if you think believe on these fluff then its depend on you believe or not on that stuff but yes all these are not correct trip adviser is the not only reliable but also a useful site and don't go on the review some time reviewer are the just bogus people

I just got an e-mail from Wyndham on one of their Windgate properties... That lead to a survey which until I got to the end thought it was a legit corporate concern... Nope it was a Tripadvisor thing and I wasn't going to post with my identity.

Same stay I got a survey from Priceline with whom I booked the stay and the survey could be completed anon.

Yep it was a mainly negative review

Agree. I combine Yelp, TripAdvisor and other sources to get a baseline average of reviews. Also learning to stop worrying about "the best ever" and just look around for happy people, interesting looking places. Less digital info and more sensory info!

Just did a small mountain trip over the weekend:

I've pre-checked a few restaurants on Tripadvisor, and as most were relatively small properties, they had anything from 3-20 reviews or so only. Which happened (for all the 4 places we visited) to be spot on. And those properties on the trip that we passed by because of bad reviews were indeed not looking too promising (when having a quick glimpse at their menu cards & the look from their location)

Trip Advisor definitely isn't death for some pre-check of any conditions, as long as you use it as a tool and not your sole help.

I've noticed a new phenomenon recently - some particular reviews, good or bad, get pounded with helpful votes. Since it is out of proportion to my normal stats over the years (helpful votes = approx. 1/3 of all my reviews) it makes me think that the same owner or malcontent is repeatedly hitting the button on certain reviews.

Saw a "fun" sign in the elevator of a hotel I stayed at a couple weeks ago in Austria. A good review on TripAdvisor can earn you a free drink at the bar. :eek:

http://blog.wandr.me/wp-content/uplo...1011-01249.jpg


I declined to provide a review online, though I would stay there again if in the neighborhood (highly unlikely to ever happen).

n.b. The link above is to my blog or to one which I am a regular contributor. FT rules require that I disclose that in the post.

I have quite a lot of helpful votes for my reviews. However I don't really pay that much attention to it.

I believe there are quite a number of frequent travelers who knows the pain of travelling, and any small thing that can make the trip better is always appreciated.

A simple thing like a review of a hotel in Aberdeen, and mentioning the fact that they have a Bloody Mary counter at the breakfast buffet got me quite a bit of helpful votes.

Wow, that's pretty audacious. I've seen some notes in hotels inviting guests to leave feedback at Tripadvisor, that sort of thing, but never outright bribery!

But if this is the way things are going now, then I have written loads of hotel reviews over the years so I'm a pretty credible TA voice. Any hotel managers want to negotiate something, hit me on the PMs ;)

There are so many silly once a year vacation travelers or tourists posting as "The voice of experience" on Trip Advisor that I take most everything posted there with a grain of salt.

I'm always pleased to get a few helpful votes, it shows that people have read what I've written. I'll only write reviews for places that are unusual, or places that I've liked that don't already appear on TA. I won't waste my time on standard places that already have a lot of reviews unless there really is something new or different that I can add.

I mean, the airport Novotel at Bangkok is quite nice, not cheap, and very close to the airport - every second review on TA for that property pretty much says that, why would I waste time writing it again or waste anyone else's time expecting them to read it?

Probably not what was being described above, but I wrote a review of a hotel in Italy which was a tad scathing and the proprietress responded (with some derision of her own) using my actual name and that of my travelling companion as well. You can see how this might have a chilling effect upon anyone considering posting another such review. It took several weeks to get TA to remove the personal references.

Lot's of good points in this thread. But it all comes down to the fact that rake reviews cannot be prevented. Even businesses that have a lot of reputable, real reviews are getting fake ones to reach a higher ranking and so on. Such is the nature of amateur reviews, nothing one can do about it.

Almost all of us recognize this fact, and accept it as a known constant.

That is true, but as mentioned many times in this thread there are many things that TA could do to minimize the impact if they wanted

I assume that this would be in violation of Italian internet privacy laws and should be reported. Maybe too late now.