Tripadvisor Reviews unbelievable.

[Dave7]

@Joey Shabadoo post brought these to mind.
Our son runs a pub/restaurant. Its not a 2 for £10 place and gets good reviews.
But 2 recent ones made me cringe.
1. A guy compained that the grains of salt were too fine so gave it a poor review.
2. A woman who admits she has never been said that someone who had been told her that on his visit it was quiet. On that basis she decided it must be poor and put the lowest review possible.
Why do people do that ??

 

[flake99please]

It could be possible that owners of a competing business have asked ‘friends’ to submit lower ratings so their business is seen more favourably.

 

[classic33]

Some people are paid to leave reviews, in much the same way as "secret shoppers" work. The more places you "review" the more you get.

These reviews could go either way, good or bad.

 

[fossyant]

As an owner you can reply - I've seen some hilarious replies. Keep it polite, but come up with something really funny.

I tend to look through the reviews and you quickly see through the rubbish.

 

[vickster]

I'd take the first one as being genuine with a very fine grain of salt...

 

[Wookee]

As an owner you can reply - I've seen some hilarious replies. Keep it polite, but come up with something really funny.

I tend to look few the reviews and you quickly see through the rubbish.

When looking at TA reviews I do like the ones that have owner responses on them as it shows a truer picture.

 

[vickster]

When looking at TA reviews I do like the ones that have owner responses on them as it shows a truer picture.

I just look at the average number of blobs, should weed out the nonsense

 

[Drago]

Why do people do that ??

Because they're A-holes.

You want me to leave a glowing review for him?

 

[steveindenmark]

You have to take the reviews with a pinch of salt😊 Its the same as any other review. You cannot take one review on its own. You must take them as a whole to form a fair opinion.

 

[Paulus]

A few years back my local pub got a bad review, not because the food and service was bad, but because the customer had problems opening a ketchup sachet, which was a Heinz one.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Trip advisor reviews are the work of Beelzebub himself.

A repository for nit picking whines from bitter and bored busybodies, or astroturfing lies paid for by the owner.

The most charitable view of them is that they reward the predictable, anodyne and unexceptional.

To be avoided at all costs.

 

[swee'pea99]

I've found them quite helpful in the past. It's generally not hard to spot the ones to discard - positive & negative - and get at least a fair indication from what remains.

 

[Milkfloat]

A few years back my local pub got a bad review, not because the food and service was bad, but because the customer had problems opening a ketchup sachet, which was a Heinz one.

Any food that requires ketchup, by default, is bad.

 

[Dave7]

It could be possible that owners of a competing business have asked ‘friends’ to submit lower ratings so their business is seen more favourably.

I can understand that but a review eg steak was tough, service terrible etc........but salt too fine etc ???

 

[CanucksTraveller]

There is some comedy gold on TA.
A guest house in Blackpool was famous some years ago when it had basically half glowing reviews of 5 blobs, and then the other half were 1 blob assassinations.
The one blobs were SO telling... people stating that you had to leave your car and keys with Bob the car park man and it stayed blocked in for the duration of the stay. A 9 course dinner included a thimble of grapefruit juice and a roll and butter as two separate "courses". The main meal was Birds Eye frozen beef slices in gravy with tinned mixed veg. The hotel was cash only as the "machine was broken" and seemed to have been for 3 years. The owners sarcastic, snide replies to these reviews were hilarious and would put you off on their own. "All my 5 star reviews prove you are a liar!" he would say.
It turned out he was bribing quiet old henpecked OAPs to say something nice on a review DURING the stay or they'd be thrown out. He would literally stand over them in the lounge and tell them what to say! 😄
Unfortunately it was shut down a couple of years ago by health inspectors.

If you want to read some great reviews check out the Fawlty Towers guesthouse in Great Yarmouth. At least the name hints at how disastrous a stay will be, you can't say you weren't warned.