BookMan Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 The world's largest travel website, TripAdvisor, was censured by Britain's advertising watchdog yesterday and warned that it must not claim that all of its user-generated reviews are from real travellers. The website carried statements such as "more than 50 million honest travel reviews and opinions from real travellers around the world" and "reviews that you can trust", the Advertising Standards Authority said. But the watchdog upheld complaints that the US-based company -- which claims to be the world's biggest travel site -- did not verify the reviews to the extent that it could guarantee they were all genuine. Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/honest-tripadvisor-reviews-claim-misleading-rules-watchdog-20120202-1qu7m.html#ixzz1lBXcGZ00 I use TripAdvisor before i book most accommodation. Always found it helpful when making a decision. It is very easy to review any hotel though. You don't have to prove you actually stayed there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el jefe Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Trip Advisor is pretty worthless. i can't believe some British govt agency has to tell us that. I have a friend who owns a restaurant in a large city in Thailand. The last time I looked, enough of us had given it a great review that it's now ranked as one of the top 10 restaurants in that city. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Siam Simon Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Common sense is to use tripadvisor (and it's usually quite good internal forums) and google. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galong Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Common sense is to use tripadvisor (and it's usually quite good internal forums) and google. Um, just how is that 'common sense'? You have absolutely no idea who is doing the reviews. Many are done by the actual hotel or tour operator under a pseudonym. I know of a few companies that employ people to write up stellar reviews of their organization. It's common sense that businesses lie to get an advantage. Trip Advisor is not a reliable source for HONEST information. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keestha Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 I am a hotel owner, and twice I got an offer by e-mail: so and so many positive reviews per month for US$XXX. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jts-khorat Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Of course, there are a lot of cheats on it; it is an online portal that actually makes money with the amount of reviews posted. This is common sense with pretty much everything one reads on the internet nowadays, where posting is pretty much anonymous. However, as long as one takes the reviews and overall scores with a grain of salt, I found Tripadvisor to at least give a pretty accurate overall picture, what kind of quality of hotels a destination has to offer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkCyr Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 I use tripadvisor a lot less than I used to -- but I still find it helpful, mostly for the critical reviews. But the same is true for Agoda. I definitely smell some fake reviews in there as well. I think if you're going to use a review site like tripadvisor, you need to really see what reviews the people have made in the past and try to look for "real" people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallaby Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 I've used it and continue to use it and have found it most helpful. Though I only consider the bad reviews to decide if the bad points would be enough to stop me booking. I couldn't give a rats about the pillows not being fluffy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Siam Simon Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Common sense is to use tripadvisor (and it's usually quite good internal forums) and google. Um, just how is that 'common sense'? You have absolutely no idea who is doing the reviews. Many are done by the actual hotel or tour operator under a pseudonym. I know of a few companies that employ people to write up stellar reviews of their organization. It's common sense that businesses lie to get an advantage. Trip Advisor is not a reliable source for HONEST information. How many 100% perfect holidays have you ever had? Look for the reviews that cite the bad as well as the good. Look on the forums, where there is loads of opinion and informal reviews, and have a quick look at the posting habits of the posters discussing what you want to learn about. It's not rocket science, I know, but you can get a pretty good idea about things from these simple practices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdnvic Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 It's like Amazon or any other site that uses "user reviews". It doesn't take a brain surgeon to pick out what reviews were written by a PR department over the ones written by real people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurnell Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 Easy to pick the bullshit posts on Trip advisor...also the rants from people that are never satisfied. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevenl Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 Lots of positive reviews by the hotel/excursion themselves, and lost of negative reviews by competition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exeter Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 From their own staff or from the hotel's own staff perhaps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rixalex Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 I've used it and continue to use it and have found it most helpful. Though I only consider the bad reviews to decide if the bad points would be enough to stop me booking. I couldn't give a rats about the pillows not being fluffy. How do you know you can trust the bad reviews? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallaby Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 I've used it and continue to use it and have found it most helpful. Though I only consider the bad reviews to decide if the bad points would be enough to stop me booking. I couldn't give a rats about the pillows not being fluffy. How do you know you can trust the bad reviews? You don't have to. You just have to consider of the bad reviews would be enough to put you off. As yet I've been pleased every time so I have no reason to stop using it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rixalex Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 I've used it and continue to use it and have found it most helpful. Though I only consider the bad reviews to decide if the bad points would be enough to stop me booking. I couldn't give a rats about the pillows not being fluffy. How do you know you can trust the bad reviews? You don't have to. You just have to consider of the bad reviews would be enough to put you off. As yet I've been pleased every time so I have no reason to stop using it. I too have used it successfully, i'm just not sure on how your policy of considering whether the bad reviews would be enough to put you off, works, as bad reviews are as easy to lie about as good ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallaby Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 I don't bother with the good reviews. If the bad ones are lies then it doesn't really matter as I only stay where the bad reviews of a hotel wouldn't bother me. If the bad reviews aren't too bad then the hotel is fine for me. It only matters if the bad reviews aren't bad enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keestha Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 I have heard about several incidents of customers trying to blackmail a hotel by threatening with a bad tripadvisor review: If you don't allow me to check out earlier without incurring a penalty as stated in the conditions for a last minute booking, then I will yack yack yack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokie36 Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 I guess its all about expectation and reflecting on the price of the place. I'd always take word of mouth recommendations before Tripadvisor or other sites. Booking.com is pretty good for reviews...you have to have stayed there and I've left a couple of very bad reviews that are still on the site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siam2007 Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 (edited) in some countries, the number of false/fake-reviews easily outnumbers the ones of real customers/guests. In the Philippines, for example. In Thailand it would probably be similar, if not for the problems to write a fake review in decent ENGLISH nowadays you are better off to check reviews on hotel booking websites such as agoda, hoteltravel.com, hotels.com or ctrip, as only REAL guests are allowed to leave reviews there. just keep in mind companies some such as agoda regularly CENSOR and even FALSIFY reviews, as I have been experiencing many many times (I have yet to come accross a review of any of my stays at any Malaysian hotel that AGODA did NOT censor). But at least the POINTS I awarded the hotel remain in place, so this gives at least a certain impression . Edited February 5, 2012 by siam2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brizzle Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 As a rule of thumb tripadvisor is a pretty good tool. Of course we all know that it is open to abuse whether negative or positive but those of us with a reasonable level of common sense can make an informative decision based on that common sense. For example ,too many one post wonders slanging off a particular hotel (or vice versa) should be taken with a pinch of salt. I have never made a mistake when making my hotel choice based on what I have read on tripadvisor. If a hotel is in the top 10 or 20 you generally cannot go too far wrong...period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokie36 Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 (edited) in some countries, the number of false/fake-reviews easily outnumbers the ones of real customers/guests. In the Philippines, for example. In Thailand it would probably be similar, if not for the problems to write a fake review in decent ENGLISH nowadays you are better off to check reviews on hotel booking websites such as agoda, hoteltravel.com, hotels.com or ctrip, as only REAL guests are allowed to leave reviews there. just keep in mind companies some such as agoda regularly CENSOR and even FALSIFY reviews, as I have been experiencing many many times (I have yet to come accross a review of any of my stays at any Malaysian hotel that AGODA did NOT censor). But at least the POINTS I awarded the hotel remain in place, so this gives at least a certain impression . A absolutely slated a hotel once and it gave a rating of 4.7 out of 10. I would have given 0. Edited February 5, 2012 by smokie36 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallaby Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 I gave a review on trip advisor about a well known hotel in Patong. Parts of it were good and others not good. My post stayed but the manager replied with certain reasons or excuses for a couple of the bad points which were outright lies. What annoyed me was that I was not able to respond proving he was telling porkies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Siam Simon Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 I gave a review on trip advisor about a well known hotel in Patong. Parts of it were good and others not good. My post stayed but the manager replied with certain reasons or excuses for a couple of the bad points which were outright lies. What annoyed me was that I was not able to respond proving he was telling porkies. But you tend to see a pattern emerging when hotels just keep on replying with excuses rather than addressing the issues. And, as cdnvic put it, you don't need to be a brain surgeon to see through it, so it's job well done by the reviewers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevenl Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 As a rule of thumb tripadvisor is a pretty good tool. Of course we all know that it is open to abuse whether negative or positive but those of us with a reasonable level of common sense can make an informative decision based on that common sense. For example ,too many one post wonders slanging off a particular hotel (or vice versa) should be taken with a pinch of salt. I have never made a mistake when making my hotel choice based on what I have read on tripadvisor. If a hotel is in the top 10 or 20 you generally cannot go too far wrong...period. See post #2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ulysses G. Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Trip Advisor is pretty worthless. i can't believe some British govt agency has to tell us that. LOTS of fake reviews from owners, employees and friends that are positive and LOTS of fake reviews from competitors and enemies that are negative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
californiabeachboy Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 I have found Tripadvisor to be quite useful for hotels. As others have said, just use common sense. I only pay attention to those hotels that have many reviews - it tends to minimize the manipulation. If 10 people have said the pool is dirty, most likely the pool is dirty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ulysses G. Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Unless all 10 tell you to stay at the hotel next door. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
autan Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 I've been using TA for about 6 years, the reviews always seemed pretty much spot on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirk0233 Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 I have at least found that Tripadvisor is honest enough to publish my reviews as I wrote them. Agoda alters reviews to make them less critical. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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