Kew Gardens has denied claims that it pressured travel site TripAdvisor into deleting hundreds of negative reviews about its Wakehurst Place property.

A report by the Mail on Sunday alleged an employee of Royal Botanic Gardens Kew's digital department, directly contacted TripAdvisor to request the negative reviews be deleted.

But a statement by RBG Kew yesterday said the Mail on Sunday’s claims it “took concerted action, or had direct communication” with TripAdvisor to remove the reviews was “inaccurate”.

“There has not been direct communication between RBG Kew and TripAdvisor requesting the removal of reviews," it said.

"The flagging system is an automated service in which RBG Kew’s digital team do not have verbal or written interactions with TripAdvisor,” it said.

According to the statement, reviews that made "no reference to an individual’s experience of Wakehurst" were flagged by Kew on TripAdvisor’s “automated flagging system” over the course of a year, as opposed to a one-off effort to delete the comments en-masse.

“TripAdvisor is an independent organisation and it is only TripAdvisor that can remove reviews that they deem do not adhere to their guidelines,” said Kew.

According to the Mail on Sunday, over 240 negative reviews were deleted over a three day period, increasing the property’s TripAdvisor rating from 3.5 stars to 4.5 out of five.

Many of the reviews complained about a £10 parking charge for  National Trust members that was introduced in April 2014, while other reviewers complained about the quality and cost of the food and attitude of staff at the property.

A spokeswoman for the charity said: “Our approach to TripAdvisor is to engage with visitors, explaining our policies and answering questions, as is visible from the Wakehurst TripAdvisor page.

“Over the past year a handful of Trip Advisor reviews have been flagged by RBG Kew’s digital team... Only TripAdvisor has the authority and independence to remove reviews that they deem are in breach of their own guidelines.”