Do you trust Travel Site Reviews?

[Guest fountainhall]

More and more booking sites, it seems, are requesting customers to post reviews of their experience at hotels, flights an so on booked through the site. Perhaps the most commonly used ones are Tripadviser for hotels and Skytrax for flights. I have ‘discovered’ several excellent hotels and guesthouses mostly from Tripadviser recommendations. And I made my first trip on Qatar Airlines only after thoroughly checking reviews on several sites (and what a fantastic return trip that was!).

 

So I wonder: when you book a hotel, do you bother to check such reviews – and do you really trust them? I ask because I seem to notice more hotel reviews cropping up which, in my view, are fake – prompted either by the hotels themselves or by associated companies like their PR Agencies.

 

A couple of years ago I spent 2 nights at one newish hotel in Pattaya which I had selected for its location near Boystown, loads of very positive reviews and a very high ranking on Tripadviser. Far from being a “great experience”, it was well below average. My friend and I felt it really sucked big time. On my return, I checked through the reviews and immediately became suspicious.

 

Tripadviser actually gives you clues about posters. It lists the date people register, the number of reviews they have made and personal travel maps which show at a glance where they have travelled. I soon realised that a lot of the reviews for this establishment were from people who registered only on the date of their review, had posted no other reviews and had no travel maps. So, after a more detailed analysis, I sent a fax to Tripadviser (you cannot email them) with a list of 12 reviews which I was certain were fake. I received no reply, but within a couple of weeks, 8 of these reviews were deleted from the site. Now I’ll name and shame: it was the Fraser Resort. Maybe it has improved since then. I sure hope so.

 

Although I am now much more careful how I check such posted reviews, there are times when I have no choice where I stay if clients arrange my accommodation. On the Singapore sub-forum, I recently posted my negative comments after 3 nights at the iconic Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore. This is the huge year-old building with three towers straddled by a long rooftop garden and infinity pool. It is attached to a major Convention Centre and the Sands Casino. As a 5-star resort hotel, I looked forward to a really enjoyable, comfortable and fun experience. As I reported, given its 5-star rating and the huge cost of rooms, it also sucks!

 

So, on my return I started looking through the Tripadviser reviews. It is rated around 56 – 60 in the rankings out of 251 hotels, making it by far the lowest officially ranked 5-star hotel in the city. It also attracts a much wider variety of really bad reviews than other 5-star hotels. That made me suspicious. I fully realise that one poster’s expectations of any hotel will vary very considerably from another’s. Consequently, one poster’s experience will differ from that of another. But when around 480 out of around 1,300 posters rated their experience as “Excellent”, why I wondered did almost 200 rate it as “Terrible” and 120 as “Poor”? I could find no similar ratio in any of the other 5-star hotels. So I did some more detailed checking.

 

I selected more or less at random 9 posters who had recently rated it “Excellent”. The criteria were the posters had made only this one review, had registered on the date of their review, had no other travel posts, no travel map, and had stayed in regular rooms (for I do believe the Club rooms offer a considerably enhanced experience). To each I sent an email saying I had enjoyed reading their review and asking if they could amplify in a word or two just one of the points in the reviews. One was slightly more detailed. That poster had said she was so impressed that her company had now selected the MBS as its hotel partner in Singapore in preference to all other hotels. I asked if she could tell me some of the reasons as my company was about to make a similar decision.

 

The emails were sent between July 22 and August 2. I then selected one “Terrible” post. To that person I voiced my suspicions that a lot of the 5-star reviews are fake and asked his opinion. Such messages are directed to the personal email boxes of the posters – not only their Tripadviser message box. When I received no reply from the first two “Excellents”, after a lapse of a week I re-sent the mails suggesting that perhaps they may not have noticed them.

 

The results? Not one of the nine “Excellents” has replied. The one “Terrible” replied within two days, advising me he agreed with my suspicions! (So I don't buy the argument that my mails found their way into junk folders).

 

Although this is in no way properly-conducted market research, it does, I suggest, provide a very significant indication that most, if not all, of those “Excellent” reviews were fake posts. If just one had replied, then I would be less sure of my ‘finding’. It is therefore my view that the some organisation related to the MBS is prompting “Excellent” Tripadviser reviews to try and boost its ratings. Frankly, the hotel doesn’t need ratings. With the casino, its Convention Centre and that Skypool (one of the biggest disappointments, as it is always packed with kids and flooded with tourists who pay to see the view and watch you swim), it will always fill its 2,500 rooms. But it must surely be a major source of embarrassment to the city state’s government and the Sands Corporation that their icon hotel cannot live up to its aspirations.

 

I will give the “Excellents” another couple of days to respond. If, as I now expect, I receive nothing, Tripadviser will get another fax from me! And in future I will examine recommendations in much greater detail!

 

(And yes, I know, I know. Some of you will no doubt be sighing: “Fountainhall and his conspiracy theories!”)

[Gaybutton]

Some of you will no doubt be sighing:

[Guest]

I remember one case where I checked in at an unsatisfactory hotel in Istanbul, which had a glowing review made by the guy who was working on reception. I knew it was him, as he had his photo in his Trip Advisor ID. He had posted one other review criticising a rival Istanbul hotel.

 

I like to consider only the reviews from members who have posted several different reviews of hotels in various locations.

 

Members with just one or two reviews are to be ignored. Also, those who claim to be a "UK Solicitor"(example) but make posts riddled with spelling mistakes are likely to be frauds.

[Guest fountainhall]

I like to consider only the reviews from members who have posted several different reviews of hotels in various locations.

That's by far the most sensible way of assessing the average opinion of genuine guests. I also only look at reviews from about 3 months prior to making a booking. That way you can find out if hotels have things like renovations going on which they do not tell you about on their websites.

 

Also, don't let the volume of reviews sway your opinion. I have stayed at another Pattaya hotel which actually gives its guests a note on departure to tell them about Tripadviser and suggests they write a review. To me, that’s acceptable as there is no pressure to write a good one, but it explains why one hotel might have hundreds of reviews whereas others average only dozens.

 

I'd be much more inclined to make decisions based on advice from these message boards than I would based on overblown glowing reports on travel and booking sites.

I completely agree, provided a poster states exactly what he is looking for.

[Moses]

he-he... I can say you: I wrote about 6 or may be 7 reviews at TA... almost all of them were at day of registration from new account: I just don't care to remember login and pass, so every time I had to register again and again

 

But they are true reviews

 

Anyway, you are right about PR agencys - they work hard at TA

[Guest thaiworthy]

he-he... I can say you: I wrote about 6 or may be 7 reviews at TA... almost all of them were at day of registration from new account: I just don't care to remember login and pass, so every time I had to register again and again

 

I use the same login and password for many different sites, that way it is easy to remember. If everyone who reads those reviews uses Fountainhall's criteria for determining credibility, it would render your entries useless and a waste of your time.

 

Fountainhall, I greatly admire you for your tenacity and ingenuity. It is refreshing to know of someone who uses logic and common sense as an approach to solving problems. Why don't you have a blog? If you had one, I would read it eagerly.

 

When I read Tripadvisor reviews, I often look at what people have had to say about places I've stayed at frequently. It serves no other purpose than to sense whether an individual is being fair and honest or has an axe to grind against a particular stay. It gives me a little insight into the nature of people. We all want the best value for our money, but oftentimes someone gets a burr up their ass about some little thing that happens to them. It is interesting to read these tales because some of them read like horror stories and you can sense that by how emotionally they choose their words.

 

Fountainhall's clues about how to interpret real reviews from the fake ones seems pretty splendid to me. In that respect, the latter is a kind of underhanded advertising. I think it is the desperate economic times in which we live and a new breed of business model. I think it is necessary to be suspicious. We can look forward to more and more of this future, as it will only get worse, in my opinion. The anonymity of the individual online has always afforded people an invisibility cloak to express their views, now businesses are using that as a tool.

[Guest fountainhall]

I just don't care to remember login and pass, so every time I had to register again and again

That's one of my biggest headaches with all sites requiring log-ins, especially on the financial sites like banks. But with Tripadviser, I just never log off - so when I open the site, I don't need to remember anything.

 

I use the same login and password for many different sites, that way it is easy to remember.

Easy to remember but apparently not recommended. I used to be more or less the same with just a couple of variations. But I have now had it impressed on me that this can make it easier for hackers. So, after months of thinking about it I finally worked out a formula for different sites that I can easily remember.

 

Why don't you have a blog? If you had one, I would read it eagerly.

Kind of you to suggest that but, frankly, I'm not really interested! I rarely read blogs myself, unless they are basically on one subject - e.g. shamelessmack's. What a pity that seems to have been discontinued! I guess I prefer the anonymity of a message board where there is some interaction between posters - even though my posts tend to be on the long side more often than not

[TotallyOz]

Admin Note: We moved this thread to the main Gay Thailand forum as we think it is relevant to anyone traveling to Thailand.

[Guest anonone]

I have found Trip Adviser to mostly not be worth the effort. Really seems they do not have a systematic way to vet reviews, and they censor some things pretty heavily.

It does not inspire a lot of trust in the content.

 

There is one poster that is active on the Thailand & Air travel forums at TA that is an amazing source of info. I have asked him a couple of pretty simple questions, and he replies with very lengthy, helpful, and most importantly, very knowledgeable answers. That seems to be the exception, however.

 

For both air and hotel / destination forums, I have found FlyerTalk to be a much better source of info. It is more forum based, so maybe a little harder to find information on specific hotels, but all-in-all, a much better resource than TA....IMO

[atri1666]

I am writing reviews myself already for years for Agoda,Hotel.de, hotels.com and Holidaycheck but i mostly never trust other reviews before i have stayed at a place myself.I dont like TA because of to much cheating.

[PattayaMale]

Besides using Trip Adviser to see hotel reviews, I use it to see activities different posters suggest.

 

The first time I went to Cambodia, there were several activities listed that I did while there. Very good advice had been given.

[Guest fountainhall]

Besides using Trip Adviser to see hotel reviews, I use it to see activities different posters suggest.

I quite agree. There can be some very useful bits of information elsewhere in the site.

 

As for my original post about the Marina Bay Sands, there has been a flood of 5-star reviews from single-review posters in the last few weeks. Consequently, it has risen in the rankings from #64 when I stayed there to #54 today. I think that says all that needs to be said!

[TotallyOz]

I have written over 100 reviews on trip advisor and I use it whenever I go to a new city. I look at the review and if the review is from a newbie, I pass by. If a review is from someone established with reviews from a variety of hotels, I give weight to that review. Sorry, but I never read a review from someone with only one or two posts. I find them irrelevant to the site and to me. If someone is serious about the reviews, they can do more than a few reviews.

 

I get lots of questions based on my reviews and I always answer. I also will ask questions when I am going to travel.

 

I do have a long Crown Plaza Bangkok story I'll post when I get time and it really told me the weight management puts into reviews and they really try to vet the bad reviews.

[Guest]

Trip advisor needs a facility to allow readers to filter out reviews from people with less than 5 reviews, or those who add the 5 reviews within a very short period of time.

[Moses]

The same login and pass for many accounts will compromise all your accounts in case if one of them will be hacked...

 

I can't keep passes in browser coz I'm living in 3 dif. places each of them has own computer. Yes, I have "system" for passes, but sometimes it "don't work"

[Guest fountainhall]

I can't keep passes in browser coz I'm living in 3 dif. places each of them has own computer.

I have tripadviser on my desktop here, my Hong Kong office and my laptop. Since I am never logged off on any of them, I don't need to re-log in. And it doesn't matter if that account is hacked for any reason since it has its own password.

[KhorTose]

I am writing reviews myself already for years for Agoda,Hotel.de, hotels.com and Holidaycheck but i mostly never trust other reviews before i have stayed at a place myself.I dont like TA because of to much cheating.

I cimpletely agree. I always check Agoda reviews even when I book eksewhere as everyone who writes a review has actually stayed there.

[Guest fountainhall]

I always check Agoda reviews even when I book eksewhere as everyone who writes a review has actually stayed there.

Agoda and several other sites request reviews from people who book through them. The request comes by email only after your stay and so, as Khortose says, they will be genuine reviews.

 

This discussion prompted me to look into Tripadviser's structure. It's actually owned by Expedia. According to wikipedia -

 

TripAdvisor Media Group operates 17 travel brands including TripAdvisor, Airfarewatchdog, BookingBuddy, Cruise Critic, Family Vacation Critic, FlipKey, Holiday Lettings, Holiday Watchdog, Independent Traveler, OneTime, SeatGuru, SmarterTravel, SniqueAway, Travel Library, TravelPod, VirtualTourist and Kuxun.cn.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TripAdvisor

 

Kuxin.cn is China

[pong]

@z109: the case of Istanbul-funny that you name it-as due to my other part-time job from time to time I have to sift (''read-after a year or so it is mainyl repeat all the same again-some of those traveller sites, on IST there was an amusing and by now interesting quote from someone from there complaiing about TA on another forum (L-thorntree- for ''backpacker'' style travellers) that there is an office in IST doing thus jobs in commission. Suspect that TA had ''selected'' this office as its local partner.

Some hotelchains that take it seriously have instructed their mamagers to read any TA review and respond when appropriate, and more important; to make changes to their managed hotels if the cruitique is not unique and well-founded. (NH for example)

What I dislike about TA-or maybe see it as a warning for any fourm/review site: many of those forums (and of course ther are more in languages most of you do not know) only get kind of newbies-people who seem to know really nothing about the place they are visiting (just read the main Thailand forums and wonder why all Australians always ask all the same things about Phuket). Or the kind of people I would rather stay away from-in that case it might be helpful in an unwanted way. So if I wanted to see reviews I would stick/find others in local language and for more intrepid travellers.

[forrestreid]

If you want genuine reviews, look at Booking.com

 

After you stay at a hotel you booked with them, you get an email prompting you to put in a review. In fact I think this is the only way you can review on Booking.com.

 

So I think their reviews are quite honest. They all seem to be people who actually stayed there.

 

Also, they prompt you to post something good and bad about your stay, so this means that most of the reviews contain a bit of both. Sometimes the one bad thing somebody says about a hotel they generally praise can be informative.

 

The fact that they also have a lot of reviews is good too,- for example they have over 200 reviews at present for the Tawana Bangkok hotel on Silom. So all the nutty reviews get drowned out by the sane majority.

 

It also tells you what type of traveller they were. - "young couple" or " family" or "solo traveller" etc.

 

That can help you read between the lines. The nationality of reviewers can also help you guage their review. I often stay in London, and I have learned that one can safely ignore criticism by Americans that the room is too small or the bathroom is too small as too Americans, the rooms of EVERY budget hotel in london seems to small.

[Guest fountainhall]

The nationality of reviewers can also help you guage their review.

Some very good points, forrestreid. I agree completely about nationality. I do not wish to appear in any way racist - hopefully, just realistic - but I suppose it's obvious now that any huge Convention hotel like the Marina Bay Sands requires a whole lot of non-gambling tour groups just to fill its 2,500 rooms. And the newer markets like Korea, China and India will account for a goodly number. Of these, most Indians will speak English and, indeed, I noticed a few India based reviewers on the MBS pages. Almost certainly, few will have experienced life in such a huge hotel before. Consequently, the impression given by the MBS will be hugely different from seasoned veterans who can compare that hotel with a decent number of other vastly better 5-star properties elsewhere.

 

My fax to tripadviser was sent last night. I asked for a reply, but do not expect one. I will, however, check very closely to see if reviews are deleted and the rating zooms downwards again.

 

In a little further research, I noticed again with that particular hotel that quite a number of first time rave reviews are from SIngaporeans. Not entirely implausible, given that many might splash out to celebrate an anniversary, birthday etc. But, as usual, they make only one review and have no travel profile. Indeed, a couple even list Singapore as the only place on their travel map! How can you live in Singapore and travel to Singapore? I'd have thought that's precisely the sort of oddity the tripadviser checks and balances procedures should be weeding out - and clearly don't.

[Guest fountainhall]

So much for my earlier comments about certain nationalities! I just did a very quick exercise using booking.com and the 2 pages of reviews covering approximately the period when I was picking up the Tripadviser reviews. These, remember, are people who actually stayed at the hotel.

 

Allowing for this being a very fast survey, I am reasonably sure the nationalities of those who stayed are –

 

US/Canada 2

Australia/New Zealand 9

Europe 6

Middle East 16

China/Japan 3

Hong Kong/Macao 3

Other S E Asia 4

Singapore 5

India 2

 

The review system on booking.com has a total of 10 marks. Those who gave 8.5 or more were

 

US/Canada 1

Australia/New Zealand 4

Europe 3

Middle East 6

Singapore 1

 

The 4 best - perfect 10s - were from Canada, Europe (Ireland), Kuwait and Saudi Arabia (but to be fair, the young Irish couple were upgraded and provided with an anniversary cake, so their judgment was somewhat clouded, I reckon!)

 

Those who gave 6 or less were

 

Australia/New Zealand 1

Europe 1

Middle East 2

Hong Kong/Macao 1

Singapore 1

India 1

 

The worst reviews were 4.2 from Hong Kong, 4.5 from Singapore and 4.6 from Serbia.

 

The average for the MBS as of today is 8. For other 5-star hotels in the area, this compares to 8.3 for the Marina Mandarin (hardly a 5-star hotel in my book, though!), 8.6 for the Swissotel The Stamford, 8.7 for The Fullerton, 8.9 for the Pan Pacific, 9 for the Conrad, 9.1 for the Ritz-Carlton and 9.2 for the Mandarin Oriental. So, booking.com also ranks the MBS considerably lower than other 5-star hotels. At least in that respect, Tripadviser and booking.com are in agreement!

 

Make of this what you will

[Guest fountainhall]

Odd! When you aren't even looking for mistakes, they begin to jump off the page. A Tripadviser reviewer from Missouri with 96 reviews and an extensive travel map claims this of her recent stay in Bally's Hotel in Las Vegas -

 

"We were given a room on the 69th floor in the south tower"

 

- and then raves about the views. I stayed at Ballys' a couple of years ago. It has nowhere near 69 floors. No hotel in Vegas does. Wikipedia's list of the largest hotels in the world has it with 2,814 rooms on 26 floors! That's an easily checkable fact. Who at Tripadviser does the checking?

[Guest sydneyboy]

This is a very good thread. Tripadvisor is an excellent tool but it must be viewed with caution. I always read all the reviews of a particular property and get a "feel" of what I am in for. You can assess the extremes good and bad and try to gauge what it was that motivated someone to write a review that was at variance with the overall consenus. I am particularly wary of reviews of new hotels when I suspect that they are "plants" to boost its ratings very quickly.

 

A few miscellaneous points. I am a regular traveller to Brazil. Rio is legendary for its appalling accomodations even at the top end. Some of the hotels are getting their act together and renovating their properties. The Copacabana Palace (the most famous hotel in the city) is a case in point. Some tripadvisor reviewers have described the place as a dump where others rave. This is explained by the fact that some have been allocated unrenovated rooms while others newly refurbished rooms. This is not a reflection on the credibility of tripadvisor but on the properties themselves. There are many other examples in Rio. I stayed at the Fasano in Rio 3 years ago when it was brand new and is now considered the "in" place in Rio. It was very nice. I paid $500US 3 years but in keeping with the outrageous price increases in Brazil this room is now $1000US. Now the reviews on tripadvisor relate (not unreasonably) to the question of value and finding faults based on value rather than the merit of the property as such.

 

I am not saying tripadvisor is infallible or subject to error or censorship. A review I wrote of Le Meridien in Bangkok under 2 years ago has "disappeared" and I might add the review was generally favourable but with some negative comments particularly of the pool area.

 

I hope this contribution has been of some value to an excellent thread.

[firecat69]

This is a very good thread. Tripadvisor is an excellent tool but it must be viewed with caution. I always read all the reviews of a particular property and get a "feel" of what I am in for. You can assess the extremes good and bad and try to gauge what it was that motivated someone to write a review that was at variance with the overall consenus. I am particularly wary of reviews of new hotels when I suspect that they are "plants" to boost its ratings very quickly.

 

A few miscellaneous points. I am a regular traveller to Brazil. Rio is legendary for its appalling accomodations even at the top end. Some of the hotels are getting their act together and renovating their properties. The Copacabana Palace (the most famous hotel in the city) is a case in point. Some tripadvisor reviewers have described the place as a dump where others rave. This is explained by the fact that some have been allocated unrenovated rooms while others newly refurbished rooms. This is not a reflection on the credibility of tripadvisor but on the properties themselves. There are many other examples in Rio. I stayed at the Fasano in Rio 3 years ago when it was brand new and is now considered the "in" place in Rio. It was very nice. I paid $500US 3 years but in keeping with the outrageous price increases in Brazil this room is now $1000US. Now the reviews on tripadvisor relate (not unreasonably) to the question of value and finding faults based on value rather than the merit of the property as such.

 

I am not saying tripadvisor is infallible or subject to error or censorship. A review I wrote of Le Meridien in Bangkok under 2 years ago has "disappeared" and I might add the review was not especially critical.

 

I hope this contribution has been of some value to an excellent thread.

 

Amazing a $1000 a night . Makes the boys more then NYC and way more then anywhere in Asia when you take into account your Hotel costs . For those who like 5 star Hotels when they travel, Brazil has become worse then Paris and Rome and not worth going to unless you lower your standards for Hotels or just don't have to care about money. Not the case for me unfortunately!