Well, yes, yes there is something that you can do. You can post in a thread like this in which someone (me) originally found the site purely by accident, posted today as a result of Don's oh-so-nice prompt, stumbled across the Yelp thread and read it only because I was searching for hotels on Yelp today and kept finding a LOT of conflicting information, and decided to read the thread as a result. You've all exposed me, Ms. Average Consumer, not only to an entirely different side of Yelp of which I was previously unaware, but also given me insights from business owners, managers, etc. who care enough about the issue to post in a public forum regarding their concerns. Will I give those businesses a second look when I'm in town? You bet. Will I start taking Yelp's comments with a lot more than a grain of salt? Absolutely. Not sure I'll even read the site any more, seeing what I've seen now. I'd noticed the annoying habit of bumping a "good" review to the top, regardless of the fact that it was months old, but never really understood why. Now I get it.
Incidentally, my concerns today were regarding seemingly bogus reviews that were evidently meant to slam the place but hadn't been removed. You know the type - "I've never stayed here, but as I was sitting in their lobby blatantly using their free wi-fi when I had no intention of visiting the hotel or their restaurant, the doorman kept opening the door and letting cold air in! I'll never stay here!" kind of thing that is so blatantly ridiculous, you can't help but laugh. Or the ones who really rave about a place, but give it two stars. What the heck??
So yes, you certainly can do something, and you did. And I'll tell my friends, and my friends will tell THEIR friends. I, for one, appreciate all those who have taken the time to share in this extremely informative thread.
(And now that I've posted twice - IN ONE DAY, people! - I'll slip back into the dark recesses of lurkdom from whence I came.)