trip advisor and sister in law

raq

Hi guys

My brother and sister in law have booked a popular 5* hotel to fly out soon and had excellent reviews about the place from friends and actually the travel agents. She came over on saturday and said to log onto trip advisor and she is disappointed with a couple of comments.

I must admit 95% of the comments are excellent but she is just reading the few cons about the place.

I do feel for her but said to ignore some of the cons as the rest is good. She is really doubting whether to go now.

Do you think Tripadvisor is a good side??
Should they cancel and go elsewhere but then again she is gonna have the same problem

Thanks

VestanPance

Trip advisor can be useful. If 95% of the reviews are positive that's a very good sign. No place with a lot of reviews is ever going to be 100%.

You should read reviews about places before booking to decide where you want to stay, not after booking. If you want to find a bad review about any product you'll find it.

paulineb_2

I went to a hotel in Spain recently and just about every comment on the site said awful, avoid.

It wasnt awful, it was abslutely fine. Would I ever cancel a hotel based on a couple or even more duff trip advisor reviews. No.

browneyedbazzi

I think tripadvisor can be very useful if you look at it in the right way - I don't think you should give all reviews equal weight when you're reading through them and you should look for reviews from people who seem similar to you (in terms of what they want from a holiday and their circumstances - ie if they are travelling with children or not, mobility issues etc). Ask yourself if the things being praised or complained about are things that matter to you. For example, when I go abroad I like to experience the local food/culture but I see a lot of reviews where people have gone on foreign holidays and complain that the hotel didn't do a good full english breakfast or similar - doesn't matter a jot to me so I ignore those reviews.


If you see really good or really bad reviews it's also worth checking out who wrote them - I take more notice of things written by reviewers who are regular contributors and who's reviews seem balanced than one-offs.

raq

VestanPance wrote: »

Trip advisor can be useful. If 95% of the reviews are positive that's a very good sign. No place with a lot of reviews is ever going to be 100%.

You should read reviews about places before booking to decide where you want to stay, not after booking. If you want to find a bad review about any product you'll find it.

know what your saying. Sister in law said one of the staff at the travel agents came back 2 weeks ago and said 100 % it was amazing. My sister in law said, "Bet you say that to everyone", she then showed her pics on her phone of the family from the same place. Say I would say she was telling the truth.

raq

browneyedbazzi wrote: »

I think tripadvisor can be very useful if you look at it in the right way - I don't think you should give all reviews equal weight when you're reading through them and you should look for reviews from people who seem similar to you (in terms of what they want from a holiday and their circumstances - ie if they are travelling with children or not, mobility issues etc). Ask yourself if the things being praised or complained about are things that matter to you. For example, when I go abroad I like to experience the local food/culture but I see a lot of reviews where people have gone on foreign holidays and complain that the hotel didn't do a good full english breakfast or similar - doesn't matter a jot to me so I ignore those reviews.


If you see really good or really bad reviews it's also worth checking out who wrote them - I take more notice of things written by reviewers who are regular contributors and who's reviews seem balanced than one-offs.

sister in law said the reviews states " lot of germans and russians" . No english on the t.v. Who goes on holiday to watch t.v. I say.... Someone else mentioned they had a 4 hour delay there and 2 hour delay coming back. That is something you really don,t want to read and they haven,t even gone yet.

Pool, accomodation and location was all great.

I sometimes think people will have a winge as they have nothing else to winge about.

browneyedbazzi

raq wrote: »

sister in law said the reviews states " lot of germans and russians" . No english on the t.v. Who goes on holiday to watch t.v. I say.... Someone else mentioned they had a 4 hour delay there and 2 hour delay coming back. That is something you really don,t want to read and they haven,t even gone yet.

Pool, accomodation and location was all great.

I sometimes think people will have a winge as they have nothing else to winge about.

I certainly don't go on holiday to watch the TV and I have nothing against Germans or Russians so that wouldn't bother me at all. Unless the hotel arranged the transfers for the reviewer who experienced delays I really don't see how it's fair to base a bad review on that either.

Some people are just impossible to please and will always find something to complain about - they're best ignored!

Can you post a link to the tripadvisor page for the hotel?

raq

browneyedbazzi wrote: »

I certainly don't go on holiday to watch the TV and I have nothing against Germans or Russians so that wouldn't bother me at all. Unless the hotel arranged the transfers for the reviewer who experienced delays I really don't see how it's fair to base a bad review on that either.

Some people are just impossible to please and will always find something to complain about - they're best ignored!

Can you post a link to the tripadvisor page for the hotel?

Sorry what do you mean by " post a link to the tripadvisor page for the hotel" ???

I also think with my siter in law they have had an extremely bad 3* holiday in callela in 2010 and she is a bit scarred of going through the same again. I did tell her this place is 100 times better than callela.

Pollycat

You need to take any review with a pinch of salt and actually read between the lines.

Reviews are subjective rather than objective.

What will irk some people may not bother someone else at all but may make another person incandescent with rage.

What you need to do is ask yourself (for example) 'if there is no lift to the 2nd floor, will it really matter to me?'

Also (although it doesn't apply in this case) some people book basic self catering accommodation in say Greece or Turkey and expect 5* service and facilities.
That is obviously unrealistic and I would discount any review that complained that they were unable to cook (for example) a full 3 course Sunday lunch for 10 people. :cool:

Does your sister-in-law want to watch TV on holiday?
If she doesn't, that negative point is irrelevant.

Lots of large 5* All-Inclusive hotels have multi-national guests.
I doubt that she'd find many places that don't have Germans and Russians.

Re the 4 hour/2 hour delay - that is nothing whatsoever to do with the hotel and can happen to any airline without notice.

Re cancelling the holiday - she doesn't have a valid reason to cancel and unless the travel agent/tour operator are very accommodating, she will probably lose her deposit.

fireyfirenze

some people will whinge about absolutely anything on holiday and wod never be happy whatever they got. everyone is different so what's lovely for one guest may be annoying for another. while I think trip advisor is a good website I just use it for a general idea of things - so if it's got 95% good reviews I'd say that it's most likely going to be good. the review that mentions flight delays, that's nothing to do with the hotel! just happens unfortunately.

pinkshoes

I like Tripadvisor, as people seem to write a mixture of reviews, unlike other review sites where people just post negatives.

I write lots of reviews for Tripadvisor, and what I write is my personal opinion of my own experience, which people can judge how they want.

I am yet to leave a 1* review, as I find people who leave these are often ranting at something insignificant, although I have left a few 3* reviews, like a meal we had the other day, which was nice, but was VERY over priced for what you actually got.

95% positive reviews is great. If she can only see the negative reviews, she's never going to be happy!