Do you read and rely on Tripadvisor reviews?

[craigt3365]

To each their own. I use them extensively and if you know how to read the reviews, it's a good system. Not perfect, but far from distrustful. A great source for info.

[Linky]

Yes it is odd that the OP complains but then wont name his own hotel.

[konying]

If I can see that their rankings are not fair or accurate, and knowing how their system work, I don't trust them at all.

I used to make contributions but no more since I see their dishonesty.

I do not believe being a business account , ie sponsor influences the ranking.

Ranking is based on number of reviews .

My place was first added about 6 years ago and has remained in top 30%, I did have business listing for about 3 months but ranking was not affected at all

Edited September 4, 2015 by konying

[konying]

Yes it is odd that the OP complains but then wont name his own hotel.

Some things are clearly beyond your capability to comprehend

[Linky]

Yes it is odd that the OP complains but then wont name his own hotel.

Some things are clearly beyond your capability to comprehend

Yes turning down a bit of free advertising, if you are confident the hotel is run well, is beyond my capability to comprehend.

Then again, if it is like Fawlty Towers, I completely understand.

[konying]

Yes it is odd that the OP complains but then wont name his own hotel.

Some things are clearly beyond your capability to comprehend

Yes turning down a bit of free advertising, if you are confident the hotel is run well, is beyond my capability to comprehend.

Then again, if it is like Fawlty Towers, I completely understand.

As i said, some things are way beyond your abilities

1. I was not looking to advertise at all

2. You or people like you are not my target market, basics of marketing

3. It is against TV rules

4. My post was NOT about my hotel, but about FAKE reviews from FAKE people and TA policies

Perhaps stick to more basic threads where you do have some basic comprehension.

[mogandave]

I thought it was about a "fake" review of your hotel, no?

[mogandave]

Yes it is odd that the OP complains but then wont name his own hotel.

Some things are clearly beyond your capability to comprehend

Yes turning down a bit of free advertising, if you are confident the hotel is run well, is beyond my capability to comprehend.

Then again, if it is like Fawlty Towers, I completely understand.

As i said, some things are way beyond your abilities

1. I was not looking to advertise at all

2. You or people like you are not my target market, basics of marketing

3. It is against TV rules

4. My post was NOT about my hotel, but about FAKE reviews from FAKE people and TA policies

Perhaps stick to more basic threads where you do have some basic comprehension.

What is your "target" target?

[konying]

What is your "target" target?

Slow evening again? felt like trolling little more?

[SoiBiker]

Business must be good if you can pick and choose your customers.

[konying]

Business must be good if you can pick and choose your customers.

Did you actually think these 2 are customers?

They both troll threads just for the sake of trolling.

[mogandave]

What is your "target" target?

Slow evening again? felt like trolling little more?

Beats moaning about all the "fake" bad reviews of my hotel.

You must still be at "work", yes?

[nidieunimaitre]

I see stickers on some establishments, "recommended by Tripadvisor".

That for me is sufficient reason NOT to trust Tripadvisor.

[craigt3365]

I see stickers on some establishments, "recommended by Tripadvisor".

That for me is sufficient reason NOT to trust Tripadvisor.

To each his own, but you're really missing out. They tend to be the better establishments. Especially if they have lots of reviews or are a Travelers Choice Hotel. They tend to be spot on.

[Linky]

Business must be good if you can pick and choose your customers.

Especially when he doesnt know who we are to determine if we fit the demographic. If business is so good why worry about trip advisor posts when it is obviously not having an impact.

[nidieunimaitre]

I see stickers on some establishments, "recommended by Tripadvisor".

That for me is sufficient reason NOT to trust Tripadvisor.

To each his own, but you're really missing out. They tend to be the better establishments. Especially if they have lots of reviews or are a Travelers Choice Hotel. They tend to be spot on.

I assume that to receive this sticker, one has to pay Tripadvisor?

[craigt3365]

I see stickers on some establishments, "recommended by Tripadvisor".

That for me is sufficient reason NOT to trust Tripadvisor.

To each his own, but you're really missing out. They tend to be the better establishments. Especially if they have lots of reviews or are a Travelers Choice Hotel. They tend to be spot on.

I assume that to receive this sticker, one has to pay Tripadvisor?

Absolutely not. It's decided by the people who vote. The highest rated hotels/attractions get the Travelers Choice Award. Kinda hard for a beach to pay for a good review.

https://developer-tripadvisor.com/content-api/business-content/award-content/

[nidieunimaitre]

OK, I accept that, but it brings us back to the OP's point that anyone can write a review, without any checks.

[SoiBiker]

I agree, the places that get the Traveller's Choice certificates do tend to be pretty good.

All these 'they must have paid them' comments betray a lazy cynicism and an utter naivety about how sites like this make their money.

[craigt3365]

OK, I accept that, but it brings us back to the OP's point that anyone can write a review, without any checks.

You sound like a mod. Just kidding. Back to the OP, yes, you are right on. There are many dodgy reviews. I pretty much discount any with less than 5-7 reviews. And for sure all with only 1 or 2.

A friend just told me about a new restaurant here in Pattaya. Checked it out on Tripadvisor and guess what? Lots of 5 star reviews from members with only 1 review. A bit dodgy.

But, many places have dozens if not hundreds of reviews. I think the BS kinda gets weeded out with those? It's an assumption, I know!

[nidieunimaitre]

I agree, the places that get the Traveller's Choice certificates do tend to be pretty good.

All these 'they must have paid them' comments betray a lazy cynicism and an utter naivety about how sites like this make their money.

Yes I am rather cynical.

If I owned a restaurant I would be tempted to post positive reviews under different names.

I am not naïve however.

How does Tripadvisor make their money? Maybe by using their dominant position to corner the market , by cutting costs (no quality control of the published reviews).

Similar business model to f ex Ryan Air.

[mogandave]

I think it is pretty easy to tell when the same people write multiple reviews.

[simon43]

1. TA doesn't care about your biz. They care about their own biz. Next ;-)

This...

If everyone wrote wonderful reviews, TA would be a very boring website. Controversial and damning reviews, whether fake or not, make great reading and increases the website traffic. That is all that TA wants.

You can get the bad reviews removed. If you have a paid business listing, (as I have done many years ago), complain to your account manager at TA. They will remove the bad listings because you are paying TA money, (I say 'bad' reviews, because they will remove genuine reviews which give your business a bad rating - it doesn't have to be a clearly fake review).

It is that simple - TA is not an honest review website, it is all about the money.

[craigt3365]

I agree, the places that get the Traveller's Choice certificates do tend to be pretty good.

All these 'they must have paid them' comments betray a lazy cynicism and an utter naivety about how sites like this make their money.

Yes I am rather cynical.

If I owned a restaurant I would be tempted to post positive reviews under different names.

I am not naïve however.

How does Tripadvisor make their money? Maybe by using their dominant position to corner the market , by cutting costs (no quality control of the published reviews).

Similar business model to f ex Ryan Air.

You are right. Business owners do get people to publish positive reviews for them. Happens all the time in a variety of media outlets, not just TA.

They make their money off referrals to the various booking sites, sponsored listings, heck, even the map that you can open has a sponsor! And then there are the Google click ads. Just like we have here. I'm sure there are other things they do to make money also.

TA does have a QA program. You can report listings, have them removed, etc. But as mentioned above, that doesn't always happen. Trials and tribulations of an anonymous internet forum, like this one.

[eeeya]

One trip advisor reviewer was complaining about the "dust on a lampshade"

one star

who would go to the lengths to post that

[only1]

To each their own. I use them extensively and if you know how to read the reviews, it's a good system. Not perfect, but far from distrustful. A great source for info.

Yes, I only use them to ask questions from other members like how to go from A to B. I don't believe in their rankings of attractions things to do.

[konying]

What is your "target" target?

Slow evening again? felt like trolling little more?

Beats moaning about all the "fake" bad reviews of my hotel.

You must still be at "work", yes?

First you need to own something to know something, otherwise, as usual just trolling

[konying]

1. TA doesn't care about your biz. They care about their own biz. Next ;-)

This...

If everyone wrote wonderful reviews, TA would be a very boring website. Controversial and damning reviews, whether fake or not, make great reading and increases the website traffic. That is all that TA wants.

You can get the bad reviews removed. If you have a paid business listing, (as I have done many years ago), complain to your account manager at TA. They will remove the bad listings because you are paying TA money, (I say 'bad' reviews, because they will remove genuine reviews which give your business a bad rating - it doesn't have to be a clearly fake review).

It is that simple - TA is not an honest review website, it is all about the money.

Simon, may be things have changed, but i did have a business listing fora few months and there was no account manager, no contact details for business listings.

Nothing at all.

When i had a problem with billing, i tried to contact them and emails went into space.

When i cancelled my credit card and they could not charge, all over sudden account manager appeared.

Her only point of interest was to know my new card number. The fact that billing was wrong, did not bother her at all.

May be having account managers and ability to contact them to remove/add reviews was thing of the past.

[konying]

I see stickers on some establishments, "recommended by Tripadvisor".

That for me is sufficient reason NOT to trust Tripadvisor.

To each his own, but you're really missing out. They tend to be the better establishments. Especially if they have lots of reviews or are a Travelers Choice Hotel. They tend to be spot on.

I assume that to receive this sticker, one has to pay Tripadvisor?

Absolutely not. It's decided by the people who vote. The highest rated hotels/attractions get the Travelers Choice Award. Kinda hard for a beach to pay for a good review.

https://developer-tripadvisor.com/content-api/business-content/award-content/

I get new stickers every month mailed to me.

[Ling Kae]

Hello, when I want to book a hotel I go through several review agencies to make my decision. Hotel Club and Rates To Go are two that use verified customer reviews. I will check those two first then Agoda and then Trip Adviser. Most of the time the review scores are nearly the same, ie. Hotel Cub might have a 4 rating Trip Adviser may have a 3.9 and Agoda may have a 4.1. I would then average it out. One off bad and severe critical reviews i tend to ignore but one thing for sure, not all of the different review sites can be wrong.

I too do not use my real name and why should I? I have to protect my identity. If I had to use my real name I wouldn't do any reviews. All my reviews are conducted with honesty and integrity and if I go into a 4 star hotel and I find hairs in my bed or frayed towels I will report it in my review. Some places can promise things that they can not deliver, those sort of places should be exposed but not to the point where people know your name and where you live and can come after you.

I made a negative review for a restaurant once on Trip Adviser and I had good reason to do it. The Manager replied to me on TA and explained the situation and offered me to call or email him if I had any further queries. I didn't but I thought hey, he's not such a bad guy after all. You see, by replying you are not ignoring these reviews, you should present your side of the story whether you know who it was or not. You would come across as Manager that cares and does not sweep things under the carpet.

Review websites are good, they help me make a decisions. If you are doubtful of one review website check them against others, then you will be able to work out for yourself if this hotel is right for you. I might add, at times I have looked at some hotels with only a 3 out 5 review score and they were nowhere near as bad as what some of negative reviews stated. A 3 out of 5 is still pretty good but anything under 3 I would think twice about and do a bit more homework. The other thing too is, check the dates the reviews are written. There isn't much use reading a review that is 4 years old and the hotel has changed management or refurbished since then, you need to be current, maybe reviews that are not more than 2 years old.