I use TA a lot. I realize that 1/2 the reviews could be fake. I've gotten in the habit recently to post reviews that I think might be useful. I tend to travel alone and sometimes certain places only have reviews from couples or family. But I only use it hotels and tour guides. I don't use it much for resturants.

Thanks for the tip on VFM Leonardo...

Turns out this is a Hotel marketer getting paid to help hotels http://vfmleonardo.com/

Tripadvisor should IMO simply ban any posts by them.

I think TripAdvisor is very helpful.I am not totally agree with your points.

Definitely egregious and not even faked well.

The unfortunate thing is that most people just believe what they read on the internet is true. Most people are not like FT'ers. Most people DON'T use common sense.

Exactly - TA earns millions of dollars from people submitting reviews for free.

TA is most useful (for me) with their forums. But I rarely use their reviews unless I have already decided on a property or if I want to know certain facts (not subjective review info). How far to the nearest bus stop for example might be something I look for. But I disregard reviews by people with just a handful of reviews as well as reviews that are glowingly positive or negative. A LOT of reviews are fakes, plain and simple. But TA won't delete them because they can tout how many million reviews they have and can earn more advertising $$ based on hits.

Ever since Trip Advisor started bombarding me with praise emails (how many readers had read my reviews, egging me on to collect a new meaningless “badge”, etc)… I said enough… and stopped posting.

While I’m at it… the little messages Expedia puts up like “3 people booked in the last 10 minutes!”, “Only 2 rooms left!”, “8 people are looking at this hotel RIGHT NOW!!!” are on the verge of making me stop using that site.

I can't think of a single hotel I've ever looked up on TA that didn't have photos from VFM Leonardo, although maybe now that I think about it, some tiny B&B-type places had no photos. Maybe it's Tripadvisor that's hiring VFM Leonardo? Having photos (even those ones) certainly makes reviews more useful.

I review small, independently owned places
 

I use Trip Advisor to research attractions, hotels, you name it. I find it quite useful for exploring new locations to discover some new adventures.

I like TA for hotels in cities I'm not very familiar with, but I use the Olympic judge method of evaluation the reviews - toss out the highest and lowest ones, and average everything else. That seems to give reasonable results.

I do the same. I also see how many reviews have been posted by the individual. If it's a negative leaning review and that's the ONLY review the person has posted, I'm more skeptical.

What I find most helpful are the detailed postings, like the rooms overlooking the pool are nice but noisy. Or - they have a shuttle but you have to ask at the front desk.

Several of the reviews are from homeless people (which makes sense, these sorts of places handle long-term stays).

Nothing says "honest review" more than "I bet if I say something bad I'll be living on the street".

Probably less devious than that...

More like VFM Leonardo planting seeds that Google's web bot finds to feed the search engine. I'm betting they just search online find a pic shot by somebody else whenever and post it. The more they post the more traffic they get from Google.

I just Googled "hotel marketer" and VFM was at number three.

I think it can be great for trying to get specifics on certain hotels, especially all-inclusives, such as how big the pools are, if the food is any good, if the upgrades are worth it etc.

I also like it for ideas of things to do in cities I've never been to. I think their ratings are often times off, but it at least brings up ideas of things to do. For example, we had a family trip to the mountains of North Carolina and TripAdvisor had a zip line place mentioned high in its rankings. After more research, I found a better company that offered more for kids, but it at least got me thinking about ziplines.

My caution on the forums is that TA tends to only want a pretty picture to come through, with reports about crime in particular removed almost immediately. I happened to be following some discussion about two events in Anguilla when, presto, all talk was removed from the forums. Similarly, there were three arrests in T&C in May, including an 80 year old doctor who spent the weekend in jail. They were apparently set up by having a bullet put in their suitcases. Charges were eventually dropped as was ALL discussion about these incidents on TA.

I understand that TA depends on advertising, but to edit the forum posts so obviously takes away much needed, complete information from travelers.

I have seen some very unsubtle false posts on TA for some hotels in China too. I guess you need to be aware.

So I've recently started writing for TripAdvisor and I was looking at a review I wrote today for a bakery in Cary, NC called La Farm. I noticed it was the #5 (of 304) restaurant in Cary and I decided to look at what else was in the Top 10. Well, number six is a Chic-Fil-A with 10 reviews. That right there sums up a lot of the problems with TA.

Also, when I was looking at hotel reviews for a HGI I stayed at there seemed to be a suspicious amount of 1 time highly positive, 5 star reviews.

There forums are a joke...
 

...along with the advice given by destination experts.

I'm truly, honestly astounded by some of the advice given to unsuspecting tourists. I like to frequent the forums for my town, which is a major cruise ship excursion port.

I've also been frequenting the Hawaii forums. Apparently the Cheesecake Factory in Waikiki is a must do according to many posters.

It seems that in the mind of many posters on there, if something is over $20 it's overpriced and expensive.

Then I go over to the South Africa forums and I really laugh out loud at some of the suggestions and advice.

Reliable or not, it is amazing how tripadvisor now runs the show. All hotels I have been to in the past months have stickers on the front door, certificates, awards, signs "rate us on tripadvisor", etc.

Tripadvisor has power and now dominates the show. Even the once a year casual traveler is aware.

The Kettles were in Waikiki:eek:;)

Personally if I can't find info here on FT (which is where I look first), I will look at TripAdvisor. I read the negative reviews first to see if there are negatives that are truly worthwhile to note (i.e. "front desk was rude is NOT worthwhile" to note, nor is "hotel forgot my wake up call")

I agree that TA seems to have really taken over certain markets. We were in Dubrovnik this summer and it seemed like every shop and restaurant had some sort of "Trip Advisor recommended" sticker and were hoping you would write a review for them after eating there. TA's marketing must have really decided to target the town heavily.

I check other booking sites where available when using TA. Used them and found some really great places, but it is starting to feel a bit false.

C'mon, TA reviews are as honest as international figure skating judging. :D

FWIW I read TA reviews with a critical and jaundiced eye and have been happy with the choices I've made far more often than not. In fact only twice in 8 years have I really been truly disappointed with the hotel I booked after checking TA which considering that's probably 100+ hotels isn't a bad average.

Not saying it's perfect or completely without biases just one tool in the travel toolbox I use.

I've noticed a lot of TA (and to some extent Yelp) reviews are driven by price. So you need to filter out the obviously fraudulent reviews and then filter out the ones that go nuts about how great a value the place is or how large the servings are.

I use TA but the ranking system is an utter farce. Apparently they consulted my six year old for help with the math and left it at that.

Actually, to me, a rude front desk or forgotten wake up calls can be the sign of an inattentive management, so I would take heed. Everyone has his/her own travel hot buttons and the sheer volume of reviews on TA can be helpful at seeing the types of problems that might be encountered. If a particular review intrigues me, I might look up the poster's reviews of other properties to see if there are any relevant points of reference. And I pretty much never read the reviews of people posting for the first time.

You and me both about never reading the reviews of one-post-wonders as I call them. But the problem is, most people going to TA don't even think about that. They read it online, they believe it. End of story.

I use TA mostly for the forums. But the hotel and attraction rankings are pretty much irrelevant to me. I know they are way too skewed. I prefer to do my own research as to what there is to do in a city, etc. I don't go to TA for deciding which hotel to stay at. I rarely give hotel reviews anymore to TA. I just don't believe in their system.

As others have said, the rankings are so inaccurate compared to what they should be for many activities, restaurants, hotels, etc.

Remember TA is a for-profit business. Their goal is to make money. The more reviews (accurate or not), the more they can advertise how many reviews they have, the more hits they get from travelers and the more they can charge advertisers.

I for one take reviews on TA with a pinch of salt

I know for a fact that certain businesses on TA are somehow able to get bad reviews deleted
I am in discussion with TA on this subject but they state they cant reveal why posts are removed even though I have furnished them with information of the posts and the posters involved [with their permission ]
IMHO it is time for a thorough investigation into the running of TA

For discussion, here is a restaurant that served one of my most disappointing meals of the year, yet every recent review seems like it was written by one of those blurbsters who used to get paid to write fake movie review quotes, "Greatest adventure ever!", "Gravity is the bomb!", etc, etc

I don't know if they are fake or not, but the pattern of reviews and the language used seem highly suspicious to me. Wondering what others think

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restauran...n_England.html

lance, I can't seem that much that would appear to be fake on those reviews - sure, overly "excited" reviews might sound like fake, but it looks more like a relatively fancy restaurant that seems to be enjoyed by some group of clientel.

The reports read quite similar to a place I've visited last week:

http://www.tripadvisor.de/Restaurant...al_Poland.html

And boy, I did enjoy the food there. For restaurant reviews (more than for hotel reviews) it's entirely possible to have a really huge chunk of "great food, great place" reviews...

So far, TA has never failed me on Restaurants completely (ie, advertising good food meant good food, advertising value-for-money meant exactly that, etc.)

TA, just like any other sides, should be read with scrutiny.

I'm not saying all TA reviews are false, but some "phantom" like reviews are quite easy to spot.

Expand your net of research is always the best option

Thanks, it could very well just be me. I tend to be suspicious of reviews that are high on superlatives and sparse on details.

By the way, the reviews for your restaurant above seem more authentic to me.

Keep in mind that the more "touristic" the place might be, the more reviews from foreigners (who are using TA to actually get to the place) will show up, and some of them will be writting in English rather than their native mother languages, which means less details, and more superlatives.

Good point. With respect to London, I usually find in general that the locals are more critical in their reviews.

Regarding CUT at Park Lane, one of the reviews "Absolutely mind blowing", the reviewer has 15 other restaurant reviews for London and the satisfaction level ranges from poor to mind blowing, so I would think it pretty genuine.

Has Trip Advisor every been reliable compared to FT?

TA, Yelp and other "review" sites I don't trust as people only give one point of view, on one part of the hotel stay. The trigger for the review is generally a bad experience. Most because they are not educated on the hotel or the hotels associated loyalty program.

When someone writes/describes an Four Points, Hyatt Place or Courtyard as expensive or luxurious, I can't take them serious.

Such people exist in abundance!

Daring to criticize Trip Advisor
 

Hello, all. When I first came down to Nanning to work on my current project several months ago, I relied heavily on TA as a source for intelligence about "where to eat". I knew from the get go that TA is incredibly easy to game, which often distorts the rankings, but I figured imperfect listings are better than no listings at all.

But, as I got more and more used to eating in Nanning, I discovered that their listings barely scratched the surface. For example, I would dare say that 20 of the 30 restaurants in the MixC across the street from me, including the deli in the basement grocery store, are better than every place I've tried on their list (the entire top 20 and then some). Yet, the only one they mention is an overpriced "international" buffet that seems to be a big hit with the locals.

So, I tried to be a good citizen and write reviews on TA that I thought might be useful to future expats who are dispatched to this outpost. On several occasions, I spent an hour plus trying to find restaurants that no longer existed. More recently, I was able to track down an Indian restaurant that does exist, but changed locations about a year ago. As such, it has received a number of one star reviews from people who were unable to find it.

In my review, I photographed the new location, provided a GPS link, the new address, and their correct phone number. Low and behold, they didn't even publish it.

Foursquare is just as bad, mind you, but at least they don't censor my reviews.

What you describe is not censorship. TA has to verify new restaurants they add to their listings. I got one added but it took about a month for it to be added, and this was a place in Silicon Valley where I'd bet some of the TA staff had dined.

RE: Dubious reviews... Yes, there are some. Unless there are 20+ reviews, it is hard to know whether to take them seriously.

Trip Advisor and Skytrax Airline / Airport Quality reviews have both fallen victim to the selective editing disease, limiting their utility.

The question is when the marketplace will punish them for it by using an alternative.