stackm

This is good to know. Would have valued reading a review of these negative experiences.

Agree that Raffles's St. Regis review was highly valuable/entertaining and that type of review certainly encourages me to be a repeat visitor to your blog.

And thanks to techgirl for your honesty. It's unfortunate you were accused of being "ill informed" in the comments but that's the price you pay for displaying some integrity.

I am certain point bloggers stay in bad 4 and 5 star hotels. My complaint is, are the hotels called out if they are poorly managed and/or ripping off customers?

Or do the bloggers just remain silent, describing the positive features while continuing to cash their checks?

cruisr

[QUOTE

I am certain point bloggers stay in bad 4 and 5 star hotels. My complaint is, are the hotels called out if they are poorly managed and/or ripping off customers?

Or do the bloggers just remain silent, describing the positive features while continuing to cash their checks?[/QUOTE]


I think the above two sentences say it all. Don't bite the hand that feeds you is their motto.

ingy

I think the above two sentences say it all. Don't bite the hand that feeds you is their motto.[/QUOTE]

Personally, I think you are overreaching when you think hotel programs "feeds" bloggers. They may get a comp or two (I never did) but I never felt any pressure to only highlight the positive from any chain. Most hotels I stay at are not corporately owned or controlled.

I think your suggestion may hold more water with the airlines than hotel programs. Just personal opinion of course

stackm

I enjoyed reading your blog years ago. You did seem to be rather honest. Just curious, did a hotel ever reach out to you and try to censor a review/content?

farbster

It would be hard to encourage people to sign up for a hotel credit card if they just said they had a terrible hotel stay. Why would I want to get a particular hotel's card after reading about bugs, bad service, terrible food, dirty linens, etc...?

Astrophsx

Credit card sign ups (mostly) feed bloggers. Writing about an aspirational trip to the Maldives and strategically placing credit card referral links COULD alter the writing style of many bloggers.

Philatravelgirl

I've done a few negative reviews and I stay at all kinds of hotels - chains, boutiques and luxury no points hotels. As I do hotel site visits for work I try to note issues my business traveler would notice not the little details I see. If I recommend a hotel to my CEO it needs to be easy to stay w/good service. for my friends, they have different needs.
I've talked to many a front desk manager about issues I've had on site as guest (more than an hour with Sheraton park lane in London) and even with a chat in Seattle at The Monaco the manager left negative comment on my post (as he has on all tripadvisor negative reviews which given we all had similar experiences over different time periods you'd think he'd fix them rather than argue with customers).
I try to be fair as I think most are - I have no affiliations, credit card links and don't get freebies.

msp3

You would imagine that staying somewhere for free instead of actually paying for anything would color your perceptions a bit, to say the least...

Raffles

Not true, in my experience. If nothing else, points have alternative uses so blowing them on a hotel that stinks is still a waste. It also isnt as if most of the readers of these sites can't afford a hotel.

If I am in a bad hotel, I am more angry about the fact that I am wasting one of my few remaining nights on this planet in such a dump (midlife crisis showing here :-) ) than whether I paid cash or points.

It is slightly more of an issue for airline reviews - someone who saved for a year to get together the money for a long haul business class flight ticket would, I agree, take a tougher line than someone who travels for business or who redeems miles, and those are the people who write the reviews.

farbster

But don't they pay for some of their travel to maintain their level of awesomeness with the hotel chain? Now some may get their stay paid for by an employer...And might some of them write off a paid stay as a business expense?

sbm12

Doesn't mean they don't pay for it. A tax write-off for someone filing in the USA just means you deduct that amount of the expense from your gross income so it reduces your total tax liability. It doesn't mean that the US Government pays for your expense in whole.

farbster

Of course, but it does help when your Uncle is paying part...

satori

My Square Foot London Edition is a piece I wrote last week.

I generally use TripAdvisor and FlyerTalk to figure out where I want to stay. Between the two resources and hotel reviews on BoardingArea, finding good hotels is not a difficult challenge.

As a hotel blogger, I meet many hotel chain senior managers. I am sometimes asked by hotel managers I meet at conferences to let them know when I am coming to stay. That is an insider benefit of being associated with the industry. I rarely take advantage of the offer. Last year I did in Berlin at the Radisson Blu Berlin and I had one of the most beautiful views ever looking out the window from my bed to the Berliner Dom cathedral bathed in blue light. I paid the normal rate for the room, but the upgrade was not typical.

My experience with sponsored trips where hotels and activities are complimentary is the line is too easily crossed between being a marketing agent rather than an independent reviewer. I prefer independence and have moved away from most sponsored trips. Yet, I consider sponsored trips if it looks really appealing.

There is no way a reader will not be aware when I am getting a freebie when I am writing about it. I tend to overly disclose upfront rather than letting you read a piece and then learn at the end that it was a freebie trip.

The Deal Mommy

LOL. Go read my review series on Beaches Turks and Caicos! Bottom line: Great property, WAY overpriced, and I said so, in explicit detail. I was one of 100 "Mommy bloggers" invited there at a drastically reduced rate and was one of 3 that mentioned pricing at all in their review. Will I be invited back? Probably not, but between my reputation (which has taken 3 years to build) and a fun weekend, I'll take the rep.

Just this weekend I pretty much savaged the Herald Square Hyatt in New York City.

I tend to only write reviews if there's a compelling reason to stay or NOT to stay at a property.


I think the above two sentences say it all. Don't bite the hand that feeds you is their motto.[/QUOTE]