What is "tripadvisor"...
 

and how do I access it? (Sorry to be so ignorant. I see it listed often, but am just now planning my trip.)

Thanks!

www.tripadvisor.com

It's an online travel site and people can submit reviews and comments on accommodation and sights, and can ask questions on forums.

The are several different parts of the website. Most people are familiar with the hotel "reviews" section where people post comments and sometimes photos on various hotels.

And separate from that the "forums" similar to here on Fodor's but divided up into more specific destination categories (by cities and countries).

Also other parts of the website like Insider Pages where people contribute to existing pages on a specific subject (i.e., Cheap Eats Waikiki).

And now members can send private messages... :-)

I didn't know about that until just recently when I received two emails, different people, who I was happy to help with their questions.

TA forwards it to the email address you registered under with a subject line "someone is looking for you" or something like that. If you don't want this feature you can choose not to participate. But I think it's great.

If you go to Google and type "tripadvisor" and the name and city of a hotel, the top link will take you directly to reviews of that hotel.

Example: For reviews of the Ritz in Paris type "tripadvisor ritz paris"

I love it... the hotel reviews have never steered me wrong and the forums have some great features (e.g. local experts, ability to request alerts on new posts, etc.).

You can Private Message right on the TA forum, without any messages arriving at your email addy.

suze, I should send you a PM :)

The editors are on hand almost all the time, so things don't go downhill on weekends as they do on some other forums lol.

They do run a crisp ship there, don't they? I like the destination divisions...have to check out Insider Pages. Thanks for bringing it up Sarge, happy trip planning.

Their website has the strongest censorship rules I've ever seen - netnany has nothing on these guys

They even ban "Dick" which is a problem when you are discussing pantomimes

A private company's ToU are not "censorship;" last we heard businesses can write their own plan.

Does it tell you how many people reviewed a particular hotel? (I'm thinking if I owned a hotel, I'd send in several good reviews for myself, under assumed names. So what is to prevent this on tripadvisor?)

Two more questions: Is there anything at the site that actually lets you "build an itinerary" that you can print off? And do they review restaurants too, or just places to stay? Thanks all!!!!

I find that you have to take their hotel reviews with a pinch of salt.
We have stayed once or twice in a hotel in Northern Italy which is family run and very friendly.
A reviewer found the owners rude and hated the fact that you had to walk along the lakeside to get into the middle of town.
It takes us about a 1/4 hour and we love the walk.
Somebody complained about another of our favourite small Italian hotels that they only served local Italian food!

Sarge56: one way to get your questions answered is to go to the site and see for yourself.

MissPrism: Many reviews are informative and helpful. You need to read them with some judgement.

I find myself giving little weight to some negative reviews because of what I can infer about the reviewer: unreasonable expectations, such as 5-star service at 2-star prices, or holding a hotel responsible for things outside it control, like other guests. The more useful negative reviews ar generally not wholly negative, but balanced, something like "rooms too small, but clean" or "hotel generally okay, but breakfast awful".

Similarly, some positive reviews look as if they have been submitted by the hotels themselves. They are, I think, easily spotted. Of course, if they are very well done, they might get past our suspicious eyes.

Local Italian food in an Italian restaurant, Miss P?
Whatever next?

Just a note to remind folks that Tripadvisor is part of Expedia, which explains their default search/photo module when looking at hotels. (Expedia is also the parent of Hotels.com and Hotwire, by the way.)

When I plan my trips, either in the USA or Europe, I will check TA for months. I have my own specs. I was lucky so far. The only one that failed me is the one in Villefranche. I checked out to another hotel which was ranked lower. However, there was one person who kept on praising what I disliked. It had me wondered that may be he/she is the owner or friend of them.

Trip Advisor and Fodor's are my favorite boards but they have very different personalities.

TA can be sorted right down to a specific city or grouped into an area, like "The Black Forest". TA has the most entries and is more of a direct question and answer board. You do have to compare answers and reviews to your own criteria.

Fodor's seems more conversational. I more often enjoy following lines of thought of regular posters.

Long live variety.

Regards, Gary

As above, I think if your pair Fodor's and Trip Advisor (throw in a dash of Thorn Tree and Frommers) you get a well balanced internet dose of travel information and good conversation.

They take their "report an inappropriate post" button that shows on every single posting at TripAdvisor very seriously.

Scarlett~ you bet, drop me a line ;-)

Ditto Gary
Hi gg! :-)

Re: hotels and restaurants posting their own "reviews"

I guess you'd have to be crazy not to, unless the public is praising you already. In fact, we all will have a tendency to give more credence to a place that has many reviews to begin with, assuming it's popular.

Just as with product reviews on Amazon, etc, the shopper has to filter out a) the overpraise that sounds like a PR job b) the hyper-critical that sounds like someone with a bone to pick: a former employee, a "difficult" costomer. Maybe the solution there is to cross-reference with another website once you have a short list. And read for specific points: praise that relates details important to you, and complaints that are not "angry", a fase note to me.

Thanks to all who responded. I've spent some time at Tripadvisor and, honestly, found it exhausting! How do you account for someone giving a hotel 4 stars and the next guy 2? Now, I'm more confused than ever. :( I think I'll start a fresh string and be specific about what I'm looking for and hope a few folks nay/yea it. Thanks again everyone!

Sarge -

Reviewers rate the hotels based on their satisfaction. They are not there to give star-levels to the hotels. If I stay at a 5* hotel with all the great amenities but was mistreated, then I am correct to rate them an "1". It doesn't mean I think it's a 1* hotel. There's a huge difference.

As for individual reviews, if a hotel gets a lot of reviews, then a few "fake" ones written by their own staff will not influence the overall rating that much. But if it's a small hotel with only a few reviews, then you need to be more careful. Click on a reviewer's screen name and you will see what other hotels they've rated, and you can judget whether they're real or not.

Also, look at the trend of the ratings. Some hotels get worse over time. Others may have a poor overall rating, but has completed renovations and the newer reviews may be better, etc...

It's a very useful site. You just have to know how to use the information.

We've only followed a tripadvisor rating once for the Jesmond Dene Hotel in London and were very disappointed. And I'm one of those people who posted a negative review when we returned and it was an accurate reflection of our experience - so don't automatically dismiss negative comments.

I've wondered since we returned whether someone associated with the hotel was posting overly-positive comments, because if you read the reviews (and there are a lot of them), they go from very hot to very cold, which I find odd. The other thing I didn't like was that they gave the Jesmond Dene an opportunity to respond to my critique (that, in itself, is okay), but the hotel representative basically called me a liar - and when I complained to tripadvisor, they basically said tough.

The moral of my story - use the tripadvisor information, as others here have suggested, as one source, but make sure to balance it with other information.

Hello:
I've always found the "candid" hotels photos helpful...are they really candid?

"Candid" photos are posted by the reviewer. That's all it means. I have posted a few myself.

<How do you account for someone giving a hotel 4 stars and the next guy 2?>

People have different expectations? I know several hotels I like a lot get some luke-warm to bad reviews. The usual reason (in my opinion) is that people oftentimes have unrealistic expectations for the amount of money they spend (i.e., they want a 4-star hotel at a 2-star room rate).

Suze - how can I, as a customer, tell the difference between an honest assessment of a hotel and someone who, in your opinion, has unrealistic expectations? If you dismiss all negative comments then what's the point of a reviewer-based board?

I read the hotel reviews there and in other websites to make myself an idea of what I can find at the hotels but I don't take anything (good or bad) as an "universal truth". Most of the hotels I've been to, are rated not very well (say round number 400 in London ) and I've been comfortable there. And I knew some very good rated that I won't go even if I can have them for free. So, you can read at them, but you have to have your own opinion and not taking anything for granted.

You learn to read between the lines when you spend lots of time on internet forums. And I don't dismiss all negative comments. Nor do I believe all glowing ones.

I try to judge the general tone of each post, then read all the reviews and get an "average".

here's my example: a Waikiki hotel had a less than positive review. Someone is upset there was rust around the bathroom mirror and a stain on the wall-to-wall carpet.

Well that's true. I know because I've stayed there. But for the price (~$95)and the other ammenities (kitchens, pools, etc.) these two details -while true- were not a problem for me.

TripAdvisor is very useful when viewed as 'one more piece of information,' but not the last word. I have found the reviews generally very reliable, i.e., Esbelli Evi in Cappadocia and the Lares Park in Istanbul. But I agree that caution is warranted when the reviews swing from very good to very poor. TripAdvisor says that they police the site to stop 'self posting' but .... When we are going to a new location, I always check to see what others have said about the hotel we are considering.

suze, I see that so often, someone wanting to pay the least amount for a room then complaining because of the plain accomodation they got.

I discount any review that uses the word <i>snooty</i> or if someone eats in a pub and calls it <i> dining</i> or if they say they bring their own wine glasses..lol.

Candid photos can be brilliant and then they can turn me off of a place so fast!
I have seen photos on TA of half eaten food on a dish that makes me gag, or the doorway of a hotel or restaurant..ok, nice door....?? Are the photos taken to prove they were there or to show us the door? lol


I have found over the past couple of years though that hotels/restaurants do have their staff post for them and some people are not very honest in their reviews.

I like reviews here better, we can talk back , agreee or disagree..on TA you can only post a review that disputes the previous review..then it just turns into a big confusing issue..and I get confused enough these days :)

As above, I prefer a forum format so you can tell people exactly what you are looking for in a hotel &amp; ask for their help. Then ask more questions when they make suggestions.

As I mentioned way back up this thread, Trip Advisor has a Forum section, different from the hotel reviews part of the website.

If a poster seems real cranky all thru their post, complaining about every little thing... and then says the front desk clerk was rude to 'em...
;-)

You find a number of people complaining about reception staff. In my experience rude receptionists are not very common, not nearly as common as the complaints that seem to crop up on tripadvisor. I interpret it as quite possibly a sign that the person posting the complaint was a difficult customer.

absolutely! my point exactly!! people who sound like &quot;big babies&quot; complaining away in their review, then say &amp; the staff wasn't nice to 'em... i pretty much ignore those post.

Sometimes I think travelers show up counting on the desk clerk to provide the kind of &quot;welcome&quot; only Grandmother (or a theme park host) can. But what you really need from the desk staff is efficiency: get the bookings straight, handle messages and other information, help with reservations or transportation, and fix things that inevitably might go &quot;wrong&quot;. If they do that well, I don't need them to be overly &quot;warm.&quot; There are plenty of really &quot;nice&quot; but inept staff out there!

Have I told you about the TA poster who got caught posting reviews lifted from Frommers?
Although they took away her (undeserved) Local Expert status, they allow her to post in the forums..leaving it up to posters to keep the posts honest. Let me tell you, it is a full-time job! lol.

&lt; Let me tell you, it is a full-time job! lol.&gt;

What is the job that is full time? Are there monitors?((*))

You know I got a rather curious email from trip advisor not long ago, stating that because of my contributions to the board (I have not &quot;contributed&quot; in several months there, as I don't like their forums particularly) they were going to send me a &quot;Trip Advisor Backpack&quot; as a gesture of thanks, BUT I was not supposed to tell anybody about it! (that's the part that made me smile-oops, cat's out of the bag!). So, I'm supposed to get said backpack in the mail, but as I wouldn't be caught dead advertising for them, or wearing a backpack (unless it was a Prada) it will be of use only as a storage facility for odds and ends!