How much do you rely on holiday review sites when booking your hols

Ms_Chocaholic

I really struggle when I'm thinking about where to book to go on holiday and the huge amount of review sites make choosing a hotel/resort/country much much more difficult.

How do you decide where to book and how much do you rely on tripadvisor and other sites.

Ms Choc x

Alikay

I always check tripadvisor, but take it with a pinch of salt as a lot of reviewers are North Americans who expect the clean and modern standards of USA chain hotels and often don't appreciate european historic quirkiness. You'll often find complaints about lack of elavators in beautiful ancient venetian hotels, or lack of natural daylight in 16th century Amsterdam hotels!!
If there are lots of complaints about service and cleanliness then I do tend to avoid the place and book elsewhere. I also check virtual tourist for ideas on sightseeing.

I used to be a travel consultant so had the use of the DGG gazeteers - most travel agents wil let you see them. They're good for factual stuff like area and facilities, but don't give the detailed reviews and guest opinions that tripadvisor does.

saveapenny

the tour op brochure customer ratings are always worth a look too (thats if the hotel is on a brochure) but I alwasy take the average on Trip/holidaytruths/holidaysuncovered and all the rest because not everyone likes the same things but obviously if they all say the food is mingy I wouldnt book..lol

mrs_scrooge

Yes I agree. I find choosing is so much more difficult these days as there's so much info on the net. How did we ever choose from one tiny picture and a few bullet points in a travel brochure?

I find Tripadvisor usually comes up trumps for choosing hotels although I'm aware different people have different standards, priorities etc.

milkydrink

Yes, I ALWAYS check ALL the holiday review sites. But I try to work out whether any complaints are justified too. This one is for the place I've booked for May 4th, 99% of reviewers loved it, but the review below makes me laugh.......

We have just returned from 2 weeks at the Aegean Dreams Resort we had a good holiday but felt it was not geared up for English tastes and young children and catered mainly for the Dutch and German who were present in large numbers. We were disapointed that the only way to have a full English breakfast was to book it one day in advance and it would cost £6, as we were at an all inclusive hotel we thought this was a bit of cheek!

Really no full English breakfast included in Turkey!!!!!:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

The quality and choice of food was extensive and of excellent quality our only complaint was the lack of plain simple food for children. Meal times were quite rigid with breakfast 7 - 10, late breakfast 10 - 11, lunch 12:30 - 2:30, snacks 2:30 - 4:30, coffee and cake 4 - 5pm, dinner 7 - 9:30, we found the dinner was a bit late for our 4yr old and would have benefited from an earlier sitting. On one occasion I asked for a bread roll for my 4yr old son at 11:00 just after late breakfast had finished I was told he would have to wait until lunch at 12:30 it eventually took 2 members of staff and a phone call to find that I could get a roll from the beach bar which was setting up for lunch. I feel that having the opportunity for snacks thoughout the day would have eliminated this issue.

Now would you call them mealtimes rigid:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: , I know they also have popcorn & other snacks in the bar after dinner & ladies doing traditional Turkish food all afternoon that you watch them prepare in the traditional way. Plus I think 7pm is early enough for dinner in the med, the suns only going down then

The animation team was excellent and provided a wide range of activities for all ages throughout the day. Our son thoughly enjoyed the Kids club with Linda and Marina, having his face painted most days!, games, painting, drawing and extra practice for the moves for the evening kids disco. However we found that if you were using the pool when the pool game or dance was going on you were told to move.
A word of warning if you want a sun bed especially by the kids pool get up early!!

That one I would take with a pinch of salt............;)

poe.tuesday

I also use tripadvisor but like Alikay says, the North Americans (some of them) just seem to moan about everything so I also tent to steer clear of their opinons, especially when they start moaning about seaweed on the beach, God damn those waves :A

milkydrink

Agreed about the Americans.

The people who posted the above review are English though.

I can't get over them complaining about not getting a full English included every morning:rotfl:

showtunesgirl

So Shirley Valentine! :rotfl:

I use those sites but try to read all of them very carefully and judge each one on it's on merit.

However, I DID once have the misfortune of staying at this hotel: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g186364-d192703-Reviews-Grosvenor_House_Hotel-Sheffield_South_Yorkshire_England.html and I'm afraid all the bad reviews are true! When we got to the hotel, there were pools of vomit just before the reception. Also the toilet had a strip of paper saying "Cleaned for your hygiene" with some lovely hair on top! :eek: Thank goodness I was only there for one night!

Sam_Bee

I won't go on (again!) about Trip Advisor's lack of impartiality now it's owned by Expedia!

It's great if you take with a pinch of salt, and work out if you are the same type of person that would post a review - and and if so what kind of expectations would you have.

Re above

"Meal times were quite rigid with breakfast 7 - 10, late breakfast 10 - 11, lunch 12:30 - 2:30, snacks 2:30 - 4:30, coffee and cake 4 - 5pm, dinner 7 - 9:30"

That's great - breakfast from 7-11 - the least rigid breakfast i've ever seen!

Lady_E

I will check tripadvisor and hoteltruths, but like another poster said , if there is a common complaint then I will steer clear. I always think if you are looking for something in particular , then a quick call to the hotel will sort it out for you. We did that when we ewent to Tenerife and the receptionist could not have been more charming and helpful , it certainly took the stress out of wondering "will they, wont they".

jcumpsty

I agree with everything posted here.

I always look at Trip advisor, Holidays Uncovered, Holiday Truths and Holiday Watchdog. But again, I always consider the point of view from people writing the articles.

That said, if there are 20 reviews and 19 of them give low ratings I simply wont go.

Isnt it funny that we always assume the complainers are Americans. So much for the "greatest nation on Earth"...They tend to be a bit of a worldwide joke dont they. They may not be the only complainers, but you can generally be sure if they are complaining about something stupid, then it is going to be an American.

Im taking the kids to a Haven Holiday park over Easter. I would love to see what an American would make of one of those.