TripAdvisor - Do you use it?

[Cruiser Elite]

TripAdvisor is such a well known site but am wondering do the AFF folk use it? How do you use it? For what particular purposes? How often do you use it?

I stay regularly in Renaissance Beijing Capital Hotel and they treat me like a king - so I posted a 'glowing' review on TA which appeared next day.

I stay 3 or 4 times each year at Le Royal Meridien in Shanghai only because of its location but this hotel 'never delivers' - so I wrote a 'less than glowing' review which DID NOT appear - how do you trust their hotel reviews?

 

[kpc]

I do use it for hotels...read all the rewiews esp. the bad ones, and then look at that partic. reviewer to see what their other reviews are like to see if they are a "fair" reviewer or not. Ignore all the "one hit wonder" reviewers. I try and check other sources for hotel reviews as well eg FT. I do find TA helpful for local attractions for cities that I have not previously visited so I don't miss any "must sees". i have to admit i find it less useful for restaurant reviews as this is very subjective and personal.

 

[kyle]

I use it to get a gauge on the general consensus on a particular hotel, restaurant or attraction.

But I've never had bad reviews unpublished.

 

[clazman]

Every booking I do for hotels is based upon feedback from trip advisor and to date haven't had a problem.

Don't necessarily pick a hotel in the top 10, my process is

0. Pick general location
1. Excellent / Good vs Poor / Terrible ratios
2. Read the bad reviews and relevance (eg how old are the comments, management response, nature of comment)
3. Click through to hotel website and review rooms (TA doesn't show all the available rooms)
4. Make a decision on my top 3 hotels and then watch comments for the next 2 days
5. When happy with the comments I will book directly with the hotel (IMO from reading TA, a lot of the bad reviews relate to using third party booking sites)

Every comment I have put upon on TA has appeared, saying that I have some doubts on the quality of comments

 

[opusman]

I use it a lot; I think you just have to learn "how" to use it (i.e. which reviews to ignore!), but it's a great resource for trip planning.

My own reviews are here

 

[SuzieQ68]

I use TA regularly - pretty much along the lines of clazman. Have had all of my reviews published - including a particularly bad one which is still receiving 'helpful' votes even after 2 years!

I tend to take more notice of reviews where:

a) the reviewer has reviewed a few times - not just one (and not just one review that is a bad review); and
b) the reviewer has taken the time to write a concise report on why they did/did not like the place they stayed/restaurant etc.

Overall TA provides a bit of peace of mind when travelling - and so far so good - with the exception of one....

 

[Awesom Andy]

I use it quite a bit as well, although I tend to ignore the 1-review wonders, and I tend to look at the general spread of scores rather than the actual comments. It's mostly a statistical approach for me. I've written 50+ reviews, all of which have been published, be it positive or negative.

 

[Anna]

I use it and my reviews have always appeared, even the one for the worst hotel I have ever stayed at.

When I'm reading reviews as a source of information about places to stay, I try to make sure that if a place has a glowing review then that is for a reason that would also suit my preferences, and likewise if a place has terrible reviews. I always ignore "this place is fabulous because we paid for a cupboard-sized room and they gave us a fantastic suite" or "this place is terrible because it doesn't have [insert here something that you wouldn't care whether it has or not]".

I always think it is useful if people comment about what is in the area around the hotel, eg if there is a convenience store or restaurant nearby or not, or how far it really is to the subway etc.

My favourite review was by a woman who had been to a place in Taha'a in French Polynesia and said her husband had "literally died from mosquito bites".

 

[OzEire]

I stay 3 or 4 times each year at Le Royal Meridien in Shanghai only because of its location but this hotel 'never delivers' - so I wrote a 'less than glowing' review which DID NOT appear - how do you trust their hotel reviews?

Did you login, draft or post that review on the hotel wifi, or while still in China ?

Have you tried again since coming home? Any chance you still have it in draft ?

Did TA give you a reason for not publishing (ie. formally rejected review) or no contact from TA and review didn't appear ?

 

[Duffa]

I'm a TA sucker!
Have posted more than 60 reviews and always consult it when away from home.
Regularly stay at their No1 hotel in various cities and usually find them to be number one for good reason. Having said that, there might be a touch of the emperors new clothes with some reviewers.
Less useful are restaurant reviews esp the one hit wonders as mentioned by others.
Have a look at TA for your own town or suburb to see how skewed it is!!


Actually I'd probably trust AFF reviews a lot more

 

[Mark3000]

I love it. The photos give you a more accurate view of what it's really like compared to the photoshopped hotel photos.
Great for looking at what the view from the rooms look like
Always some nutters on there whinging about stupid things but lots of gems of information in there

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Did you login, draft or post that review on the hotel wifi, or while still in China ?

Have you tried again since coming home? Any chance you still have it in draft ?

Did TA give you a reason for not publishing (ie. formally rejected review) or no contact from TA and review didn't appear ?

Posted on return to Australia at same time I post RBCH review. I have just re-done the review and will see what happens this time.

FTR: YES I use TA all the time - especially for hotels but also for restaurants as well

 

[RooFlyer]

I use it for all my new hotel stays and a few restaurants as a screening mechanism, looking for repeated issues - good and bad, but particularly bad (eg street noise, bad maintenance). I tend to discount reviews by Americans (discount, not ignore; sorry TV! ) who appear to put more emphasis on the welcome greeting and smiles they get rather than the hard product, which is what I'm after.

I've posted about 180 reviews, mostly hotels and have never not had one posted - and I've done one or two excoriating ones!

I gave an Alaskan whale watching cruise 4/5 and got an e-mail asking why I didn't give them 5 ... which didn't impress me very much. I replied that I give 5 to places and activities which significantly exceed my expectations. Theirs was a great cruise, which is what I had been expecting!


BTW I hate their beta feature 'recommendations just for you'. I don't want something 'just for me' (what would some dumb computer know what I want in a particular situation?) - or 'just for Australians'. I've noticed some top hotels don't appear in these rankings, because - I don't know .. maybe no Aussie reviewers, or those happened to be bad? Anyone know how to turn it off?

 

[Cruiser Elite]

BTW I hate their beta feature 'recommendations just for you'. I don't want something 'just for me' (what would some dumb computer know what I want in a particular situation?) - or 'just for Australians'. I've noticed some top hotels don't appear in these rankings, because - I don't know .. maybe no Aussie reviewers, or those happened to be bad? Anyone know how to turn it off?

10,000,000 times extra double like - how do you disable that pain in the a**e thing?

 

[get me outta here]

I use it a lot and read all the reviews in the category and places I'm visiting. I usually feel inspired I also write reviews whether good or bad and never have been knocked back, except when I found something new and different and TA hadn't heard of of before and so 'rejected' it. I find the bit for each hotel which is something like, 'which room do you recommend', quite helpful. And, yes you need to be discrimination. For example, some people from a certain country are very keen to say the lobby is very important, whereas I have no interest in the quality of the lobby/foyer as long as it is staffed.

 

[get me outta here]

Yes, bloody nuisance and it has to be disabled every time. There's a button toward the top right that you can change and has a little down arrow:




Tell us what you like to improve your Just for You recommendations
Sort by Just for You






...

10,000,000 times extra double like - how do you disable that pain in the a**e thing?

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Yes, bloody nuisance and it has to be disabled every time. There's a button toward the top right that you can change and has a little down arrow:

Yeah yeah I have tried that - how do I tell it to show ALL listings?

 

[get me outta here]

How about if you put it on 'rankings' as it used t? Also, there's the banner for budget/romantic etc - if you don't tick any of those I think they all come up under rankings.

EG, #1 of 235 hotels in San Francisco

1,085 reviews

• “Excellent Location and Service”
  02/01/2015
  
• “Love this hotel”
  02/01/2015

 

[smatho10]

As a hotel employee - TA alerts managers if a particular poor review is actually legit and response to the review can be done actually by the manager before posting. Emotive language (tags) especially comments directed to staff are picked up and alerts the hotel to make contact.

As for the rankings - whist the score out of 5 is the major contributor - replying to the reviews by the manager gives you "bonus points" for the ranking. Other little points for TA only specials and "paid" advertising space also contribute to the ranking.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Thanks GMOH - uncheck ALL boxes at top and select ranking and they all there - apologies for wasting your time.