TripAdvisor - Do you use it?

[jastel]

I do look at TA but never had an experience so good or so bad I felt the need to write about it.
I got what I expected based on the price/location I chose.

These people that whinge about some spec of mould in the shower, what where they planning to do eat off the floor?
How clean is their personal home bathroom etc?
If you spend your holiday in the hotel room examining everything for mould/stains, you are holidaying wrong....
I don't get it??

PS - not having a go at the guy above who complained about mould earlier...just using an example.

 

[mannej]

To me Tripadvisor is exactly like Urbanspoon. The trick is to weed out the rubbish reviews (One-time Negative poster, chronic complainer etc) and try to find if there are any faults/positives that come up on a repeated basis.

 

[clifford]

Check me out on tripadvisor at "[email protected] (you'll be impressed!)...."

 

[mranwa]

It seems that according to TA I have visited 17% of the 'world'. I must start to go to some new places obviously.

ALSO, just found this under my TA m'ship:

American Express Travel

Spend $150, Get $50 Back
Save this offer to your Card to receive a $50 statement credit, when you spend $150 on pre-paid hotels, car hire or experiences at americanexpress.com.au/travel by 31 January 2015. Offer limited to first 15,000 Cards.

This a great offer. Had used it 3 times so far (I have 3 amex card) since this offer came out - a hotel in Whitsundays (end of this month), a skydiving and a bungy jump in Queenstown (March). You get the $50 credit back usually within 3 days. I have harvested a total of $180 by linking all 3 cards, made the bookings as well as the $10 for first review.

I use Tripadvisor extensively for hotels and restaurants research. Besides the ranking, I also look at the number of reviews. I won't trust a highly ranked place if there is only a few reviews. The other thing I noticed about Tripadvisor is because the reviews come from a wide range of people, and different people have different taste/value, it is hard to just trust one or two reviewers. Eg some places are ranked highly but that's because its value for money while you might be researching to splurge on that $1000/night hotel or $300/pp meal. Even if the ranking of the $1000/night hotel is lower than a 2 star hotel, I tend to believe the expensive hotel should be a better experience.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I do look at TA but never had an experience so good or so bad I felt the need to write about it.
I got what I expected based on the price/location I chose.

These people that whinge about some spec of mould in the shower, what where they planning to do eat off the floor?
How clean is their personal home bathroom etc?
If you spend your holiday in the hotel room examining everything for mould/stains, you are holidaying wrong....
I don't get it??

PS - not having a go at the guy above who complained about mould earlier...just using an example.

I think the mundane is just as important as the good or the bad! While I do want to know both of those, I also want to know the basics...

• does the room have a fridge (and one that you can put your own stuff in without being charged for simply 'moving' items)
• is there a kettle with tea and coffee (rather than just 'green tea' in some Chinese hotels)
• are there adequate privacy screens for places with glass bathrooms
• if drinking the tap water is not recommended, is there plenty of bottled water in the room or a convenience store close by?
• if i arrive late... how much is room service? (can I get there and order a club sandwich without mortgaging the house, or do I need to stop somewhere before to get snacks?)
• is the room an accurate reflection of the website? (I mean how 'small' is the 'small-economy-basic room??)
• etc

 

[jastel]

+1 for the fridge, any dump in Aust has a fridge but not so in 4 stars overseas, or as you said the fancy computerised ones that charge you to remove the food.

 

[JohnK]

To me Tripadvisor is exactly like Urbanspoon. The trick is to weed out the rubbish reviews (One-time Negative poster, chronic complainer etc) and try to find if there are any faults/positives that come up on a repeated basis.

This is the post I was looking for.

I don't use TripAdvisor as religiously as other people here. Not always accurate. Unless there is a pattern in bad reviews I usually like try a hotel for myself.

 

[Happy Dude]

You'd do as well asking the drunkest dude in the bar about a hotel as you would on Trip Advisor. The tedious thoughts of John Citizen are seldom worth knowing, let alone using as a basis for a decision.

 

[get me outta here]

I am not tedious, don't sit in bars and am not John.

You'd do as well asking the drunkest dude in the bar about a hotel as you would on Trip Advisor. The tedious thoughts of John Citizen are seldom worth knowing, let alone using as a basis for a decision.

 

[PaulST]

You'd do as well asking the drunkest dude in the bar about a hotel as you would on Trip Advisor. The tedious thoughts of John Citizen are seldom worth knowing, let alone using as a basis for a decision.

You sound like a pleasant person.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

You'd do as well asking the drunkest dude in the bar about a hotel as you would on Trip Advisor. The tedious thoughts of John Citizen are seldom worth knowing, let alone using as a basis for a decision.

but how many times do you read on trip advisor 'we booked this hotel not believing it could possibly be as bad as the reviews...'

 

[YNWA]

You'd do as well asking the drunkest dude in the bar about a hotel as you would on Trip Advisor. The tedious thoughts of John Citizen are seldom worth knowing, let alone using as a basis for a decision.

Well you could extrapolate that argument to apply to any internet forum then.........

 

[Awesom Andy]

but how many times do you read on trip advisor 'we booked this hotel not believing it could possibly be as bad as the reviews...'

Roughly the same number of times reading on this forum: "we booked Jetstar/Tiger not believing it could possibly be as bad as the threads claimed".

 

[SteveSYD]

I use TA a lot for doing hotel research . Not sure if there is any other source as comprehensive out there?
I find if you take the consensus of reviews of a property and ignore the ones from those who are obviously never happy or have an axe to grind, my own experience of staying at that hotel most of the time concurs with the view of the majority. Also I find the negatives can useful in helping lower one expectations when one is forced to stay at a property , one would prefer not to. Knowing that room is going to small and pokey is better than discovering after you check out. And also makes you appreciate upgrade as you have an idea from what you have been upgraded from.
I do occasionally find a property where there are obviously fake reviews and that's raises a red flag for me and I quickly move on to next listing.
Also with the TA phone app I find GPS function of what's near me good to finding places to eat and drink near when I arrive in a city and need somewhere closely to where I am staying. But I do find the bar and [FONT=arial, sans-serif]restaurant reviews a bit more of mixed bag. Food opinions are much more diverse around the world than those of hotels.
I do posts reviews occasionally myself and they always are approved promptly whether positive or negative.[/FONT]

 

[BAM1748]

You'd do as well asking the drunkest dude in the bar about a hotel as you would on Trip Advisor. The tedious thoughts of John Citizen are seldom worth knowing, let alone using as a basis for a decision.

TA is good for picking trends, going up, down or stable. Don't read the individual posts except the terrible ones for entertainment. Look at the theme of the posts over all.

 

[drron]

In Burma we met a lot of people who use TA.Many did not learn a lot about Burma.

 

[BAM1748]

In Burma we met a lot of people who use TA.Many did not learn a lot about Burma.

They've gone from rating hotels to whole countries :shock::mrgreen:

 

[ashleyn]

TA is good for picking trends, going up, down or stable. Don't read the individual posts except the terrible ones for entertainment. Look at the theme of the posts over all.

+1 for that, treat it like a bell curve, discard the very bad and the very good and pick the trends as BAM1748 says. I ignore any "staff were grumpy" but take notice of "rooms were small and dated". I am also an avid poster and try to provide unbiased reviews that will help others.

 

[OATEK]

TA is good for picking trends, going up, down or stable. Don't read the individual posts except the terrible ones for entertainment. Look at the theme of the posts over all.

I too love the terrible ones. I often thank my lucky stars that I never crossed paths with reviewers. Like the American women who said the staff at the Adlon in Berlin looked askance when she said she wanted her tea made with hot water! Or the fellow who complained that the hotel in Athens did not offer a full American breakfast, and the night staff only seemed to speak Greek!

 

[Mattg]

Don't read the individual posts except the terrible ones for entertainment.

I also get a bit of a laugh from some of the "terrible" reviews. Such as this one for a hotel in Spain that I just came accross:

Would u put up with black flies landing in you drinks and food at home Without doing some think about it well I was very disappointed in the fact there were flies everywhere the staff said they clean and they come back yes this because the bar does not open in the day time so glasses are left until the staff come the following evening with fruit sitting in a hot bar all day bad management...

In Burma we met a lot of people who use TA.Many did not learn a lot about Burma.

Totally agree. TA can be useful for checking out hotels etc. but should not be used to plan an entire holiday. The things that come up on TA are touristy attractions and often just direct people to museums or activities that really don't represent the city or what it's about. The best cultural experiences probably aren't on that site at all. Just look at the top-ranked attractions in whatever city you live in and you will know what I'm talking about.