Even if there is a large amount of fake reviews on Trip Advisor, if a hotel has enough reviews, then it's likely that the majority are genuine.

Any hotel I've booked after reading reviews on Trip Advisor has matched the overall concensus of the reviews perfectly.

It's one of my favourite resources and if only more people knew about it (I'm really surprised by the amount of people that don't know about/don't use it), more hotels might be forced to actually get their act together and improve their hotel/service.

I agree with Lousie, usually the reviews are still very helpful. Always take them as "information" rather than the truth, I've been never let down by them so far. Especially if a property has only like, 10 reviews, of which 2 are bad, 2 are great and 6 are average-ok, I'll check quickly how reliable the reviewers have been. If those saying it's ok have several (or idealy over a dozen) reviews, and those with bad reviews only 1-2, or mostly bad reviews in the same region, I know they're probably not legit but from some other hotels. If it's the other way 'round, I might think twice about booking the hotel.

Pictures are indeed a good help, but I would never ever trust even the "home made" pictures too much.

I like the real negative content.. gives me the worst case scenario..

If I can understand why (as all hotels have bad reviews) bad reviews happen, and come to terms.. that better prepares me to select the destination..

Raw information and experiences is a good read.. Hotel ratings.. at least gives some idea which quadrant they may be in..

I also have used Tripadvisor to research trips. I've had mixed results with it. Went to a restaurant in Cancun that had nothing other than five stars, needless to say it was less than spectacular. I guess I should have been a little more diligent in my research. I've also had tours, hotels, etc...request that I give them a five star review once they've heard that I located them on Tripadvisor. I would suspect that creates a lot of false positive reviews for them. Still, I use the site and really pay attention to the negative reviews. Although some are extremely picky, it does help to set travel expectations.

Maybe if a bunch of us complain, they will either go back to the old system, or at least provide a way to display larger images.

I use Trip Advisor all the time. You really have to take the time to read the comments thoroughly to get a good idea about the hotel/restaurant/whatever. We were researching a hotel in London that got some one-star reviews simply because the hotel didn't have slippers or a kettle in the room to make tea. Those were not deal breakers for us, so we booked the hotel and had a very pleasant stay.

LOL.. maybe the pictures will get even smaller.:D

+1.. reading the details of posted comments helps us immensely with evaluation of the potential places to stay.. while generalized star ratings, really sometimes have no correlation to the quality of stay experienced..

Tripadvisor in China
 

I travel a lot in China, usually staying in domestically-owned mid-priced hotels, not in top-tier international chain hotels. I generally have a look at Tripadvisor before choosing a hotel in larger cities here. But the reviews have to be evaluated as to their source.

Often one sees negative comments like "The beds were hard." Well, that's to be expected in China. Or one sees positive comments like "Wow, they furnished toothbrushes." Well, that's also to be expected in China.

The reviews posted by Chinese tourists (written in Chinese) are often more reliable and to the point than those of foreign newbies who don't know what the "norms" are here.

Q49iy5, I completely agree with you. The few times I had to stay in Chinese hotels (Chinese meaning they were absolutely not used to foreigners, nothing wrong with a *3 Chinese hotel) I was surprised to find them on Tripadvisor with some 20 reviews or so.. all in Chinese, but that's not the issue, and it was fine what they said about it. I guess I'll stay the only English review about that hotel for a while :D But TripAdvisor really seems to be working just as well in any part of the world, meaning that there isn't a lack of comments from some languages, which is probably it's biggest advantage if you know how to use this (reviews from different kind of places of the world will also review different aspects better than the British tourists who will give 5* if the tea cooking device was good or the German if the breakfast sausage was good ;) Enough stereotypes for now :D )

I've used Tripadvisor quite a bit and have found some real gems via the site. But, I always take any review with a grain of salt. I generally check out where the review is from since people from other countries often have very different expectations from ours in the US. I agree with the poster who reads the worst reviews as that will give me a worst case scenario. Reading the moderately bad reviews also give a good idea of the expectation of the writer. I find that often a reviewer will give a hotel a bad review when the review starts "Our vacation start off with a 10 hour delay at the airport". Most often the entire vacation is given a bad review. Most bad reviews concern bad customer service. We US citizens think that CS all over the world is like ours. They want feet kissing and grovelling because they have decided to spend their hard earned vacation and money in some other than 1st world nation.

Everything on the internet should be taken with a grain of salt. Unless it of course comes from a fellow FT'er.:)

I agree..

Reading the reviews.. some things need to be taken with a grain of salt..

But I find the raw reviews, the negatives and the positives.. plus a whole lot of useful information.. makes me prepared what to expect when we arrive at our destination, and in the accomodation selection process..

I've learned on rating sights like this to eliminate most of the 1 Star and 5 Star reviews as they're usually not accurate. Most 1 Stars have some bizarre axe to grind and 5 Stars (especially on moderate properties) are highly suspect. By reading all the ones in between I feel I get a better idea of what I'm going to receive.

I like reading the 1 star and 5 star reviews.. because it gives me a sense of the extremes..

and whether or not I can handle the extremes..

For example.. if checked into a unrenovated room.. be aware that other parts of the hotel is renovated.. so ask for a renovated room..

Maybe some of the 5 stars are paying an extremely low rate through the hotel.. gives me a sense what to target so that I can enjoy my stay.

Tripadvisor is now being investigated by the British Advertising Standards Authority following complaints of fake reviews

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011...gation-reviews

^Interesting. I wonder if they could do something like Yelp and suppress the reviews they think are not legitimate.