Tripadvisor now meaningless

[Flick of the Elbow]

When looking for a B&B I always use Trip Advisor, never been disappointed yet. (Prior to Trip Advisor I had several dreadful experiences of B&Bs)

 

[Fnaar]

When looking for a B&B I always use Trip Advisor, never been disappointed yet. (Prior to Trip Advisor I had several dreadful experiences of B&Bs)

Great forum name by the way, @Flick of the Elbow

 

[MontyVeda]

Trip advisor is getting better at punishing the fake reviewers. I worked at a place that was regularly getting 4-5 star reviews then we got a couple of bad ones, mainly due to poor service, waitress on phone etc.

The boss, in his wisdom decided to get all his family and freinds to write glowing reviews. Somehow they never even made the site and the restaurant suddenly dropped 150 places in the towns rankings...one place above the local KFC!

To this day the reviews are still glowing and yet it languishes down around the bottom of the rankings.

The staff thought it was hilarious!

It was a sh!t idea when i was doing it... but i just did what i was told. I tended to write along the lines of "Close to shops and beach, theatre ten minutes walk" rather than "spotlessly clean and best breakfast I've ever had" ...Dunno if that makes me even more devious as i knew the informative review with 4 out of 5 stars would be less likely to be flagged as fake. What was daft was the money people would spend on marketing, when a simple shift in their approach to their business and customers would do far more good for far less money.

 

[nickyboy]

Use Tripadvisor a lot to choose hotels, restaurants, attractions etc etc. Sure there are dodgy reviews on there but there are enough reviews on there to get a pretty good idea of the true situation. Just disregard the outliers.
In using Tripadvisor we've stayed at some great places, eaten at some great places and done some great things that we wouldn't otherwise have. I can't remember a single occasion where we've left somewhere and thought the reviews weren't representative

 

[TVC]

Use Tripadvisor a lot to choose hotels, restaurants, attractions etc etc. Sure there are dodgy reviews on there but there are enough reviews on there to get a pretty good idea of the true situation. Just disregard the outliers.
In using Tripadvisor we've stayed at some great places, eaten at some great places and done some great things that we wouldn't otherwise have. I can't remember a single occasion where we've left somewhere and thought the reviews weren't representative

That's the way it has always worked for me, but my OP was about how the list of Leicester Resteraunts is now completely false as the majority of the top 20 are there by planted reviews, and the genuine review is now the outlier.

 

[classic33]

When people started asking(demanding) money/discounts/upgrades "or else" it became pointless.
Some even boast about the way they've managed to eat free.

 

[Archie_tect]

If I was a manager of a business treated lo a blackmail attempt, I'd throw them out onto the street.

 

[Pale Rider]

There have always been some terrible hotels in Blackpool.

I reckon the guests - lots of parties of drunken lads and lasses - set the tone of the cheaper places.

One I stayed in years ago wasn't too bad, but the manager did have some Basil Fawlty mannerisms.

 

[slowmotion]

As others have said, if you ignore the more extreme reviews and look at the general gist, I think it's still quite a useful website. I've never had a bad experience as a result of using it that way. It helps if the place has lots of reviews so that you can look for the obviously dodgy ones.

 

[steveindenmark]

If i use tripadvisor to choose a hotel then all the reviews have to say its brilliant. Up to now it has worked. I would never use it to find a place to eat..why would you? It is good for finding out what local attractions are on offer but it is only one form of information.

 

[nickyboy]

If i use tripadvisor to choose a hotel then all the reviews have to say its brilliant. Up to now it has worked. I would never use it to find a place to eat..why would you? It is good for finding out what local attractions are on offer but it is only one form of information.

Use Tripadvisor a lot to find places to eat when we're away. It's been very successful. For eg. had a couple of weeks in USA this year. There are loads of generic breakfast chains but we wanted to eat in more local, authentic places. Search on Tripadvisor later and we had loads of good options where the locals ate that we would never have found otherwise.

 

[steveindenmark]

I eat where the locals eat Nick.

 

[Globalti]

It's very simple, the majority of people have little discrimination and low standards so I ignore the "excellent" and just read the "terrible" reviews to get an idea of the standard of the place. It's easy to work out which reviews are from people who are just disgruntled because they had a barney with the staff. The well-written review that mentions filthy toilets and terrible service is the one I believe.

Some places are genuinely so good they only get great reviews. This is a superb B&B that I've been using in Harare. Staying there is like staying in a small outpost of Heaven:

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_...gsmead_Guesthouse-Harare_Harare_Province.html

It's the only hotel in all of Africa where I actually look forward to staying.

 

[Levo-Lon]

We just pay for quality as the hotel is the bit that makes the weekend.
If you want cheap and cheerful thats what you get.
4,5 star ratings rosetted places from AA Rac etc and yes we check reviews. You can usually spot a ringer review. plus we Always book direct as that initial conversation usually tells you a great deal about what sort of customer service they will offer...

 

[Globalti]

I don't trust star ratings; the hotel may have trouser presses and minibars and a few other facilities that tick the boxes to get it a better rating but that says nothing about the management or the amount spent on refurbishment as the rooms wear out.

I've been staying 2-3 times a year for 26 years in a five star Sheraton hotel in Lagos that is disgracefully worn out and dirty; the owners have used it as a cash cow for refurbishing their other hotel over 25 years and consequently it's in a mess. It is in a prime location near the airport so had a monopoly in the Ikeja business district for years but now Protea and Southern Sun have arrived from SA bringing competition and the owners have had to dip into their pockets and spend money on some expensive refurbs.