Well, I just posted a review on the Batory Hotel in Krakow that mentioned the nice staff and I assure you the review is genuine!
I think staff mentions are quite helpful. The quality of staff is one of my considerations when choosing a hotel. If a hotel's staff are unhelpful and unpleasant, then I might as well stay in an apartment, where there aren't any staff at all.

Here hotelliers and agencies post easy reviews of their establishments.
There are two rental agencies in particular here on this forum where the reviews were so gushing they were hillarious.Also hotelliers who post fake reviews of their establishments. I usually dont trust the very short ones, and find more reliable those with attached room photos, as they represent the real hotel in most cases. For other same people post positive reviews every time there is a negative review.So, in this case the reviews of Venere.com and bookings.org are absolutely genuine.

2 things:

1. The biggest problem I've found with TripAdvisor's ratings is not necessarily *fake* negative postings, but skewed negative postings, particularly with budget accomodations. I appreciate it when people are very specific about WHY they think it's a "dump," because if one normally stays in a 4-star hotel down the street but that one was full and they try this little 2 star because someone said it was a good hotel, they may be absolutely horrified at the small bathrooms, older furniture, creaky floors, lack of room service, etc. etc. It's been my experience with several budget "quaint" hotels that there will be a slew of positive reviews and then one or two that are horrendously negative because those people's expectations were (IMHO) unreasonably high.

2. I'm confused as to how TA calculates their "average traveller rating;" We posted a negative review of a hell hole in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland (It's called the Portview Hotel, BTW, you can see my review for what I think of it) and gave it 1 out of 5. Another poster posted a couple days before me and gave it a 1 out of 5 also. These are the only 2 reviews visible. Yet its "average rating" is 2.5 out of 5, and it's ranked as the #4 hotel in Dun Laoghaire. ??

Interesting conversation; I look forward to following it.

Carrie

I find Tripadvisor to be a great source for information on hotels. But, I have learned to be cautious after a trip to Puerto Rico. We stayed at a hotel on the western part of the island that was actually rated the top hotel in Puerto Rico at the time. The fact it was quite inexpensive should have been a tip-off. The place was dirty and full of mosquitoes. I wrote a very unfavorable review but mine and other negative reviews were lost in a sea of glowing recommendations.

Now I look more carefully. Recently I traveled to Ponce and Old San Juan and gave as accurate a description as possible and included a number of photos of the room, bathroom, front lobby area, halls and street. Hopefully this will be of help to a fellow traveler.

InMiami, care to name the hotels, both the good and the bad? Yes, I do realize this is a Europe-specific forum, but this fit into the General Interest category...I traveled to PR frequently and are often ask for recs. Thanks for the info.

icithecat-- I just read your question on Dr.Abatte's posts :-D That was one bizarre event in this forum! This lady comes back from a stay in one of Dr. Abatte's apts and blasted him and the apartment on a post. Somebody tips the Dr. and he starts a campaign against this woman by asking past guests to post in this forum about their wonderful experiences. Nobody won on this one; Dr. Abatte came across as a loony, the lady was agravatted beyond belief, and the guests's posts were met with skepticism/suspicion. The thread was pulled after two days.

That's why I am so defensive of this forum; it is probably one of the few honest travel sites in the Web with integrity. Not even when a poster recommends Frommers, DK Guidebooks, or Lonely Planet they censure it. Fodor's is awesome that way.

I like to use both Trip Advisor and Fodor's, but I tend to lean towards Fodor's, and I haven't been steered wrong.

I posted a somewhat negative review regarding a hotel in Lake Como on Trip Advisor, but I also stated it was partly our own fault that the hotel wasn't told we need a double (my husband assumed the bed would always accommodate two people), and the end result was that we were probably given a lousy room, doomed to be redone very soon. I think I also leaned towards the negative because the service or lack of was very formal, and sometimes it makes me feel uncared for.

I also noticed that a tour company that I used and enjoyed in Rome has had problems with people posting from another tour company and giving them problems on the Trip Advisor Forum. I think it is horrible to use a Forum to try to put themselves ahead and put another out of business.

On the subject of Fodor's, there have been recurring issues about a particular agency of apartments in Paris. Although there have been many very valid raves from regular posters here for those apartments, there continue to often be isolated posts by first time posters who never return to rave about these apartments that they "found", nearly always sounding like nearly exact copies of each other -- there seems little doubt that those posts are set-ups. Why? That's hard to tell since it actually tends to cause doubts among people who would otherwise jump at the chance to stay in one of those apartments already getting raved about by regulars.

Viajero, my posted reviews you requested.

San Juan: Hotel Milano: "OK for this expensive area"
Feb 22, 2006: A TripAdvisor Member, Miami Beach, FL

Puerto Rico: Boqueron Bay Guest House: "OK but dated rooms, far from everything, too many mosquitoes"
Jun 17, 2004: A TripAdvisor Member, Miami, Florida

Ponce: Melia Hotel: "Charming hotel in great location"
Feb 24, 2006: A TripAdvisor Member, Miami, FL

Viajero, that was a weird year. I first came on line at the time of the Doctor mess and when a poster mentioned she had a home in France, (I was hoping it was in Provence) Another poster accused me of being a shill for that lady, and for a hotel in Provence that I loved at that time(now too expensive for me)

InMiami-- thank you very much. Really appreciate the info.

Cigalenta-- I do remembered something like that happening about 6-7 years ago. My recollection, though, is that this person did own a rental property in France and often would post to steered people away from Spain. Somehow her rental property would come up as an alternative. As to be expected, people didn't react too well to that and I think that's when/why you got caught up in the middle of it. It was unfair, no doubt. I'm glad it didn't steered away. You are, and have always been, a great contributor.

Thanks Via, but if that's true i'm surprised as she is a popular poster here.
I heard things like that happen on aol.

Like the previous posters say, it seems that individuals are more inclined to post their reviews of a hotel or shout out their complaints when they have a bad trip rather than a good one. I think what it comes down to with this forum, along with most things in life for that matter, is balance. If a resort has 40 good reviews and 2 or 3 bad posts i take that reviews with a grain of salt. Only negative posts I start to listen.. I keep in mind is that for some reason people are more likely to register on a site like this to "blast" a hotel for poor service rather than take the time to register to praise one.
The most highly recommended here on Fodor's and TA Rome Forum/ Reviews have 4, 5 or only 9 rooms..or highly recommended here 1 apartment or 2..and they receive reviews every day!! Is it mathematically possible?Conclusion: A lot of regulars here are little and suffering Hotels and without doubts!!

An advertising professor once told me about the old rule of 5 and 9...that if people have a good experience they tell, on average, 5 people about it. With a bad experience, they tell more people, on average 9. Now with the Internet sites like TA and the blogosphere, that rule has undergone some strange twists.
I went back and checked the TA reviews on about two dozen European hotels that I've stayed at. From what I can tell, most of the reviews seemed genuine (I tended to agree with both the good and bad points they described or at least knew what they were talking about). I don't think the fake posting on TA is quite as rampant as suggested in the NYT, at least not yet for European hotels.

Many people, including myself, rely on the reviews to make educated decisions before booking vacations. If that board is compromised, then it can no longer be relied upon to give accurate information and will therefore lose all credibility.
I am planing to spend few days in Rome next month. I was ready to reserve Hotel Oceania in Rome but I find not very good opinions about it on Tripadvisor. I was surprised by the excellent recommendations posted both on Trip Advisor and here on Fodor's, which I've just read of Hotel Oceania and they must be read with some skepticism. I know there will always be problems at every hotel, but i've never heard of reviews recalling Great, ..charming and others reviews like "Doesn't deserve reputation" "Dreary Hotel" etc .I don't know what to think !?..Excellent reviews that appear to be obvioiusly written by staff members of the resort or perhaps travel agents
I've read tons of reviews on here about same Hotels in Rome for my next travel and strangely, I read very similiar language by different folks. Something else that seems kinda phony is when I read a review and people recall first and last names of many of the staff members...." How many of you actually remember first and last names of staff after you return home? Maybe I just have a bad memory recalling names but that seems kinda fake to me.
Fodor's really must take some responsibility.

one of the places I reserved in Italy (and in a few days, un-reserved) sent me an email asking me to give them good press on TA. they were very highly rated on TA. I won't say who but it wouldn't be that hard to figure out here.

That's sad if true, flygirl, but I have also seen reviews there about great places but the poster panned because it was a personality problem with the hotel staff as they may have also in real life.

try a look here!!
http://rome-hotels.tripadvisor.com/S...ome_Lazio.html

Dear Alainuk, The person being accused on Trip Advisor of posting phoney information is me. I am a regular now on Fodor's Forum, and use Trip Advisor especially for hotel information. I don't know who was accusing me, but I see they only have three posts. If you go way back from when I first started on Fodor's, I was asking for information on tour groups, hotels, and restaurants regarding Rome. After I came back from my vacation, I wrote a trip report, and if I noticed on Fodors if someone wanted an opinion on a tour group, hotel or restaurant, I gave them mine because of my great experience. Of course, it is only my opinion, as there are many fine hotels, restaurants and tour groups in Rome. Personally, I found it all a little funny as I am from Long Island, New York and have no association with the travel business. Lisa

I was also accused for a fake review for tripadvisor.
However, it was a candid review and I sent half a dozen authentic photos that I took by myself with my review.
I wrote the review as accurately as possible and even included some criticisms. However, my overall judgement was positive.
However, I notice that some reviewers seem to have completely different criteria. Many reviewers criticize heavily just because one single communication with a receptionist went wrong. Others are used to stay in 5-star-hotels and are critical of a 4-star-hotel although it is just half the price. Or the other way round: People complain about high prices and are not able to enjoy the quality that comes at that level.
The typical picture is that you will find at least one 1-star-rating among five 5-star-ratings. Just forget the critical one!