FlyerTalk Expert Hotel Reviews -- comments, suggestions, and support
 

It seems like there is a new FT forum called Expert Hotel Review forum, right after Luxury hotels.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/exper...l-reviews-734/

I don't see the need for nor do I have the desire to post a review in two threads. If I'm reviewing a Marriott brand property (for example), I'll post my review either in an existing thread in the Marriott forum or create a new property-specific thread w/ the review in the Marriott forum (and not in the new review thread). This seems to be me to be IB's attempt to be a TripAdvisor.

Cheers.

+1.

I also didn't like that they emailed me and seemed to ask whether they could copy reviews from my own website...

FlyerTalk Expert Hotel Reviews -- comments, suggestions, and support
 

Please use this thread for comments, suggestions, and support in using the new FlyerTalk Expert Hotel Reviews post type.

--The FT Team

Should 'Expert Reviews' be, in some way, qualified?
Calling some of them 'expert' at the moment is a little embarrassing, many contain at most one or two sentences actually about the hotel. In at least one case, the 'reviewer' had not even stayed at the hotel.

It works reasonably well, but seems quite unfinished and is painfully slow to just browse through. Some possible issues follow.

• The opening page and map can be slow to load (~10 seconds).
• Resetting the search term is equally slow
• Going through two pages to get to the review(s) is cumbersome, particularly if there is only one review. The list of reviews page also has a lot of blank space.
• Going back to the search page resets the filters and 'sort by' options
• 'Most reviewed' is the default sorting option, but is possibly the least reason for a traveller to sort by.
• The 'sort by' dropdown is not easily cancelled once activated (clicking on most other areas of the page does not remove it).
• You cannot move the mouse to the hotel link in map view; once you open the popup, moving the mouse closes it again (chrome).
• When you zoom in to the map, it would be helpful to filter the list below. Due to the point above, I cannot find hotels by location without typing the name.
• Should the 'x comments' at the bottom of the hotel review page be a link to the comments? It's not so obvious that you have to go to the thread to see the 'comments'. (Presumably 'comments' means 'replies in the thread'; I'm not entirely sure that the different terminology really helps).

Thank you for the feedback, big_mac, I have passed it along the the developers.

I was in the Hyatt forum, and the instructions say the link will be next to the "new thread" button in each of the hotel forums, but it's not there. It only appears in the Expert Reviews forum

How do we know who is posting the review? It appears an IB admin is moving them into the hotel review threads on the Hyatt forum.

The New Review Thread button is definitely in all the hotel forums, including Hyatt Gold Passport:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hyatt-gold-passport-418/

If you're not seeing it, you may have a browser plugin that is preventing it from appearing there?

Reviews, like all threads and posts, are identified by their poster's username. If an existing review is moved, it retains the username of the person who made the review.

Paul

Sorry, but I don't see the button. I can see the new thread button, and I would imagine it uses the same info as the other button.

I have no plug ins, however, my work computer is restricted and I am not able to view most images. I will check at home.

Is the Review button some sort of an image?

As for the name of the poster, I assume Sarfa33, an administrator, moved the post into the 2 reviews posted on the Hyatt forum. It is possible it's a real review though :)

ETA: I just looked on the Hilton forum and went back to the Expert Hotels Review forum. I can see the button on the Expert Hotels forum but not in Hilton or Hyatt. So it can't be a plug in, I think :)

And you are logged in at all times? (the New Hotel Review button only appears for logged-in FlyerTalkers)

The button is indeed an image. It is different from the regular New Thread button. You may want to just try turning off any plugins that affect what you see on your screen and see if it appears.

If it does not, let's get your system info (device type, browser type and version, etc.) and see what's causing it. I have a feeling it is a plugin, which can affect the images differently depending on what page you are on, or you are actually not logged in when viewing the hotel forums.

Oh -- and Sarfa is both an admin AND a review writer -- he stayed at those hotels and reviewed them ;)

Now we are getting "Reply with Review" on every single thread? How exactly to I reply with a review to "28 Sep : Targeted, by email : Exclusive Bonus Offer - Up to 12k Bonus Points "?

Hi all! Here with some answers and clarifications.

Think of the New Hotel Review button as creating a brand new type of FT post. That's what it is. In all respects, it is created and treated just like a regular post, except it has built-in fields specific to reviews, makes adding photos a lot easier, and creates automatic directory entries so it is easy to find.

The Expert Hotel Review forum (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/exper...l-reviews-734/) is just a place for reviews that are made inside the map page (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hotelreview/map) to sit. If a review is made elsewhere -- for instance, the Marriott forum, it will rest there. The only reason we have the Expert Hotel Reviews *forum* is because reviews can be created from the map page, which is not a forum. And all posts, including the new review post type, need a forum home.

You *can* reply with review there. It's unlikely you would though. There is a lot of FT functionality that is not used everywhere, but is still available, and this is just another piece.

If it sounded like that, we apologize. All inquiries about existing reviews pertain to those published on FlyerTalk only.

See above. We failed to explain what the Expert Hotel Reviews Forum was for. It's solely a place to put reviews that are *not* created in a forum. If a review is made from inside a forum, like your Marriott example, it stays there (unless a moderator decides it belongs elsewhere -- just like any other post). No need to copy, repost, etc.

Cheers, all!

Paul

Yes, I'm logged in all the time.

At work, I have no plug ins, however, most images are blocked. However, I can see the image in the Expert Reviews forum, just not in the hotel forum.

I just checked at home, and I can't see the image in the Hyatt forum either. I'm using Firefox 41.01 and use ad blocker. But it's the same situation as at the office - I can see the image in the Expert Review forum but not in the hotel forums.

Since it's happening on 2 different browsers and behaves identically on both, I'm thinking it's something besides a plug in :)

Got it re:Sarfa :) It just looked odd, and like it was moved.

I think it's your ad blocker at home and your image blocker at work. People think adblockers are benign, but they really don't know the difference between content and ads a lot of the time, they just guess.

OK... as soon as I can, I'll turn off ad blocker.

But how does that explain that I can see the link in the Expert Reviews forum and not in any other forum?