trip advisor and sister in law

pollypenny

I am now completely confused by the star ratings. After that horrid place in Majorca, I ran the other three stars we knew through my mind.

Yes, there was another which shouldn't have had three, but it should have had four stars. Very odd, perhaps the ratings are subjective.

Any

pollypenny wrote: »

I am now completely confused by the star ratings. After that horrid place in Majorca, I ran the other three stars we knew through my mind.

Yes, there was another which shouldn't have had three, but it should have had four stars. Very odd, perhaps the ratings are subjective.

You mean official hotel ratings? They are also different for every country or travelling organisation I think...

Pollycat

Any wrote: »

I have posted before now on a hotel where there were prostitutes and that attracts certain people around. These were certain nationality (both) and I might have commented on it.
The hotel fully allowed this and deserved to be scored on it. I have nothing against prostitutes, but I do not put myself in a position where someone can come up to me and ask if I am in business.

Agree that germans don't queue:D

I would have mentioned that the hotel allowed this too, even if it was perfect in location, decor, food, service and all other respects.

I think it's definitely something that other potential guests should be aware of.

Dark_Star

I doubt anywhere gets 5 stars that often..

I have learned that Americans have very different views of what qualifies as 5 stars; they expect a lot as standard (I know a lot of Americans & am astounded at their perceptions. Lovely people but seem to reside on another planet) :rotfl:

Years ago I read up on somewhere exotic - some reviews whinged about the coral beach not having soft sand.....er did the word CORAL* escape their notice? Americans....:D * a natural SHARP object....

Anyway - like any review site - read it & make your own opinion...

95% should be ok. Look at the most recent & also type of reviewer. If a family went to an 18-30's type of place - then they probably wouldn't give it a good review.

Ditto the 18-30's that get bunged in with the Saga crowd

horses for courses as they say;)

Chlorine7

If she is going to let 5% worry her then she probably shouldn't travel. If she can't get along with other cultures then don't leave the house.

However, I do make generalisations myself when someone does end up annoying me on holiday. I found a Russian family to be rude to staff and oblivious to others in the pool, I have found an arab couple unable to understand that you need to let people out of the lift first before you can get in, I have found Europeans don't understand the concept of queuing. BUT I have found all of these in British people too so it's not necessarily about nationality, it's more about the ignorance of people no matter where they are from.

As for tripadvisor, I think it's a great tool as long as you know how to use (as explained in previous posts). I do post reviews and I try very hard to keep reviews balanced. I have found it to be a life-saver for travelling around Asia. It also saved my OH £25 on a Groupon offer for Shanghai Blues. He stupidly bought the voucher and then looked at reviews but thankfully within the 7 days refund period so we didn't have to be one of the couples that suffered in that place.

Bella73

I would be happy to boom with 95% positive feedback, generally take views with a pinch of salt as remember there are people that would moan wherever they stay as they want to pay a tenner but receive 5 star it just doesn't happen.

We stayed in a lovely hotel once which some of the reviewers had moaned about but it really was lovely and the staff were great to us, in the review they had moaned about the staff being rude, but they were polite to us but to be fair we were polite to them in the first place.

Pollycat

pollypenny wrote: »

I am now completely confused by the star ratings. After that horrid place in Majorca, I ran the other three stars we knew through my mind.

Yes, there was another which shouldn't have had three, but it should have had four stars. Very odd, perhaps the ratings are subjective.

As already said, official hotel/accommodation ratings differ and tour operators also give places their own ratings e.g. Thomson may say 3T or 4T.

As for TA ratings it's some weird algorithm based on number of reviews, ratings etc and TA won't reveal how it's worked out.

If someone gives a newly listed place 5 for each category, it won't go to the top of the accommodation list.

I'm bemused by the TA rating reviews for a place we've recently booked.

Our accommodation is #2 out of 48 in the resort.
It has:
76 Excellent
21 Very Good
3 Average
0 Poor
1 Terrible
Total of 101 reviews

The #1 property has:
69 Excellent
19 Very Good
6 Average
1 Poor
3 Terrible
Total of 98 reviews

So the #1 property has less 'excellent', less 'very good', more 'average', more 'poor', more 'terrible' and less reviews overall than the #2 property.
So go figure how they work that out!

The 'average' reviews were dated Sept 2011, Aug 2010 and Oct 2007 and the 'terrible' was Sept 2012.
That one complained about self catering facilities - it is basic Greek accommodation - see my comment in an earlier post:

Pollycat wrote: »

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:

It also complained about the cost of air conditioning but that is about the going rate and we've asked for a high room so will hopefully be able to leave our balcony doors open and so not need it.

It also complained about the owner not being too friendly if you didn't drink at the bar.
That doesn't bother us as we'll probably have a drink before going up for a shower and before we go out for the evening.

It's all about keeping things in perspective and deciding if the negative things mentioned are really going to impact on your enjoyment.

lostinrates

pollypenny wrote: »

I am now completely confused by the star ratings. After that horrid place in Majorca, I ran the other three stars we knew through my mind.

Yes, there was another which shouldn't have had three, but it should have had four stars. Very odd, perhaps the ratings are subjective.

They seem a lot less consistent than they used to be to me. Perhaps its because I am older and more cynical. But luxury seems less luxury and basic actually seems a lot less basic.

I travel a lot less these days but was lucky enough that when I did it was often in a very good quality of hotel. I stayed in a well known five star in London recently and felt, frankly, a bit deflated.

Its not that it was bad, its just that it wasn't great. (We did have to ask to change rooms, and service was polite and friends
Y, but showed lack of knowledge of their rooms)

Had I left a review I would have ranked our five star room as a good four star.

Birdie85

Some people will always find fault and love having a moan on TripAdvisor just for the sake of moaning!

We've been to hotels that some people have slated (after deciding that since the majority of people say it's great we'll be OK!) and honestly had no idea what the people could possibly have found so wrong as to claim their holiday was ruined. We expect to get what we pay for and we can rarely afford to pay for 5* celebrity style luxury so we don't expect everything to be 100% perfect... but it generally is for the price! Ignore anyone complaining about foreign food and having to mix with different nationalities etc- if you want an English experience, stay in England! Same with American reviews, they do seem to expect more as standard (and also, it seems, to be catered for wherever in the world they're going) so I simply read between the lines and figure out what exactly the problem was.

Last year we went to the Animal Kingdom Lodge at Disney World which we thought was absolutely amazing yet some of the reviews from a few ignorant idiots gave it 1 or 2 stars for silly things like the fact that there was no smoking allowed on balconies- it's set on a nature reserve and I'd have been worried if smoking (and the subsequent butts that would get thrown over the side) was allowed near the animals! :eek: Use some common sense when both reviewing your hotel and reading reviews!

Pollycat

Another problem with TA reviews is that some reviewers don't seem to understand that they are reviewing a particular accommodation or restaurant.

I was looking at booking a hotel in Goa a few years ago and most TA reviews were 8/10 or 9/10.

One was 2/10.
It was a long rant about how he hated the resort, state and country.
He was irritated by the 'red dust' (it's iron ore).
He thought the people were dreadful.
The beach sellers were intrusive.
The flights were too long.

The hotel?

Ah, all he said about it was that the rooms were basic but clean and the staff were very friendly.

That's why I tend to read the reviews.