Probably not a new feature at TA but updated?

http://www.tripadvisor.com/DirtyHotels-g4

So they're all in Turkey, UK or Netherlands.

Indicative of the hotel markets in their or just by coincidence that the "worst" as rated by TA members happen to be in those particular countries/cities?

Or TA member reviews are unreliable?

I guess you get what you pay for - all the hotels listed in Amsterdam seem extremely cheap for what is an expensive city.

I didn't look at the London ones but it's probably true of those also.

I don't bother with TA reviews normally and am always suspicious of them as they seem to be either too good to be true or nothing is right.

If a hotel is a lot cheaper than others in a city there is probably a reason for it. There are plenty of really skaggy hotels in the US, which an unsuspecting tourist could I suppose book online also, just as these people seem to have done.

Bargains are seldom what they seem when it comes to hotels.

Define "dirty" OK, Scrb11? While you're at it, define "rude" and "unfriendly" and "expensive" and "cheap" etc., and then perhaps we can have a meaningful conversation.

I find TA to be an extremely valuable resource. That specific article was pretty useless but their hotel reviews are very useful. I don't pay much attention to the "ratings" - not sure how they get those anyhow. But once I narrow down my hotel choices to a handful or so I look on TA at the reviews. One or two are not helpful, but in most cases there are many reviews and then you just take the average. If most people say someplace is terrible I don't risk it, if a majority like a hotel then I don't care if one or two people wrote a negative review.

I've been using this system for years and have very rarely been disappointed in a hotel. Since I go for the budget end it is very important as some lower priced places are real dumps while others are perfectly fine. The TA reviews really help me decide. Because of this I 'force' myself to write reviews of the hotels I stay in.

I've only been to Amsterdam and Turkey once each and the hotels I stayed in were fine. London however, I've been to numerous times and while it's one of my favorite cities, finding a reasonably cheap but still decent hotel is very hard. So I'd believe they have a lot of crappy hotels, I've even stayed in a few.

TA is a great source of information but I believe you have to use common sense with it. If someone is complaining about the service that doesn't effect my choice. If they complain about the place being dirty or uncomfortable, I keep looking.

It also doesn't effect my choice too often if the hotel is a bit out of center. I don't want to travel miles but often I prefer a quieter neighborhood with small local restuarants and markets.

I also write reviews and since I've gotten a good deal with what I've paid most of my reviews are positive but I also speak out if I'm unhappy. Although, I don't complain if the staff is unfriendly. That's my perception at the time, they could be busy in ways that I'm unaware of or they could just not be able to answer a question about the area. So what? It's my responsiblity to research before the trip and I take it seriously. I can't expect the kid behind the desk to know everything.