How long does Tripadvisor take?

PompeyPete

Jamie_Carter wrote: »

I don't think that is a good idea, as it encourages fake reviews.

Fair comment, but it doesn't stop TA being littered with fake reviews.
It doesn't happen on Travel Republic, or Booking.com.
You can only write a review by invitation, and the only way to get that invitation is to have actually booked a room on those websites.
Still doesn't stop the odd review that goes against the flow, but generally reviews are more balanced.

interstellaflyer

Jamie_Carter wrote: »

Even bad hotels must get it right some of the time. So when the general trend is for bad reviews, and then someone posts an excellent review, then it looks suspicous, and will need to be checked out. The same also applies in reverse.

It may be that your review looked like it was too good for the general trend of other reviews.

This is the same for other review sites.

I think a lot of the problem is that people just don't understand the star rating system and go with too high expectations, so they book a 3 star hotel and find the room very basic, they just don't get the fact that the star rating can reflect the facilities the hotel complex has to offer, so you get comments like 'No kettle, hair dryer or mini bar in room, this hotel is no way a 3 star' or the other thing people don't do is take note of medical advice, they lay in the sun all day drinking copious amounts of alcohol then when they are ill they blame the food, so the hotel gets slated over food hygiene, oh and we must not forget the rude staff, I've never stayed anywhere where the staff were rude, however, the way some people treat hotel staff, you could understand why they maybe less than helpful with those people.

Jamie_Carter

PompeyPete wrote: »

Fair comment, but it doesn't stop TA being littered with fake reviews.
It doesn't happen on Travel Republic, or Booking.com.
You can only write a review by invitation, and the only way to get that invitation is to have actually booked a room on those websites.
Still doesn't stop the odd review that goes against the flow, but generally reviews are more balanced.

True. But then most review sites are full of fake reviews. It looks like some companies must employ people to just post on review sites. And then there are the companies who give people discounts if they will post a possitive review.

Jamie_Carter

interstellaflyer wrote: »

I've never stayed anywhere where the staff were rude.

I have. Well some of them were rude anyway.

lawrenson

Hi,

on at least 4 different occasions I have been offered "incentives" by a hotel to remove a "bad" review. One of those times i had given the hotel 8 out of 10, but that wasnt enough for them!

Cheers,
karen

sillygoose

I think one of the tell-tale signs of a genuine review is the detail, someone just saying it was rubbish and they treated me like some common chav, when its written in text-speak (so they probably are!) I don't take too seriously. I see plenty of rude guests in hotels so its no surprise they don't get treated like royalty despite expecting it.

If I see a review that has something like 'the evening meals were fair, but tastier and better value food could be found at the local pub The Ship, about 500 yards away in South Street' within it then its far more influential to me.

Jamie_Carter

lawrenson wrote: »

Hi,

on at least 4 different occasions I have been offered "incentives" by a hotel to remove a "bad" review. One of those times i had given the hotel 8 out of 10, but that wasnt enough for them!

Cheers,
karen

I hope you didn't accept?

Jamie_Carter

sillygoose wrote: »

I think one of the tell-tale signs of a genuine review is the detail, someone just saying it was rubbish and they treated me like some common chav, when its written in text-speak (so they probably are!) I don't take too seriously. I see plenty of rude guests in hotels so its no surprise they don't get treated like royalty despite expecting it.

If I see a review that has something like 'the evening meals were fair, but tastier and better value food could be found at the local pub The Ship, about 500 yards away in South Street' within it then its far more influential to me.

Chavs are allowed to leave reviews too you know.

sillygoose

Jamie_Carter wrote: »

Chavs are allowed to leave reviews too you know.

They are of course, but they may have unrealistically high expectations of a £50 a night 3 star B&B, tend to reflect this in the way they treat the hotel.

Jamie_Carter

sillygoose wrote: »

They are of course, but they may have unrealistically high expectations of a £50 a night 3 star B&B, tend to reflect this in the way they treat the hotel.

In my experience I have found that most of them go to all inclusive hotels in Spain, where they don't care about the standards, as long as everything is free.