Sarah

I used it last night looking up suggestions for hotels in San Francisco. Seemed like so many of the reports were glowing. Made me think that perhaps the feedback was not legit. Any ideas? Perhaps my listings came up in order of popularity?

Dan

Listings do indeed come up in order of "popularity" although I'm unsure how tripadvisor.com figures that out. The top listings will always have LOTS of four and five star marks, while the hotels on pages 3 and 4 will be a lot more mixed. Some of the reviews are too generous, some way too harsh, but overall I find it a very useful site.

Dan

I should add that I've left reviews for a couple dozen hotels over the last 2-3 years. Most have been good but I have also left a couple of one-star reviews for places that deserved it.

easytraveler

It's a pretty comprehensive site. There are urls leading to review articles online. Fodors is just one of many such "professional" sources that's quoted. Professional as opposed to just one consumer writing about a hotel.

Diana

I also use it quite a bit and have posted a few times.

In my opinion, it seems pretty legit, and I have seen some REALLY negative reviews on there re properties in the Caribbean - where I usually travel.

I have found them to be pretty much on the money if you read through them and weed out the lows and highs and kinda go with the average.

Judy24

I think it's a great site. You get the feel of what actual travelers think. Like everything else, you do have to be careful to read between the lines. I've seen low ratings where someone slammed a particular hotel, but when you read the report, it turned out the place was great, but they made a billing error on their credit card. I also look to see where the person is from.

I'm not sure what is meant by order of "popularity." Once you select a particular hotel, the reviews are listed in chronological order, with the newest review listed first.

Sarah

Thanks everyone, I guess I will trust it. Judy where I go there is an option of placing items in alphabetical order or popularity. If you don't select anything it is defaulted to popularity, was when I checked it anyway.

Thanks Again everyone!

dwoodliff

I have found TripAdvisor to be quite useful when planning a trip. I always assumed the popularity rankings were determined by adding the total number of "stars" from traveler reviews, and dividing by the # of reviews. I tried this formula and didn't quite get the same rankings that TripAdvisor did, so perhaps reviews that are older and not shown on the site are included in determining the rankings too.

Anyway, case in point ... 2 yrs. ago, we were planning a trip to Cancun, and my TA recommended a package with the Oasis resort. I consulted the TripAdvisor reviews, and found that half were less than favorable, so we chose a package with Gran Caribe Real (for the same price), which had glowing reviews. Later, I compared "notes" with a friend who had stayed at the Oasis, and she said it was the worst resort she had stayed at in 4 trips to Cancun.

Also -- in planning a trip for this summer, I had almost decided on a hotel in Seattle, which had great reviews. One reviewer commented that, although the place was very nice, it was overrun with kids. Since my kids are older teens, we were able to decide that this was not the place for us.

Be advised -- you can use the TripAdvisor QuickChek feature to compare information and availability from Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz and Hotels.com ... but call the hotel yourself before making any reservations. I did this recently and found additional room choices (and lower rates!) than on any of the travel sites.

Regarding your listings coming up in order of popularity, perhaps you have already narrowed your search down to some of the "best" hotels.

atticus

I have used it and posted there. last two times was for trips to NOLA. I did a rating thing after each trip. The first one got a horrible review from me and the second got a glowing. (Didn't find the site until I had already booked the first hotel <non-refundable>) I looked back the reviews for the first hotel and wish I had seen them before I booked.

Anyway, I think you are more likely to get steered away from a good hotel than led into a bad one, by using the Trip Advisor site.

Sarah

I was clicking on the hotel link and it took me to popularity. I was told that you could also check off the attraction you want and then a list of nearby hotels would appear. Anyone know where this one is.

Dan your TA are you a teacher? Just curious, I am not.

Anyone think I should consider Sausilito over San Francisco for my long weekend out west? I am from NYC.

joesorce

I think you can usually tell when a "glowing" review is a fake...and if hotel management is too lazy to keep a clean, dependable hotel, they're probably also too lazy to get online and post "fake" reviews at Trip Advisor.

knute

I'm confused, Joesource. If hotel management would be too lazy to do it, how would one know it's a fake? Who else would have a motive to write glowing reports about bad places?

Sarah

I was just surprised to not see the Westin St.Francis or the Fairmont as popular hotels. I am coming from NYC but most people I know here who have visited have stayed at the fairmont so surprising to not see it listed.

jv827

Actually, they're listed #36 and #43, respectively, based on the TripAdvisor reviews.

CarolA

I don't find it a very useful site. In addition, a few times I have had reason to believe that someone with a bad experience was just posting the SAME thing every few weeks with a few details changed. (Basically spamming!) So I try to weed out the people who paid for a Days Inn and then complained they did not get the Ritz.

Sarah

jv827 they are not listed under the popularity poll section of the web page. I thought that was odd considering the Fairmont seems to be where east coast friends and family of mine have stayed. I kind of equate it with the plaza in Manhattan. People usually want to stay there

just curious

jv827

Hi Sarah. Still not sure what you mean (I haven't slept - maybe I'm being slow right now!) Do you still not find them at all? Because I swear they're on the list Maybe just that you're surprised they're not higher up on the popularity poll?

I'm with those who find the site a good resource, but more in conjunction with other ones. Hope you've found a hotel for your trip!

alouise1

The remarks are sometimes motivated out of malice. I had a guest try to break out of a signed contract, after the "grace period", and when he couldn't, left a negative response on Trip Advisor.

Even though, his direct remarks to me were of high praises.

dwoodliff

I agree that comments on TripAdvisor could be motivated out of malice. I am planning to stay at a hotel (based on location and comments from Fodorites) that received one very bad review on TripAdvisor. What clued me in that something was fishy about this review was that the person didn't say they had stayed at the hotel, but that they LIVED 30 minutes away. Probably a disgruntled former employee ...

obxgirl

I read Trip Adviser's hotel reviews and use them as one data point among many (including this site) to choose accommodations. I think the feedback is mostly legit tho the chance for phony reviews is always a possibility on a public & anonymous forum. (what's that expression...no one knows if you're a dog on the internet...)

I wouldn't make or change my plans based on one unknown person's opinion but if I saw a boatload of very negative or very positive reviews, I'd definitely seek other data points.