Article: The Blessing & Curse of Online Travel Reviews

[AFF Editor]

Canonical URL

https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/online-reviews-blessing-curse/

The Blessing & Curse of Online Travel Reviews is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

The Blessing & Curse of Online Travel Reviews

Online reviews have made it much easier for travellers to research hotels, restaurants, airlines and tour companies. But they've also changed the travel experience - and not always for the better.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

 

[kpc]

Online reviews are both a blessing and a curse for the reasons you mention. Lots of places, guides etc are pushing for a positive review. As I get so many review requests, I generally don't leave any reviews. If I do, it is usually a very bad review as something has really pi$$ed me off...recently, a hotel in Ushuaia and another one in San Pedro de Atacama come to mind!

 

[Captain Halliday]

WRT staff asking you to leave a review, I have a simple approach.

Firstly, I’ll make my own independent decision about whether to write a review.

If I do, I will clearly state that I was asked to do so. Simply transparency.

Finally, even if every other aspect was perfect, asking me to write a review significantly detracts from the experience. Therefore the business can not score the maximum rating on the relevant platform.

 

[Big John]

My rules are simple :

• If I am asked to do a review in return for something (e.g. discount for next purchase, enter a competition to win a prize), I will do the review.
• If nothing is offered, I don't do the review.

Simples !

 

[cambriamarsh]

Online reviews are both a blessing and a curse for the reasons you mention. Lots of places, guides etc are pushing for a positive review. As I get so many review requests, I generally don't leave any reviews. If I do, it is usually a very bad review as something has really pi$$ed me off...recently, a hotel in Ushuaia and another one in San Pedro de Atacama come to mind!

TripAdvisor used to be quite useful but it seems to be getting less reviews, while the Expedia and other OTA sites seem to be getting a lot of short reviews which aren't as thought out or useful. Still it all helps.

 

[Volando]

My go to is always to filter to the three star reviews. They are more likely to be objective and considered. 5 stars may often be the type of solicited review mentioned in the article or gushing and blinkered unless coming from someone with a good bank of previous travel experience based on their volume of reviews.

1 and 2 star will more often than not be over some sort of specific gripe or disagreement. Understandably a coughroach in your dinner is a legitimate issue, but one star because there were mozzies in a room in the tropics is petty and silly.

Another consideration is the country or culture in question. In Japan, giving 5 stars still actually means “above and beyond” in reviews as opposed to the uberfication of reviews where giving a driver less than 5 stars prompts a “what was wrong” survey.