What is your experience with the accuracy of the guest ratings for the hotels listed on Venere?

If the ratings are worthwhile, what would be the minimum rated hotel you would stay at? Is any hotel on Venere with a guest rating of 8 or above a safe bet?

The reviewers are just other guests, each with their own preferences and agendas. I read the reviews on Venere, and try to place them in context. Some reviewers obviously go crazy with the negativity. For example, they might get a smaller room than they hoped, and then they start trashing the location, the staff, the cleanliness, etc. - all of which merit no complaint by a reasonable person.

I've stayed at several hotels rated below 8 on Venere, and because I knew how they were likely to be, I wasn't disappointed and felt I had gotten a good value.

I too have given ratings on hotels booked through Venere, as they send an email requesting them on return. It's nice to read through the actual reviews, rather than just marks out of 10, if there are some. I tend to look for places with as many reviews as possible and if they are mostly positive, you can ignore the odd negative one.

> The reviewers are just other guests, ... they might get a smaller room than they hoped,... all of which merit no complaint by a reasonable person.

I agree. The same happens with any other reviews e.g. at tripadvisor.com. Many are reasonable and helpful but some others ...

> I've stayed at several hotels rated below 8 on Venere, and because ...I wasn't disappointed and felt I had gotten a good value.

Again agree. Similar to my experiences.

You must read reviews and put them in context. Every hotel gets negative reviews - no matter how excellent.

I've seen people give negative reviews to super budget hotels in New York because they thought the "drapes were tired" and they could hear street noise. Obviously people intent on complaining about something to enhance their own importance.

On the other hand, if people complain about bugs and peeling wallpaper, that's something else.

I know some reviewers trash a place because the weather was bad, so I read them all and come up with my own average. What I find most helpful to me, is when I pull up any review page I use my "find in top window" feature and key in words of things that really matter to me, like - noise, quiet, safe, breakfast, AC etc. I've found some highly rated places that most reviewers think had some noise ( a pet peeve with me). Others rated low because of no elevator (I use stairs). This method has worked very well for me.

I read reviews always with caution...I mean, these are personal opinions and maybe I don't share them. Some people rate low a hotel because they think it's noisy..that's not an important thing for me because I'm not very noise sensitive, some others rate low because a bad concierge..I have never used one's services...and so on. I've been very happy in hotels in London rated around 400 on Tripadvisor !!

I am usually looking at the comments & ratings on Venere along with comments on other websites. The odd complaint about a hotel among other more positive comments does not dissuade me from considering it. What sets my alarm bells is when the feedback is all over the place. That's when I quickly move on.

Also, careful reading is required sometimes to discern the basis of complaints as some have indicated here. It helps to establish your own criteria based on personal needs & desires, and then go on Venere.