Scroll to bottom of this page for IMDB's method:

http://www.imdb.com/chart/top

Dukey:

I also found it very strange that the Parkcity in London appeared out of nowhere and was the number #1 hotel in London for a period.

one of the places I researched in Florence asked me to give them a good write up on Trip Advisor when I decided to cancel my reservation and go with another place. True, they were VERY nice on email but that was my only contact with them.

Hi 111,

>I don't think so. I think that TripAdvisor is a little more sophisticated than that.<

The no. 1 ranked hotel in Beaune has two (2) reviews. The third ranked hotel has 31.

((I))

Perhaps TripAdvisor has different methods from IMDB.

But anyway, to return to the issue, so this hotel has two reviews and is #1 for a region, then it means it's bad? It could be bad, but that doesn't mean it actually is.

I don't know the hotel in question, but when I pulled up the review, there's a listing that says Karen Brown recommends it. I don't know her work either, but I think that people have mentioned it before here.

Anyway, no website is foolproof. I'm sure that the problem you mentioned is more likely to arise for smaller towns and cities.

And should I believe the Hotel Bonaparte reviews on TripAdvisor -- or your reviews, ira? :-) Does TripAdvisor serve a useful purpose? My belief is that it does, even if it's flawed. Just like Fodor's.

The new(ish) feature of checking on a poster's reviews is a good indicator. In Vienna, for example, out of nowhere, the Spiess & Spiess apartments are at the top of the heap. And checking on four of the glowing reviews that sound quite similar in tone, I see that those four have each posted one time only--about S&S. So that's a very big red flag, IMO, and I would purposely avoid this placee for that reason.
Whereas other hotels, like the Kaiserin Elisabeth or Le Meridien have dozens of reviews and some mixed. I would be suspicious about a place that has many reviews and ALL are glowing with no caveats or complaints. Hotels just aren't that perfect.
Overall, I found the Times article naive. And I have used TA for making hotel decisions many times, as well as posting there myself.

I don't think Trip Advisor's reviews are worse than any other site's. Seems like some posters here read reviews at Trip Advisor but will come here asking for more comments meaning that they trust Fodors more. It depends on what one wants to believe.