TripAdvisor. Unbiased?

travellerboy

You forgot to include Cruise Critics as a comprimised web-site.

Moonchild

PompeyPete wrote: »

That's a sign of quality!?
Anybody can write a review on any hotel they feel like on TA. They might never even have been to the country, never mind the hotel. The hotel review site is littered with malicious rubbish and undeserved self-promotion.
Whereas on Booking.com and Travel Republic, you have booked through them, so they know you have stayed at the hotel. Once your stay is over they then e-mail you requesting a review. People who haven't booked through them simply can't post spam reviews. That maintains the quality.

That said I think the travel discussion on TA is usually very good, particularly for the destinations which have knowledgeable Destination Experts.

Absolutely no, not at all, but it's the best of a bad system.

Howevere - Booking.com and Travel Republic have commercial agreements with the hotels, and will not publish criticism of themselves. So bare that in mind!

lucylucky

Tripadvisor is anything but unbiased.

It is also massively flawed as all reviews are given equal "weight"

PompeyPete

Moonchild wrote: »

Howevere - Booking.com and Travel Republic have commercial agreements with the hotels, and will not publish criticism of themselves. So bare that in mind!

Each individual review is 'scored' by the person who wrote it.
Using your argument all the scores and reviews will be above average +, or they won't be published. But that's not the case, and doing a random search of hotels from any destination, match the score with the review, and that will prove it.

Moonchild

PompeyPete wrote: »

Each individual review is 'scored' by the person who wrote it.
Using your argument all the scores and reviews will be above average +, or they won't be published. But that's not the case, and doing a random search of hotels from any destination, match the score with the review, and that will prove it.

Nope, they will have to feature negative reviews to negate the possible charge of bias

However, they will not publish anything that would put at risk their commercial agreement with the hotel. So extremely bad reviews (typically ones that end in massive complaints) would not be shown. But they would on Trip Advisor.

PompeyPete

Moonchild wrote: »

So extremely bad reviews (typically ones that end in massive complaints) would not be shown.

Some people who write their reviews can't tell the difference between a bad review and a complaint though.
They write their review as a complaint, which is outside the acceptable guidelines, and therefore not published.
Surely a complaint should be taken up on-the-spot with the hotel, and perhaps briefly mentioned in the review together with the outcome. Don't forget that many complaints are quickly solved and to the complete satisfaction of the punter.
That's my theory anyway;)

Moonchild wrote: »

But they would on Trip Advisor.

Exactly, which is why there's so much malicious or self-promotion on Trip Advisor.

pollypenny

My reviews, both good and bad, have always been published.

When looking for an hotel, I read through the reviews and use common sense as to believe them or not.

dojoman

pollypenny wrote: »

My reviews, both good and bad, have always been published.

When looking for an hotel, I read through the reviews and use common sense as to believe them or not.

Could not agree more.

PompeyPete

pollypenny wrote: »

My reviews, both good and bad, have always been published.

Like I said, the people most likely not to have their review published are the ones who turn a review into a complaint.

pollypenny wrote: »

When looking for an hotel, I read through the reviews and use common sense as to believe them or not.

Exactly. And do as much pre-trip homework as possible. If I have a problem, more often than not, it's my own fault.

eamon

I would imagine that a significant problem with any pro consumer type forum is that they will tend to attract only those that can be bothered to post anything. This may or may not be a true reflection of the experience by all the visitors to any establishment. I doubt if there is any practical way of verifying this.

If I don't like an hotel (or for that matter anything) then if I have a choice I will vote with my wallet and feet. If there are problems/issues that a conversation with the hotel people can easily rectify then that is surely a better way of doing things than posting anonymous rantings on an internet forum after the event.