I checked some reviews by them a while back for hotels in Hawthorn, NV. I actually ended up staying in the one with the worst reviews because I’d heard of their douchebaggery. A sweet little old Indian couple owned it and it was $40/night. It was for sure “70’s” era design and décor, but everything worked and it was clean.
I might even consider its being a ‘70s time warp a bonus. More interesting than a cookie cutter chain motel.
There is a restaurant in the SF Bay Area that has figured a way around Yelp’s game. They openly ask their customers to categorize their Yelp reviews as negative, but then post a positive review (if the customer is so inclined) under the low star (or whatever Yelp uses) rating. Apparently Yelp’s algorithms can’t get around this, at least not yet.