Or, have you regretted sharing advice? For example, many post regarding the Morgan Hotel in Bloomsburg, only to find it's not available for their next trip. Of course, this would only be a problem if you return to the same place or use the same tour group.<BR>Last year when I posted a review about HF Holidays garden tours, which may be the only affordable garden tours in England, I was hoping I wouldn't regret it the next time I tried to book a tour with them. So far I haven't held back info, at least not when I can remember it.

Your question really grabbed my attention because I have agonized over whether I might be recommending some of my favorite places too highly. Then I also get a little feeling that says &quot;why should I recommend my secret favorites to a huge audience when they could spoil it for me?&quot; So sometimes I tend to hold back a bit.<BR><BR>Not so, however, with sharing my criticisms of places I've been and didn't enjoy---though those have been few and the circumstances were unusual. I always try to temper my enthusiasm and my criticism with something like &quot;in my opinion&quot; or &quot;this is only one person's experience.&quot;<BR><BR>I try my best to be objective in any advice I give, and I have to keep reminding myself that others might have different interests, tastes or preferences. My interest in traveling in Europe is to go to as many different places as I can, always driving a car, and experience as many different types of environment and lifestyle as possible. I'm not bothered by unloading and reloading luggage in a car every day or two. And I know that a brush through some destination isn't as rewarding as staying for a while and getting a real feel for the place. All those tendencies of mine might make me mislead someone else with different objectives and interests.<BR><BR>Sorry I got long-winded. I'll just say that yes, there are times I don't share advice, but they are usually the times when I feel my advice would be too biased by my own personal interests.

There are some posters I would share a cold with but not advice.

To the last poster if you feel that way why do you even bother to tune in here. It is a forum for helping not hindering people and I have found some excellent information and hopefully I have also given some out. I can only travel on a limited budget as we are so far away and the cost of getting to Europe and our exchange rate is a deterring factor ( we only get 50 cents euro to our one dollar)but there have been posters who have given lots of tips on how to save money etc and I appreciate their good advice.<BR>

<BR>Kathynz.<BR><BR>I said there are 'some posters'.<BR><BR>Those would be the persnickity ones. The rest I gladly share anything I know with.

ithicat, I know what you mean<BR>I have always been happy to share advice/hotel and restaurant names on here. Once someone felt the need to tell me more than once that they did not like the hotel that I had recommended. That has made me reluctant to mention the hotel that I like most too many times.<BR> Funny, I never thought about that many people taking my advice and causing a hassle for me next time I want reservations. <BR>But I have had the pleasure of people letting me know that they tried one of my suggestions and loved it

there's a regular poster here who called me a shill for a hotel that was then my favorite. This long winded poster really made we wish for a fly swatter.

Welcome to the club, cigelechanta. I've been accused of all sorts of &quot;special interests&quot; in recommending hotels or restaurants that I like. I was once asked here what connection I had with a hotel in Paris because I had recommended it so much. No one seemed to realize that possibly I stayed there and liked it.

I think it's a ridiculous waste of time for anyone to recommend and hotel or restaurant visited in the past. In many cases, these views might be colored by emotion and not fact. Furthermore, dated recommendations (e.g., I stayed at this hotel three years ago...) are ludicrous. A lot can happen in three yrs (e.g., change in mgmt, change in the locale where hotel is located.

Hmmm so would you rather we recommended hotels we were to visit in the future?<BR><BR<BR><BR>So far I've not worried too much about recommending somewhere I've liked as there is little chance I will go back and even if I do... it won't be the following year and once more than a year has passed - who knows if it will be the same?<BR><BR>Sometimes I don't mention the name unless someone asks for it. Get fed up of being told am giving too much detail!

I have thought about it, but the fact is I am always looking for that next amazing place. So, we hardly ever go back to the same hotel, no matter how much we loved it when we were there. Same goes for towns, driving routes, restaurants, sights. So much to see, so little time.

I don't worry about sharing advice here as I'm somewhat of a “contrarian” tourist. When I'm in Europe I spend the majority of my days outside of the big cities. When I'm in Paris I stay on the right bank. Even if I share advice about Paris, I'm mostly ignored because everyone is so set on the left bank. If someone does ask about the right bank, I try to encourage them.<BR><BR>I have to be honest and say one of the reasons I watch this forum is to find out where not to go. If a hotel is endlessly recommended here it's pretty certain I won't stay there, same thing with destinations. I used to want to visit Bruges, Belgium. With every post here it works its way further down my list. Maybe I'll go in several years if the hoopla dies down and I'm there in the dead of winter and can show up at 4:00pm and leave the next morning by 10:00am. Until then I'd rather go to Dinant or Naumur or any of a dozen other little towns in Belgium that won't be so loaded with other tourists.

Good point, Indytravel. I have used this forum to check what restaurants NOT to go to. But then again, I can't afford many of the restaurants recommended, much less the hotels.<BR><BR>I did visit Bruges in the dead of winter and it was nice in a Disneyland sort of way. In its favor, it was basically devoid of tourists in February, has an excellent museum, and I had a wonderful lunch at an intimate French restaurant.

This year Michel Troisgros was given &quot;Chef of the year&quot; award from Gault Millau. I totally agree!!! After posting this information on this board, I can't see that anyone cares.

I'm not a foodie, so I wouldn't often make restaurant recommendations, but we do stay in smaller places, B&amp;B's, etc for accomodation.<BR><BR>I don't think I'd ever hesitate to relate our experiences at a place, although I'm not sure that's the same as making a recommendation. I don't know the person asking, but if we had a good time, a comfortable bed, an enjoyable time in the company of the proprietor, then yes I'd say so.<BR><BR>As long as it's just our experience, the requestor can take from it what they like. But to withhold? Isn't that also harming that same small business person who worked so hard to provide that experience? A small hotel or restaurant owner survives by word of mouth. They work hard to earn and keep a good reputation. <BR><BR>If I liked the people I met on my trip, I want them to do well. It may be to my detriment, but they deserve to do well, I believe. Without word of mouth, they may not be there when I return anyway.

Let's be real here, none of us our Rick Steves. We aren't going to discover Hallstadt and lead thousands of tourists in our footsteps. By recommending a place, sure there is a good probability that the traffic will increase in that place. Is that so bad? Honestly, if a place (hotel, restaurant) is a nice one, I feel it should be rewarded by receiving more business. Why not help a place that surpassed your expectations due to their hard work, and delivery of a good product.

Yes, I once posted a recommendation for a hard to find restaurant in Amsterdam on several travel forums, including Fodors. Soon thereafter, I noticed 1) many more tourists in that restaurant; 2) prices went up; 3) quality went down. So no more of those kind of recommendations from me.

Hi<BR>It's a thought provoking question actually. For the past 10 years we have traveled almost exclusively in Central and Eastern Europe. We travel by car, don't eat in fancy restaurants and only occasionally stay in a 3 or 4 star hotel. It's usually a 2 star and locally owned as usually that is the only hotels available. we've stayed in small towns and cities as it is our preference etc etc. To share advice sometimes feels useless as most of the people don't visit the countries, or if they do rarely venture out of the major cities except for day trips. I do enjoy sharing however as I hope more people will visit the out of the way places.

I've never been severely chastised for a recommendation, but then my comments tend to be about obscure places. Indytravel has an interesting perspective of using this forum to figure out where not to go or when not to go. When I go to major cities and tourist sites, I'm just another tourist in a crowded place, but in small places local people talk to you and are pleased that you made it to their part of the country.<BR>I don't make restaurant rec partly because I can't remember names/towns of restaurants, but more so because bad experiences have taught me not to go out of my way to find a restaurant that someone recommended.