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.

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.