Trip Advisor?
 

I have been checking Trip Advisor for hotel recommendations and was wondering if anyone has the same thoughts as I do. It seems that some of the review are too well written. Almost as if they were done by an ad agency. Does anyone know how "legit" the reviews are?

Well, I'll take that as a compliment, as I've written several...

I think a significant number of the recommendations are made by small business owners and their immediate competitors.

That is why I give much more weight to the comments on this forum, where I can guess how much weight to give to someone's comments based on their other posts.

Keith

I've written many reviews on TripAdvisor too. I always give an honest assessment. There are doubtlessly a few "ringers" out there, but I think it would be difficult to completely and consistently overshadow the truth about a place over a long period of time. I sometimes copy and paste out of my own TripAdvisor reviews in response to questions on Fodors:

"....offers a complete antithesis for those who might tend to view the chain as a series of cookie-cutter franchise operations. Housed in a stately, historic building facing the bustling Place de la Republique in up-and-coming 11th Arrondissement, it is clearly a XXX-class property. Guest rooms are relatively large, by Paris standards. Many have balconies and there is large courtyard on the interior. Rooms and bathrooms feature a high level of finish.

The brasserie noses into the sidewalk with its large, glass front that puts guests into the midst of Paris street life at a busy crossroads where five metro lines meet. Like other common areas of the hotel, the hotel's restaurant is well-appointed. In addition to full menu, there is a complete breakfast buffet priced at 22 Euros for those who like a large meal to begin their days. Definitely book in advance or you may be faced with the eye-popping XXX rack rate..."

* * *

If it sounds like an ad agency, that's okay with me. LOL! ;)

I agree with Keith, we really have no way of knowing how unbiased those reviews are. At least on this board we usually know if someone is a regular poster and a knowledgeable traveler.

I have written some reviews on TA, and I also wonder if some were written by shills. But they are varied enough, and you may have to discount those that are effusive or ornery. In general, I think it is a helpful site. **==

damam

I also have written many reviews on trip advisor. I am very honest about what I report. I always give a little bit of history as to why we are visiting etc. and I think this adds to the report.

You will notice that if the person giving the review chooses to post anonymously it does give their home city, state and if outside the US their country. I find this of interest.

I very much appreciate the people who do take the time to report on Trip Advisor as I think it is a good source on hotel information. Please consider posting a report about your next hotel stay.

Sandy

I wonder how many forum posters here at fodors (or frommers, etc.) might be shills?

i always read their reviews before choosing and put my own after a holiday.but yes there is a lot of bogus reviews.but the beauty of that website is that it is not censored. there is complete freedom of speech. if many guests know about that site and take time to write about their experience no amount of bogus reports from a hotel will be able to hide the truth. the disparity between the positive and negative posts on some budget london hotels are particularly funny.

I've reviewed hotels and restaurants on Trip Advisor and I'm not a shill. For my absolutely favorite places I've also posted on CitySearch.

I don't understand wild inconsistencies in reviews of the same business though. My wife and I have had truly exceptional service many places, that are "dissed" by someone else in the same week as we were blessed. I tend to place value on well-written reviews, and accept those with poor grammar, misspellings, etc., with a grain of salt(unless composed by a traveler writing in English as a second language).

I think the reviews in general are accurate. Even if there are some "shills" there are enough regular legitimate ones to offset them.

Undoubtedly there are a few shills on TripAdvisor - but so many of the reviews are consistent across sites that I believe most are real.

What I think it's important to note is the date and nationality of the poster - I have found that sometimes europeans are perfectly happy with places I did not like - but I think a lot of that is just managing expectations. (When people say "basic but very clean" I now know to run as fast as I can in the opposite direction.)

Also, it is sometimes possible to read between the lines - esp those people who feel they aren;t being treated as well as everyone else - I always wonder how they are behaving.

But, obviously, TA is only one source of info and must be balanced against others, guidebooks - and your own judgement.

..I too have posted on tripadvisor and often read the blurbs before finally choosing a hotel..I think you can look at a pattern to get a real idea of the place though I admit not perfect...besides these reviews are much more helpful than the glossy photos from brochures or posted on the internet.

As a fan of tripadvisor I may be biased but I enjoy it as a site and like others I try to read between the lines.

At the end of the day, no matter how wonderful a hotel's reviews are, it all boils down to personal preference. If we were all the same, it would be pretty boring (if easier for the hotelier). Mind you, I have a friend who thinks the Grand Canyon is just A Hole In The Ground and that Stonehenge is just A Pile Of Rocks!

thank you all. Now I can go back and read (between the lines) with little more confidence. Happy New Year to all.

I find TripAdvisor very useful and invariably check out reviews there when looking for a hotel. And I usually post reviews myself, often in more depth than space allows here.

I have wanted to ask this question many times, but so many people seem to rely on TripAdvisor, myself included.

However, recently I was thinking of booking a certain hotel. There were a total of 7 reviews. The 2 negative reviews were signed. The positive reviews were all "anonymous" and the composition of the individual positive reviews were remarkably similar and just too perfect in grammar and phrasing...enough to make me very suspicious. They sounded as if they had come straight out of a travel brochure.

I have no doubt that many if not most of the reviews on TA are legitimate. But it wouldn't be hard to imagine a business or its competitors posting self-serving reviews as well.

Buyer Beware.

Happy New Year.

Hi Gang,

I have actually spoken to a small-hotel owner who admitted to posting a few "fake reviews" to make his place sound better.
Unfortunately it is easy to do that on Trip Advisor.
However, I will still continue to consult it for travel plans, along with using other sources like Fodors, Time Out, virtualtourist.com, Let's Go, etc.
Like some other Fodorites said earlier, if there are a bunch of "glowing reviews" in a row from "Anonymous" posters, chances are they are planted there. Take everything with a grain of salt.
HAPPY NEW YEAR,
Betty

In the last two years I have really relied on this forum and TA equally, for hotel . It is easier to look up a hotel by putting in its name. On our forum the name comes up in the middle of a lot of postings. I know that you can do something that highlights it but I don't yet have that talent. I have written several reviews for TA, mainly about hotels that I really like. Was an English major [sorry]!

I was happy with Trip Advisor until just recently. I was reading reviews of a couple of Paris hotels and they hit me wrong. Some people were definately stacking the deck.

We get people who do the same on this board and they are "chased" out of here because everyone seems to be on "troll-patrol" 24/7.

I have never used the reviews on TA - as betty pointed out there are a few shills out there. What I like about TA are all the articles brought together - I've gotten a lot of great info from them. I read an article on D.C. right before we left and found a great restaurant 2 blocks from the White House that has been around since 1856 and served U.S Grant,Theodore Roosevelt and several other Presidents. I've gotten some great info on London as well. Almost as much as I have here at Fodors. Great Superthread!

I take Trip Advisor with a few grains of salt but the more reviews there are, the more I tend to trust the over all assessment. If a hotel comes up #5 with only 5 reviews, that just isn't reliable enough for me, but if it comes up #341 with 40 reviews, I tend to think it is, indeed, a dog.

(With all due respect to dogs.)

I have picked a few hotels based, in part, on good reviews on Trip Advisor and have had no problems. On the other hand not every hotel is listed. There are good properties not reviewed there.

Now I am worried. I used Trip Advisor and Venere to base my decision on a hotel in Rome. The hotel got many good reviews and only a few negative ones. I guess I will let you know when I return if I was scammed or not. Has anyone else based their decision on Trip Advisor and got dissapointed?

there are so many sources of information on hotels that there is no need to rely on just one or two. Have you searched on your hotel right here, or inquired about it?

When I read negative reviews, I try to interpret them as to whether the experience seems like one instance of bad luck or was perhaps based on a quirk of the hotel guest, or whether it sounds like it was part of a pattern experienced and expressed by other guests.

One rude desk clerk, one malfunctioning air conditioner, one mixed-up reservation, wouldn't put me off necessarily, But if it seems part of a general pattern of mismanagement that others have mentioned, then I move on to another property.

TripAdvisor is a reputable site; I don't think being scammed there is likely.

IMO anyone who really believes TripAdvisor reviews are "unbiased" is foolish since they are written by individuals who are filled with biases.

As to some being "well-written" there are just as many which aren't very well-written.

And I'm not sure those reviews for the most part are any more or less reliable than some of the "reports" written here.

I agree with Elaine - if one or two reviewers give poor ratings to hotels that otherwise get good ratings, look at the reasons for the bad reviews. Are they reasonable? Are the reasons anything you care about, anyway?

For instance, I don't care if the mini bar is poorly stocked or if room service isn't terribly speedy since I never to rarely use those services.

Some people get really PO'd when they arrive at a hotel at 8am after an overnight trans-Atlantic flight and their room isn't ready. I think that's unreasonable since most hotels clearly state their check-in times, and they are usually after noon.

Also, I am often amazed at how many people aren't really reviewing the hotel at all, but their entire trip, or the city in which the hotel is located. Many London hotel reviews on Trip Advisor are full of advice about the tube, taxis, restaurants, which Orig. London Walks to go or not go on, what plays to see or not see, the TKTS booth, etc.

Just yesterday I read a London hotel review where the person gave it a 2 rating without ever having stayed in the hotel!! S/He was reviewing the neighborhood based upon his/her vast experience of using the tube station nearest the hotel!! Sheeesh!!!

So yes, Trip Advisor is just one of many good sources of info when researching a trip. I also write reviews of hotels after I have stayed in them.

I've written reviews on TA but as is always the case with this type of thing I have my "2nd opinions" or back up when I look for specific reviews. So far haven't found anything untruthful about reviews I've read in TA. Remember that some things, esp restaurant reviews are very subjective.

Daph, as to finding what you need on a thread this is how you do it (I LOVE this function as it works not only on websites but also for Word or Excel docs).

For Fodor's threads, click the anwhere in the right hand column, hit Ctrl+A (that will highlight that section of the screen), go to the toolbar at the top of the page, hit Edit then "Find on this page", type in the term you're looking for (it's not necessary to type the entire phrase, perhaps the least used word, i.e. for Hôtel Degrés de Nôtre Dame, I'd type Degres in the box). The function will then go through the thread finding every instance of where that word is mentioned!

BTW, this for non-Mac users. I'm not sure how the Mac users would do it. Hopefully, it's similar.

Hope that helps! :)

Beatchick - I find that highlighting is not necessary. Of course, I left-click on the right side. ((C))

At the risk of stating the obvious, it seems that "we" - - the "average", traveling "Joe (and Jill) consumer" types are the primary safeguards against shill-loading of websites.

I don't post a thorough review of some place I have stayed as often as I should, but collectively, "we", the public, ought to be able to drown out anomalously glamorous (or nasty) reviews of a property, dubiously posted there.

Which reminds me... I am staying at the Hyatt RegencyCamrbidge this weekend, courtesy of anexcellent priceline deal. I need to post follow-up on biddingfortravel!

Best wishes,

Rex

Thanks for the tip, beatchick, this will be a HUGE time-saver.

A slightly streamlined version of "Find" that Beatchick so kindly posted is: Click on the side of the screen you want to search. Hit the CTRL + F buttons at the same time. (Think of F as find and you can remember it better). When the box pops up type in the term you are searching for. This will save a bit of time.

IrishEyes--Your tip helped, but the "find" doesn't seem to highlight all mentions of the same word. I did a ctrl plus f for "Beatchick" (hope you don't mind, Beatchick) on this page as a test, and it highlighted just one reference.

Any ideas?

No prob, Amelia! :)

P_M, glad I could be of service!

It's always good to know several ways how to use various functions. This is a good discussion.