Do you use tripadvisor

I always consult tripadvisor before I book a hotel, holiday, or a restaurant. It would not be the only way I would make a decision but it is useful, however you have got to wonder some times. A fish restaurant I was looking at got a terrible review because it only served fish! and the fish had bone in it, or how can people be staying in the same hotel at the same time and one give it five stars and another person gives it one star.

jimgoose

The main problem with Tripadvisor and the like is the same one with democracy.

AngryLips

I don't tend to look at Tripadvisor for restaurant reviews because it's generally always the lowest common denominator when it comes to people's wildly different tastes in food. Hotels are good but, my god, the number of people who write reviews with the most unrealistic of expectations is unbelievable. Generally, I tend to discount reviews from non-Europeans or any review that is entirely good or entirely bad.

wazky

Even if im going out for some milk I consult tripadvisor first.

mikom

AngryLips wrote: »

Generally, I tend to discount reviews from non-Europeans

qft

Tzardine

I find that there are a lot of owners writing their own reviews on there. They are quite easy to spot.

geckovision

Only if I had reservations (no pun intended) about the hotel and/or area.

Tzardine wrote: »

I find that there are a lot of owners writing their own reviews on there. They are quite easy to spot.

That and companies writing unfavourable reviews about competitors.

P. Breathnach

I use tripadvisor, but I read through the reviews and filter out those that seem plainly unreasonable. I find it irritating that some people expect 5* standards at 2* prices.

MooShop

I went travelling a few years ago with a friend of mine. Now we are easy going chaps, didn't care where we stayed etc. We used trip advisor a bit at the start of the trip, mainly for looking up attractions near the area we were.

Sometimes we felt the reviews were accurate, but a lot of the times where something got a bad review, we really had a good time. Sifting through some of the comments you can see that people are clearly disillusioned. People expecting immaculate conditions etc. while backpacking. If you can't rough it, don't go backpacking!

First Up

mariaalice wrote: »

I always consult tripadvisor before I book a hotel, holiday, or a restaurant. It would not be the only way I would make a decision but it is useful, however you have got to wonder some times. A fish restaurant I was looking at got a terrible review because it only served fish! and the fish had bone in it, or how can people be staying in the same hotel at the same time and one give it five stars and another person gives it one star.

I find it very useful and I also contribute. It is important however to use your head reading reviews as some are deliberately promoting, while others might be the work of competitors.
First thing I check is how many reviews the contributors have submitted. If it is one or two, treat with caution.
Important also to note where reviewers are from. Some nationalities are more reliable than others in terms of having realistic expectations or being experienced travellers.
Read the comments and assess how reasonable they are. Don't just look at the scores.

Ruu

Use it all the time, has never led me wrong. Many times, the low or terrible reviews are people with unrealistic expectations.

whiskeyman

Fantastic site.
Hard to imagine what the heck we did before it.
Lonely Planet guides and the like, or just friend recommendations I guess.
I've never stayed in a dodgy or bad place thanks to it.

The Backwards Man

I read for the laugh.

Two types of people post reviews, complainers and people asked to by the owners.

The forums are great gas altogether. 'Hi, are there many department stores in Malin Head City?'

force eleven

I enjoy reading reviews of hotels and restaurants in downtown Pyongyang or Ulan Bator etc, and realising things sometimes aren't so bad here...

First Up

The Backwards Man wrote: »

I read for the laugh.

Two types of people post reviews, complainers and people asked to by the owners.

The forums are great gas altogether. 'Hi, are there many department stores in Malin Head City?'

No so. Both of those categories exist but so do plenty of constructive and useful ones.

I've a couple of positive ones, and a couple of negative ones. I don't think I have too-high expectations in general and as long as the place is decent and the staff are nice I'm happy.

Chucken

The Backwards Man wrote: »

I read for the laugh.



The forums are great gas altogether. 'Hi, are there many department stores in Malin Head City?'

And....are there??

I read Trip Advisor but don't take advice from it. I trust my own judgement.

razorblunt

Check out Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh, it's a dormant volcano but has a ton of 1 star reviews for amongst other things "not having an actual seat at the top", "no shops on the hill, it's quite far and one would get hungry on the ascent" or "too far away from the Royal Mile".

Now I presumed these are tongue in cheek but you never know!

Chucken

razorblunt wrote: »

Check out Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh, it's a dormant volcano but has a ton of 1 star reviews for amongst other things "not having an actual seat at the top", "no shops on the hill, it's quite far and one would get hungry on the ascent" or "too far away from the Royal Mile".

Now I presumed these are tongue in cheek but you never know!

That "Royal Mile" is a lie too. Not once did I meet royalty on it.

darced

This post has been deleted.

The Backwards Man

Chucken wrote: »

And....are there??

I read Trip Advisor but don't take advice from it. I trust my own judgement.

There's a three wheel van that sells coffee when it's not too windy.

Ranked #1 of 49 restaurants in Donegal.

Alun

darced wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Yeah, some American reviews can be a bit of a laugh all right. Usually complaining that some tiny B&B in the back of beyond doesn't have air conditioning, or cable TV, or that a city centre hotel is more than a 5 minute walk from the nearest restaurant.

Sleepy

I read them but take them with a dose of salt. My wife loves to comment that the negative American reviews about Rooms being too small are more a case of the author being too big.

gugleguy

Trip advisor is the vacationers equivalent of Daft for accommodation (I.e. many landlords post their ownpositive reviews)

First Up

Sleepy wrote: »

I read them but take them with a dose of salt. My wife loves to comment that the negative American reviews about Rooms being too small are more a case of the author being too big.

And a lot of Brits expect to find tea-makers in their rooms in France.

Ruu

Must have been some night at this hotel.

doors locks with the key its 21th century they need to make cards for entering the room! hotel stuff doesnt speak english normally, and also my money have been stolen from the room and when i asked the receoptionist to help me to call a police they just looked at me like they didnt know whats goin on, they didnt want to help me noway.. and im sure they stole it, cuz the door havnt been broken so tht means some1 of the hotel stuff got in it.. after calling the policy myself, policy came and made a papper and they promised to send it next day before my checking-out, next day when i went downstairs to ask for tht papper they looked at me like they heard it for the first time! now im trying to solve this problem when im far away! this hotel need to be put in black-list! I dont suggest it to any1! its better to pay more nd stay in normal one!

MadsL

The Backwards Man wrote: »

There's a three wheel van that sells coffee when it's not too windy.

Ranked #1 of 49 restaurants in Donegal.

Do they take reservations?

jimgoose

The Backwards Man wrote: »

There's a three wheel van that sells coffee when it's not too windy.

Ranked #1 of 49 restaurants in Donegal.

Bloody good, bloody good. I'll give him one-point-seven million, plus this tennis-racket as used by Mats Wilander. :cool:

The Backwards Man

If you're going to write a negative review, always ensure it has a melodramatic title and plenty of exclamation marks!!!

http://www.tripadvisor.ie/ShowUserReviews-g45963-d97704-r184864137-Venetian_Resort_Hotel_Casino-Las_Vegas_Nevad.html#REVIEWS

First Up

First Up wrote: »

And a lot of Brits expect to find tea-makers in their rooms in France.

I do get sad if there is no kettle and a cup for tea. In a normal hotel in berlin sure they gave me a cafetiere and sink and dinnerware and hob. Wasn't expecting that!
Great hotel though. Free cakes all afternoon. Must check I wrote a review for it...

CatLou

I check Booking.com for reviews of hotels and Yelp for restaurants and cultural venues - these two usually have more realistic reviews than Tripadvisor...

Chucken

http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/webdr01/2013/4/3/9/enhanced-buzz-7461-1364997583-10.jpg

sabat

It's way too biased towards cranks and weirdos as businesses have very little rights regarding getting unreasonable and downright untrue reviews removed. I also find that people who use it are actually doing themselves a disservice in many cases - simple problems that arise with hotels from time to time used to be readily solved by a quick word with the manager but now guests will say nothing at the time instead, pay their bill in full, and then spew out some ridiculously exaggerated version of what transpired in order to obtain satisfaction.
For example: the household staff forget to put towels in a room. Before TA you would approach the manager/receptionist and inform them; they would apologise and it would be taken care of straight away. Now they write something like "This place is a disgrace-no towels provided despite it clearly saying so on their website. I had to walk down the street soaking wet to buy my own. Avoid."

First Up

sabat wrote: »

It's way too biased towards cranks and weirdos as businesses have very little rights regarding getting unreasonable and downright untrue reviews removed. I also find that people who use it are actually doing themselves a disservice in many cases - simple problems that arise with hotels from time to time used to be readily solved by a quick word with the manager but now guests will say nothing at the time instead, pay their bill in full, and then spew out some ridiculously exaggerated version of what transpired in order to obtain satisfaction.
For example: the household staff forget to put towels in a room. Before TA you would approach the manager/receptionist and inform them; they would apologise and it would be taken care of straight away. Now they write something like "This place is a disgrace-no towels provided despite it clearly saying so on their website. I had to walk down the street soaking wet to buy my own. Avoid."

Ignore that sort of rubbish but it is helpful to know if the wi-fi works, or if it gets noisy outside at night, or if the heating can't be adjusted in the rooms or if the gym has clapped out equipment.

RainyDay

First Up wrote: »

First thing I check is how many reviews the contributors have submitted. If it is one or two, treat with caution.
Important also to note where reviewers are from. Some nationalities are more reliable than others in terms of having realistic expectations or being experienced travellers.
Read the comments and assess how reasonable they are. Don't just look at the scores.

Review count of reviewers is key, all right. Every hotel or restaurant will have one or two bad reviews, but look for the trend.

WilyCoyote

Most of the time. Then I decide.

mikom

First Up wrote: »

And a lot of Brits expect to find tea-makers in their rooms in France.

Well they would if their wife got there early......

TwoShedsJackson

My sister runs a B&B and you also get twattish customers using it as a threat - pretty much just outright saying 'give me hotel service here in your B&B or I'm going straight to TripAdvisor to post a negative review'.

Sir Arthur Daley

Tripadvisor would want someone to review themselves.

Davarus Walrus

Tripadvisor suffers from the same issues that clouds most online systems where anonymity is assured. It just becomes another platform to jaw, moan and complain about shit. It is to restaurant reviews what thejournal.ie is to public opinion.

Do any of these people highlight the fact that their food is terrible and that the waiter is a drunken leech while they are actually in the place?

It's very mealy-mouthed.

LynnGrace

I use it, and find it quite useful. I filter out stuff that isn't an actual negative about places, e.g. where people have unrealistic expectations, for the price they are paying, expecting five star service, or whatever.
I sometimes wonder too, as other posters have said, if the reviewer has given the place a chance to correct whatever it was that they are complaining about, or did they just rush off to write a review, having paid in full!

On balance though, it is useful, and I haven't had a bad experience yet, in taking views on board from it.

WellThen?

The number 1 restaurant in Dublin on tripadviser at the moment is Sabor Brazil. I've been there and it is beyond amazing, never been to a better one ever so it got that right.

Senna

The reviews on booking.com or other sites like that are much better for hotels, at-least they have to make a booking and actually stay in the hotel before they can write a review.

I love when people give a bad review about the location, they pay "outside the city" prices but expect to be able to walk to all the tourist attractions and its not like there's not a map showing exactly where it is.

bluewolf

bluewolf wrote: »

I do get sad if there is no kettle and a cup for tea. In a normal hotel in berlin sure they gave me a cafetiere and sink and dinnerware and hob. Wasn't expecting that!
Great hotel though. Free cakes all afternoon. Must check I wrote a review for it...

Wrote one now. Stayed in Dec 2012 but still raving about it

paulfosters

Often read the negative comments for a laugh. you can really spot the people that cant be satisfied.

Sir Arthur Daley

paulfosters wrote: »

Often read the negative comments for a laugh. you can really spot the people that cant be satisfied.

Some people just love to complain and bicker at nothing.

LoganRice

No, I prefer a surprise

the_syco

Tzardine wrote: »

I find that there are a lot of owners writing their own reviews on there. They are quite easy to spot.

Do they still remove the bad ones if paid to do so?

I usually look at the one stars, to see if they were stupid people, or bad issues.

=-=

The place was called the "White Tulip", and was in the middle of the RLD in the Dam. Here are some of the "terrible" reviews;

"First night we weren't able to sleep due to guests smoking marijuana in the bedroom"
"Be aware that the place attracts mostly party people. Guys are smoking weed and drinking beer all the time"
"No elevator in this place and the stairwell is so steep it wss a mission and a half to walk up the stairs." - it's a funking hostel, not a hotel!

In the end, myself and 5 of the lads stayed there. Awesome craic! One of the few places that didn't seem to care if you smoked weed in the place once you left the window open :cool:

sinead88

I love going on Tripadvisor for a general idea of a place. That being said, I'd never be one of those weirdos who jump right on there after a holiday or visit to write an incredibly petty or passive aggressive review just for the sake of it.

Sir Arthur Daley

I never take TripAdvisor too serious because at the end of the day it just an advisory website not a recommendation one.

fryup

paulfosters wrote: »

Often read the negative comments for a laugh. you can really spot the people that cant be satisfied.

also some people may have a chip on their shoulder about the owner of an establishment, and this may be their sly way of getting back at them