I've always used Trip Advisor to determine where I will stay, and have never been disappointed by some of their top ranked hotels in the cities I've stayed in (Park Hyatt in Chicago, Drury Plaza or Westin in St. Louis, Sofitel in Philadelphia, Fairmont Turnberry Isle in Ft. Lauderdale/Miami). . .but I've also had good experiences at a lot of their negatively reviewed hotels as well.

I like the reviews to provide insight I couldn't get from the hotel's website, things I could only get by talking to someone who's stayed there - like "make sure to make reservations for dinner because even though it's all inclusive, you will be SOL because they book up quickly" at an all-inclusive resort, or that the gym is particularly good/bad, or what to expect from different aspects of service there.

If you follow reviews over time, you can learn some interesting things. I occassionally re-visit a number reviews for select small places (ranging from low-star to luxury), whose management is obviously very actively involved with "managing" Tripadvisor. It's an eye-opener. Management can respond to negative reviews, and they can have them purged. And it happens quite frequently.

My advice for the OP: In most cases, reading all reviews will give you a pretty good idea of what's going on. And then, there is one powerful secret weapon, one thing few cheaters can't resist: look for the "X out of Y readers found this review helpful" rating -- there must be an awesome temptation to give a low rating to a review that doesn't present your property in the right light -- if this rating is off, that's a great indication that some cheating may be going on. If an objective, balanced review receives "5 out of 16 readers found this review helpful," while a glowing "everything was perfect" review received "12 out of 16 readers found this review helpful," you pretty much know that something fishy is going on.

The function that allows you to look at the reviewers other posts is invaluable for the reasons already given. My best example of padding the posts is lodging in Cambria, CA. Every B&B and motel has bunch of reviews that read like a Conde Nast article.

Very interesting. I was unaware of this.

Maybe I've just been lucky, but I've consulted Tripadvisor for hotel info many, many times and not run into the kinds of "sanitized" reviews that apparently others have. There have always been a mixture of positive and negative (and mixed) comments.

It's good to know about this, in any case. @:-)

Hmm... I wonder if this is why it no longer says "unbiased" in big bold letters on the top of the TripAdvisor website:
Consider this back in 2003: http://web.archive.org/web/200310070...ipadvisor.com/
vs. the website today.

The main header in the 2003 website (still around till 2004) said: "Unbiased reviews of hotels, resorts and vacations"

Today's header says "5,000,000+ traveler reviews & opinions of hotels, vacations & more."

There's still one mention of "unbias" on today's website, just not part of the main header, and not as prominent or certain of the unbias nature of the site as it was in 2004.

I think a huge factor in tripadvisor is the "unknown" variable of what kind of traveller is writing the review. I have for years been mourning the demise of the Camino Real hotel in PVR that we use to go to every year. It was sold to a chain of all-inclusives ( Dreams) .... it use to get unbias reviews that were very accurate and reflected not only the hotel but the type of traveller that patronized it.
( older quiet sophisticated) Now the reviews for Dreams are for the most part all 5 stars glowing but they are being written by a different type of traveller....20 something honeymooners who all drink the unlimited booze and smoke and like medicocre buffet food....I have heard first hand how horrible the place is now...but it continues to get great reviews on trip advisor.....

I think the opposite also happens, that some FT members who are extremely "brand-loyal" fail to see the deficiencies in a hotel because they don't want find fault with the brand itself.

That said, I think we as Americans are kind of spoiled too. If I've gotten used to a certain standard of hotel, and I stay somewhere of lower quality, I probably don't realize that it may still be nicer than many hotels outside the US.

However, one of my most common complaints about hotels is customer service, and this is something that could/should be improved upon if it is in fact deficient.

As far as TripAdvisor is concerned, I think you do have to take reviews with a grain of salt. But if you see the same complaint more than once (with many details) in all likelihood it is probably true. If I saw a large number of detailed positive (and semipositive) reviews, I would be surprised if the hotel didn't live up to expectations. But if there were only a handful of positive reviews, expectations wouldn't be so certain.

PS - Any ideas as to why this change was instituted? Anything to do with the supposed false reviews/bias or some other reason?

Mine have never been pulled either. Believe it or not, my reviews usually have both the positives and negatives. Fair and balanced. Just like FoxNews! :D

Its all relative
 

It has been touched on in some comments on this posting, but not addressed head on: Trip Advisor reviews (like JD Power Customer Satisfaction surveys) are entirely at the mercy of the reviewers' expectations.

With JD Power a Yugo (or its current equivalent) could get a reasonably high satisfaction rating because its owners expected that it would not be a reliable car, and it only broke down on the highway twice this year.

Likewise Trip Advisor. If you read "this was wonderful hotel, with food much better than we are used to at home," you're at a loss to determine what the standard is. Do these people eat well at home and even better at the hotel? Do they know what a good paté or mousse or caviar is? Or are they chicken nuggets and fries folks who are impressed with an all-you-can-eat buffet?

I think DAvid4455 and others are right, that you can only judge the value of Trip Advisor reviews by the level of detail offered. That will tell you something about the reviewer's standards.

For me one of the most useful things about TA is the tidbits of advice that you can gleam from the reviews, like:

Avoid rooms facing the street because they can be noisy;
Skip the expense breakfast and hop over to one of the coffee shops opposite the hotel that open at 6 am;
There is a small supermarket on the same block that you can use to pick up fresh fruit and vegetables and take-out food.

I basically ignore all the comments about decor or people from the US complaining about how small the rooms are (in European hotels).

John

I just went to submit a review for a property I recently visited and saw this:

Since when has this been shown? Granted, I haven't submitted a review in awhile, but I do not remember this little blurb the last time I did one.

It would be interesting to know what criteria they use in determining whether a review is "fake" or real?

For example, if I only used positive descriptors in my review, would it be considered fake? (I usually have both positives and negatives, but sometimes I don't have any complaints to voice)

They could try to do it by tracking users/IP information, but this seems like it wouldn't really work (because people could switch user names/IP addresses).

I have used TA extensively and have not had any problems. I have written a stack of very negative reviews and they have never been taken off. The only review of mine they didn't like was of the Karachi Sheraton when I mentioned that it was previously bombed. They sent me an email saying it is a family site and reviews that mention death will not be posted. Fair enough.

In the long run, if a hotel is actively managing its reviews, people will stay there, and they will write slamming reviews of the place, which will counter the older positive ones.

Also, I think the ability to see what other reviews have bene written is a very effective way to catch out hotels who post their own reviews.

Overall, I must say, that between FT and TA, I have not really gone wrong.

I have posted a few reviews at Tripadvisor.com and also rely upon the reviews there when making hotel choices.I also have sent many friends and family to their site.

I occsionally will write a review about a place and wonder where the other reviewers were staying as it did not match my experiences at all!
I can be easy going most of the time-however if I am staying at a property that is supposed to provide a certain level of comfort and service and find it lacking then watch out-a slam review(but truthful)will be forthcoming.

The one thing that amazes me are the huge number of "Hyacenth Bucket-prononced BooKay"type of reviewers,both female and male,who stay in a 1-2 star and expect a Four Seasons experience.

I also discount a lot of Brit' and ozzie reviewers since they seem to be happy to just have a pillow and a towel ;)

It seems wise to view a cross section of reviews from a number of websites when picking a hotel, especially if it is on an important ocassion or vacation. That said, I've posted on trip advisor many, many times and have found most of my European hotels on there and have found it extreme accurate and most extremely hilarious. Reading the really bad reviews is just so completely entertaining and it gives you that big sense of relief that it wasn't you that had to go through it.

I will say one thing though, sometimes TA is a little slow on the uptake. When a new hotel opens up it takes them a while to get the word and list it.

One of the best features on the entire site is the candid photos submitted by the poster, because we know that the hotels postings of their own hotels pictures can seldom be trusted entirely. That feature alone is so critical in helping you set your expectations appropriately.