TripAdvisor faces ASA investigation after review complaints

[dajop]

Tripadvisor is great for the photos to get a real indication of the room

The reviews in 99% of cases are great as well, you read the Excellent reviews, then the Terrible reviews and then sort through the ones in the middle

I ignore reviews with 1 post, no matter what

I also ignore reviewers who always give negative reviews to every hotel

Apart from that it's a great resource

Exactly. Use it with some caution, filter out the reviews that are extreme and it can be a great resource. Other sources (such as reviews on booking.com, which at least I think require a booking at the hotel), also can be useful checks. I often read trip-advisor reviews after my stays as well and usually find them quite accurate, and until there starts being significant divergence between my opinions and the "average" reviews on TA I will keep on using it as a resource.

On the rankings - whilst you can usually take the exact rankings with a grain of salt, in cities where I've stayed at multiple hotels, my experience is reasonable correlation between the order I'd put the hotels and the order on trip advisor, and whilst the difference between #11 of 183 and #37 of 183 may depend on the individuals, I am sure there is a difference between #17 of 183 and #175 of #183 is less subjective. Not that I've ever been game to try #175.

 

[ajca]

On the rankings - whilst you can usually take the exact rankings with a grain of salt, in cities where I've stayed at multiple hotels, my experience is reasonable correlation between the order I'd put the hotels and the order on trip advisor, and whilst the difference between #11 of 183 and #37 of 183 may depend on the individuals, I am sure there is a difference between #17 of 183 and #175 of #183 is less subjective. Not that I've ever been game to try #175.

I have found an inverse correlation in some cases, I suspect mostly because when I stay at the #1 or #2 rated hotel for that city on TripAdvisor my expectations are very high and I am easily disappointed. e.g. I left the #1 rated hotel in Singapore on Saturday an hour after checking in because I didn't like it and thought there was a better option next door (rated #12 or #13). The lower rated place next door was IMHO about 10x better.

 

[dajop]

I have found an inverse correlation in some cases, I suspect mostly because when I stay at the #1 or #2 rated hotel for that city on TripAdvisor my expectations are very high and I am easily disappointed. e.g. I left the #1 rated hotel in Singapore on Saturday an hour after checking in because I didn't like it and thought there was a better option next door (rated #12 or #13). The lower rated place next door was IMHO about 10x better.

I say reasonable correlation. I wouldn't expect perfect correlation, especially at the top end of the scale, where opinions can be very subjective, and I have thing against using No 1 for some reason - bound to be a disappointment! Also ranking can depend on expectations in relation to price paid. Often you find a cheap hotel that significantly exceeds expectations (given the price paid) will have a higher score than a much better luxury hotel that performs below par given expectations for the brand/price paid. These are easy to spot though.

 

[drron]

My experience is that I only believe a TA review if I know of a particular reviewer.I at times do a modified version of TRs on TA so get to know the work of the more frequent posters in places I am interested in.The rankings however are hopeless-I remember when the number 1 hotel in NYC was a Best Western.
Worse are the restaurant rankings.I just look at the reviews that rate a place as terrible to see if anything in the review is relevant.Eg at present Per Se in NYC is ranked 46 in NYC even though in top 20 restaurants in the world on latest Perrier list.9 terrible reviews-4 who hadn't even dined there complaining they couldn't get a reservation and 3 saying dishes too small and their local restaurant was better value getting a loaded plate of a pasta dish.At present the number 2 rated restaurant in NYC is a bakery where the reviews say divine cookies.Sorry this differs from my tastes in restaurants.

 

[lovestotravel]

Yep I have "reported" quite a few reviews of hotels/restaurants that have nothing to do with the hotel/restaurant

EG - A hotel review complaining about their cancellation policy, when they did not even turn up, and as per drron, someone complaining about not getting a reservation at a restaurant.

None of the reviews I report ever get removed, which annoys me!

 

[RB]

Had a chuckle today when I read this review for a place on the Sunshine Coast- not sure how to describe the attitude, think I would have preferred nice weather for my holiday

“Building site”

Reviewed 11 September 2011
We stayed for 7 days in August 2011 and was very disappointed on arrival to find next door was a building site because the old building was bulldozed and was being re built. Fortunately it rained most of the time we were there so only had 1 or 2 days of workman.

 

[lovestotravel]

Yep I have "reported" quite a few reviews of hotels/restaurants that have nothing to do with the hotel/restaurant

EG - A hotel review complaining about their cancellation policy, when they did not even turn up, and as per drron, someone complaining about not getting a reservation at a restaurant.

None of the reviews I report ever get removed, which annoys me!

Since TripAdvisor has been under more "pressure" about fake reviews, I have reported a few more fake reviews, and still not removed!

FAIL

 

[Mal]

Since TripAdvisor has been under more "pressure" about fake reviews, I have reported a few more fake reviews, and still not removed!

FAIL

I had a review removed pretty quickly once. It could have been legitimate but the place could not have been as great as they exclaimed. Oh and they were a one post wonder...


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