its not that one cannot find specific information or photos on tripadvisor, its that 99% of tripadvisor is completely worthless. (while i am exaggerating slightly, it REALLY is not that much of exagerration.) so any research takes a lot of time, unless one is only looking at brand new hotels or the most expensive hotels. (thousands of dollars per night.)

fodors is apparently a good/common source particularly for africa for example.