not leave their car.
Reviews are only part of the answer. We only list car parks we trust. Every partner signs our partner contract and we check its documents: company registration, insurance, the right to operate the site. We talk with the owner or manager of each car park. Our team also visits the car parks in person, meets the valet companies we work with, and checks where the cars are actually parked. A visited car park shows the Verified by Comparkly badge with the date of the visit. Visits happen city by city: a car park without the badge has not been visited yet.
Our own test bookings
We do not rely on customer reviews alone. We make test bookings ourselves, like any customer, to check the service end to end: the key handover, whether times are kept, the shuttle, the return, and how support responds. A review tells you what one customer experienced. A test booking tells us whether the car park does what it promises.
A question about a review or a car park? Read our FAQ or call our support team: a real person answers Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 17:00, on +32 2 320 96 38 (Belgium) or +33 7 43 39 46 35 (France).
FAQ
How can I tell if a car park review is fake?
Look at the posting date, the level of detail and the reviewer's history. A run of perfect, vague reviews posted within a few days should worry you. A review that mentions a shuttle wait or a key handover is more credible.
Are fake reviews illegal?
Yes. Since 28 May 2022, the Omnibus Directive bans buying, selling or posting fake reviews across the European Union. In France, it is a misleading commercial practice punishable by two years in prison and a 300,000 euro fine.
Are reviews enough to choose a car park?
No. A review describes one stay, at one point in time. On Comparkly, we add our own checks: each partner's documents, talks with the owner, on-site visits and test bookings. The Verified by Comparkly badge, with the date of the visit, tells you a car park has been visited.
Should I trust the average rating?
Not on its own. A near-perfect score built on a handful of recent reviews is worth less than a slightly lower score built on hundreds of reviews spread over time. Read the three and four-star reviews: they are often the most useful.
Who can leave a review on Comparkly?
Only a customer who completed a stay booked on Comparkly. The review comes after the stay, not before.
Now you know what to look for. Compare car parks at your airport on Comparkly: read reviews from customers who really left their car there, and look for the Verified by Comparkly badge on the car parks we have visited.
