This does not necessarily apply to Asia. You might stay in a 4* hotel in Phuket and they will charge you on bogus claims that you 'broke' a tissue box and 'tea spoons are missing from the room'.

As far as choosing where to stay if you are not familiar with it, the standard rule applies - get feedback from people who stayed and what they liked/did not. Applies to feedback here in the forum or on google maps, tripadvisor, booking, etc.

For the travel sites - filter out 1* and 5* feedback as well as all feedback with a single review. Focus on 2-3-4* reviews from the people who have left multiple reviews (>10) and read them. As well search for keywords in the reviews like 'noise', 'construction', 'dust', etc - whatever matters to you. Also, you can disregard all pre-covid reviews - the situation in the service/hospitality industry in the SEA region pre and post-covid are two different realities.