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Originally Posted by moondog
(Post 25306384)
While none of these hotels suck by any means, aren't you a bit surprised to see that the likes of the Peninsula, the JA Shangri-La, and the RC Pudong are missing from the list? Do #4 and #8 not seem like outliers? How do you explain #10's meteoric rise from #38 just 3 years ago (in light of the fact that service standards have remained constant)?
Everywhere I've stayed that was highly rated on TA has worked out extremely well. Every highly rated restaurant has served me very tasty food. And that, ultimately, is why I use TA, and why it works for me. |
Take it all with a grain of sand
Originally Posted by 1k650
(Post 16469962)
I read the negative reviews - although this can be gamed as well (by competitors). Better ask about a property in FT forums!
I LOVED this place and wrote glowingly about it on TA (see, not ALL positive reviews are fake!!) I included a rebuttal of the negative reviews in my TA post because 1) not only were a couple of them complaining about things the B&B could do nothing about (weather, the smell of the ocean and rainforest nearby, geckos...), 2) They were complaining about things that were clearly explained on the home website and in a letter that renters receive weeks prior to arriving. 3) I believe at least two negative reviews were faked and possibly the work of one person in the area who doesn't like that there's a B&B in their little beach community. It's a legally permitted B&B and has been there for decades with prominent signs so no one should be surprised. In fact, those two negative reviews back to back were one-time posters with different names who even had the same photo for their ID! 4) and this is the best: One of those negative reviews posted that they were IN the suite occupied by us at the same time! Funny, I would have noticed the crowd...
Originally Posted by TheStinger
(Post 18682106)
The problem with TA (and other review sites for that matter) is that some people have an unrealistic expectation of a place and review according to how their expectation wasn't met. Ridiculous statements like "It was too far away from all the main tourist attractions" make things hard to accept ratings. No hotel is going to be right next to everything, that is absurd.
They complain about the hotel because it is a 15 minute train ride to the Eiffel Tower or something ridiculous like that. What do they want, everything in a one block radius of their hotel? How do you see a city that way? Some people are just too self involved to provide a coherent and relevant review of anything. I give up. And TA duly prints THAT complaint, but wrote to me and had me tone down my rebuttal to the complainers. I have no stake in this woman's business, but I know how hard it is for a small business in Hawaii to survive and the owner does a really great job. So I stood up for her AND I reported the two obvious scams. If that gets me kicked off TA, so be it. I'm a Level 5 contributor and I don't always give positive reviews. So hopefully they'll see that.
Originally Posted by CarolynUK
(Post 18689944)
I must admit that I find a lot of the negative reviews on TA are unjust. As someone said above - it looks like some people just have too high an expectation of the properties - to the extent that I really wonder how they live at home.
As an example, I stayed at a hotel in Naama Bay Sharm el Sheikh. I booked it as a bargain buy without reading any reviews - and when i did - I was quite worried about what i let myself in for. Re-reading the negaives - I found that the main issue for most was the rather dubious and undersized main restaurant, and the fact that the main block tended to be very noisy at night. When we got there - we found that the main block rooms were indeed noisy - but a quiet word with reception had us moved up to the quieter "upper resort" close to a better pool which got the sun all day - and with the hotel being slap bang in the centre of Naama Bay - eating out was no problem when the hotel food was meh! There was nothing wrong with the hotel accommodation or its faciliteis or its staff, the food was boring and samey, and that was the only real problem - and easily solved by walking across the road to one of the numerous restaurants close by, but they were being slammed by negative review after negative review most of which were totally unjustified!
Originally Posted by txbimmerfan
(Post 18954977)
This is a fascinating thread. I will offer an example that may be germane to the topic of "valid" reviews on hotels. I worked for Starwood for a few years here in central Texas and I distinctly remember customers who called the reservations agent (myself and many others) complaining about the most piddling things such as the room service breakfast that had only two slices of bacon and not 4-5, the provided bath robe was too short, the view from their room did not face the ocean (though they admitted to me that the ocean view room was more than the room they booked and that they could not afford the view)....jeez, I could go on and on.
The point?? MANY of these people threatened me (and my fellow agents...believe me when I say we all used to laugh about many of the calls we dealt with) with statements like "I am going to trash your hotel on TripAdvisor or any other travel site I can find", etc etc etc....thus, those types of reviews based on petty dislikes are useless..period. I will use TripAdvisor for images of a property and nothing else. I would rather base a stay on the opinions and experiences of the many seasoned travelers here on FT and another forum I visit frequently. My $.02!! Cheers, And like my above story, the people are complaining because they can't have the view, accommodations and food that a rental right ON that beach provided - at a range of $3,000 to $12,000 per night. They want the goodies but want the cheaper rate...
Originally Posted by mike_la_jolla
(Post 20447833)
I assert all positive reviews are fakes on TripAdvisor.
I think a smart practice is to go read all the other reviews by the same person if we have questions, whether it's yelp, TA or any other site. Red Flag : If every review sounds the same, If every review is negative, If every review is effusive and sounds too good to be true. Then just come here to FT and ask. We take no prisoners at FT. :) |
Originally Posted by deniah
(Post 25289698)
in general, tripadvisor has been roughly useful (like 0.8 r value). cant deny power of numbers and consensus.
but for most of italy ive found it overly positive. not sure if theres systemic rigging or just overwhelmingly filled with newbie travelers on their once-a-lifetime trip to Lo Stivale where every osso bucco and bistecca and cafe is the most charming and the best theyve ever had in their life..... would be nice to see ratings weighted by a combination of seniority , quantity , and helpful votes |
Originally Posted by PWMTrav
(Post 25308839)
TripAdvisor for Italy is poor, in my experience. The problem is that even if the reviews are real, and I do believe most of them are, tourists are hardly the people you want telling you what's good and what isn't. In Italy, vacation magic is strong, particularly with restaurants since the country is known for its food. You can get away with a lot and tourists will still call it good.
So I just filter out reviews like "we got a lot of food", "it was a great value", etc. I look for reviews that focus on issues that would be of interest for me and of course completely ignore the usual obviously fraudulent ones. So in general TA works for me. But I also double check some of the reviews with discussions in the TA forums or other discussion boards (like here). |
Originally Posted by cheltzel
(Post 25310099)
My issue with a lot of reviews in very "touristy" areas is many are written by people with little experience with the local scene (cuisine, local standards, etc) and are based on parameters that may be completely unrelated to what many of use would look for.
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Originally Posted by BuildingMyBento
(Post 25310333)
I never once thought that TripAdvisor was created for people who gave a damn about fleeing tourist traps.
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Originally Posted by cheltzel
(Post 25312208)
Sometimes you have to co-locate with tourists. They can go to the places they want and you can do something else.
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Originally Posted by BuildingMyBento
(Post 25312634)
Then there are plenty of non-TA options out there to help facilitate this, no?
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Originally Posted by fassy
(Post 25295527)
I use TA as I use the reviews on booking.com and Expedia. Sort so the worst ratings show first. If I read things there repeatably which I would find very negative as well (dirty, run down, noise, smoking in rooms/on floors, not delivered what was promised, dangerous area...) I will avoid the hotel even if it has 100s of "What a great place reviews". I actually do not look at the positive reviews, only the negative ones.
Reviews are really skewed, I have checked in and observed adults having tantrums due to no upgrades or early check in and then I walk up and due to status get all the benefits. I will not review this hotel, the person trowing a fit will probably write a "never again, worst hotel" review. |
Originally Posted by ORD-TGU
(Post 25320989)
Reviews are really skewed, I have checked in and observed adults having tantrums due to no upgrades or early check in and then I walk up and due to status get all the benefits. I will not review this hotel, the person trowing a fit will probably write a "never again, worst hotel" review.
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Originally Posted by VivoPerLei
(Post 25304966)
Recently I saw a one-star review from a first time hit and run poster go up for one of my neighborhood restaurants claiming the set menu took three hours to arrive, the dessert was horrible, they got food poisoning, etc. I reported it as suspect to TripAdvisor mentioning that the restaurant doesn't have a set menu, nor do they offer dessert. It's simply a hole in the wall where you walk up to the counter and order. crickets and the review stands
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This was news to me but I am not really surprised by it: European hotel reviews on Tripadvisor have been targeted by xenophobes who want to undermine the business of property owners who have become known for hosting refugees as guests. Another way in which TA reviews are made less reliable.
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Originally Posted by GUWonder
(Post 25418082)
This was news to me but I am not really surprised by it: European hotel reviews on Tripadvisor have been targeted by xenophobes who want to undermine the business of property owners who have become known for hosting refugees as guests. Another way in which TA reviews are made less reliable.
Personally, if I'm going on holidays I also like to know what kind of groups to expect (or better, to avoid..). Be it noisy Britons, pool-bench reserving Germans, snobbish Russians (nice stereotypes, aren't they?), or any other group that some might find unpleasant. Unless the review is factually wrong of course (ie, lies about something), then it shall be removed/amended. I do think the advantage of TA is that it's real-users reviews. If I want all kind of glamorous descriptions, the hotel website does it's job.. if I want real reviews, that's where TA, Yelp etc. etc. comes into play. I can always go through the reviews myself and "weight" them individually.. |
Originally Posted by YuropFlyer
(Post 25418127)
Example?
Personally, if I'm going on holidays I also like to know what kind of groups to expect (or better, to avoid..). Be it noisy Britons, pool-bench reserving Germans, snobbish Russians (nice stereotypes, aren't they?), or any other group that some might find unpleasant. Unless the review is factually wrong of course (ie, lies about something), then it shall be removed/amended. I do think the advantage of TA is that it's real-users reviews. If I want all kind of glamorous descriptions, the hotel website does it's job.. if I want real reviews, that's where TA, Yelp etc. etc. comes into play. I can always go through the reviews myself and "weight" them individually.. Fake reviews /reviews by non-guests make it onto TA. I've been in hotels with refugees amongst the guests, and it's been no different for me than it would be if there were non-refugees there. And yet the reviews got targeted by xenophobes who haven't even been validated as guests at the properties. At first, I couldn't believe it. Then it started to make sense what was going on. For me, reviews on TA are useful but need to be judged and even taken with a grain of salt since there are fake reviews that get made in support or opposition to some properties. |
I checked the reviews of the BW Park Hall Hotel & Leisure Club - edit: one review mentions any "refugees" (or anything similar - checked the two most recent review pages)
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...d.html#REVIEWS Others, either they got removed for being a fake review - then TA works exactly as it should - or you are making something up here.. ? There are certainly plenty of fake reviews on TA - but I have the feeling you're crying over something non substantial/non existing here edit: I found the review you probably mean: http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...ECK_RATES_CONT If you take into consideration the answer of the hotel: "We did have some guests staying with us from Serco on a short term basis. These guests are no longer staying with us and we will not be accepting any of these booking in the future. " It becomes quite clear that the hotel itself wasn't very happy about the situation. I very much doubt that review being fake - it simply describes the situation as it was. Do you want to forbid people to review places as they feel like? I most certainly hope not. |
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