Does Tripadvisor influence your travel choices?

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I was just reading that hardly anyone uses online review sites to select a hotel. I know I don't. Maybe this kind of service isn't as influential as they think they are. Do you use review sites or just your own judgement?
 
I can honestly say it's a site I have never visited.
 
I take everything I read on tripadvisor with a pinch of salt. We went to Egypt last year and the hotel got a good write up on tripadvisor but it was probably the worst hotel I have ever stopped in however one hotel we've been to twice has got loads of bad reviews and we can't fault it. I think you just have to accept that some people will complain about anything and everything and are never happier than when they just missed a bus. We once stopped in a self catering apartment in kos and someone complained on tripadvisor because there were no welcome mints on the pillows when they arrived and the curtains didn't match the bedding.
 
yup always check tripadvisor before booking a hotel and I've never ben dissapointed that I did
 
It's influenced my choice(s) before..........

I'll generally look on the travel agent's site, find a hotel I like the look of and then look it up on TA.

Obviously taking things with a pinch of salt, it would seem some people complain about the most trivial things that they let completely ruin their holiday :bonk:

I stayed in a 4* AI hotel last year for our Honeymoon after reading the reviews on TA. The general concensus was that it was a lovely clean place, food was good etc but the average age of the clientelle was.... well lets say at some points the swimming pool looked like a scene from the film "Cocoon" :lol:

That didn't bother us at all and we had a lovely time, albeit we were one of the youngest couples there at the ages of 35/27!!!!

When we got home I submitted a review and then looked at some of the newly submitted ones.

This woman was complaining that the brochure said their was a "poolside bar" but after 2 days she still couldn't find it and had discovered it had become the "sunset bar"....... the quote was "If I'd have known this before I flew out I would have cancelled my holiday and gone elsewhere" :bonk::bonk:
 
Never visited the site. We either go back to places we've stayed before or get personal recommendation. Failing that, we look for something convenient. All we're after is a reasonably comfortable bed and a shower/bog.
 
I use it along side other recommendations I also put reviews up too.
 
Yes. I cancelled a hotel because of trip advisor pointing out that it backed onto a night club and coach park. I talked to someone staying there complaining they didn't get a wink of sleep because it backed onto a nightclub and coach park...

If you are going somewhere you don't know at all then it is useful to read through what others have said. You can usually spot the disingenuous nit pickers.
 
I use it all the time and put up reviews also. My SIL pointed out that 1 star hotels often get great reviews because expectations are low and 5* are often subjected to overly-harsh criticism as expectations are high. I think that a pinch of salt and a good bit of reading between the lines can get what you need out of the site. I also find it useful for picking up other hints and tips and have found some brilliant restaurants and gotten great "insider" travel tips from reading through reviews. Like forums, there is a whole load of diamond information contained therein, you just often have to dig thorough a lot of crap to find it.
 
Use it all the time when we travel alongside a Lonely Planet or Rough Guide. Find Trip Advisor reviews pretty reliable on the whole. There are always going to be idiots that leave bad reviews for petty reasons, you just need to use common sense to see through them.

I would never rely on a Lonely Planet guide book alone ever again after several disaster's using their 'recommendation' during our India trip last year.
 
i use it all the time and also write reviews. made a mistake once and didn't use it needless to say i regretted it.
 
I used it for my last trip to Paris. It was useful as I knew very little about Paris. I settled for a hotel that had fairly good reviews and few complaints and it was a very nice hotel. However I did meet a friend at her hotel that I'd also looked at the reviews for and those reviews did seem fairly accurate.

As mentioned, you need to sift through alot of crap to find real information but what I looked for were points in reviews that correlated with other reviews and I also took note of dates of reviews E.g. Multiple reviews complaining of poor sound proofing, mould or funny smells or uptight staff. But complaints of building works months previously I'd ignore as the building works will of probably been completed.
 
Yeah i use it too. If its the odd complaint no worries but if everyone is slating it you know its not up to scratch.
 
Definitely worthwhile, you can get a really good consensus from the reviews and it's easy to see those who really just had an axe to grind. Just bear in mind someone's travel history as if they always stay in 4/5 star hotels but end up in a 3 star they are more likely to view it negatively etc. I write the odd review and haven't booked a hotel without referring to it for years and not been disappointed. It's also good to see all the amateur photos as we all know how good we can make places look with a bit of judicious editing, staging, processing etc!
 
Yeah it does.
When I travelled to Fort William a few years ago I used it to find somewhere to go for dinner, and ended up eating in The Grog and Gruel. Fantastic meal!
I've also used it to choose my hotel for next months holiday to Orlando. After the last time I was there the hotel was terrible. Checked the reviews when I came back, and low and behold. They echoed my experience.

I also contribute to the site. Think I have 9 reviews just now.
 
Just visited TA to see what the fuss is about. Looked at the place we always stay in and it's #4 out of well over 100 in that area. The place isn't available through any travel agencies since the owner's been screwed over by the tour companies in the past and now gets all the business they want/need through personal recommendations and return visitors.

One of the few negatives is a bit odd -"Rooms not as presented in the photos". Well, since I tool those photos, I can assure that person that they are! The rooms were selected at random and I literally walked in and took the shots. Plenty of other oddness too, such as "3 tavernas within walking distance". Well, last year I was pretty ill but still managed to walk to at least 5 different tavernas in the week we were there...

Surprised at the number of English comments (as in the number of Brit commenters) - remarkably few in relation to the numbers we see when there! Loads of Scandiwegians as expected, a lot of them are there when we go.

Can't remember many other hotel names but may look at them when I do!
 
Not been for a holiday for a couple of years now, but the last one we had the Mrs booked.
When i looked on trip advisor at the reviews for the hotel (Tunisia), my heart literally sank!
Bad review after bad review etc. It sounded like a building site in Frankfurt would have been a better option!
To cut a long story short, we went anyway and had the best holiday EVER!!! as soon as we got home we booked again for the year after and had an even better holiday.
What did we learn?
Some people will complain about anything!
 
Don't get me wrong there are a fair share of bad mouthers on there. Just moaning and complaining for the sake of it. And you literally have to sift through it in places.
But for the most part I've found it very helpful.

I reviewed a place last year after I had been a few times. If I had seen the previous reviews before I went I would never have gone there!

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUser..._Bistro-Linlithgow_West_Lothian_Scotland.html
 
vixmix said:
I use it all the time and put up reviews also. My SIL pointed out that 1 star hotels often get great reviews because expectations are low and 5* are often subjected to overly-harsh criticism as expectations are high. I think that a pinch of salt and a good bit of reading between the lines can get what you need out of the site. I also find it useful for picking up other hints and tips and have found some brilliant restaurants and gotten great "insider" travel tips from reading through reviews. Like forums, there is a whole load of diamond information contained therein, you just often have to dig thorough a lot of crap to find it.
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I've never used tripadvisor, in fact I tend to stay away from user reviews of anything as there's just no way to get a consistent viewpoint for exactly the reasons above.
 
I always take a look at trip advisor before making my final decision.
 
We use it but keep the attitude that people are more likely to go onto a review site to complain after a bad experience and exaggerate than take time to praise after a good one.

We actually got a room upgrade after using it and contacting the hotel over our concerns when we went to Orlando too as we booked on spec of brochures and hotels website and then found a lot of reviews on TA with the negative greatly outweighing the positive ones.. So it can pay just to speak to the place your thinking of going.. Needless to say the hotel was fantastic and I even found myself looking out for the negative things I'd read and not finding them.

I guess there's so many miserable people that will slate every aspect of a hotel just because the waffles at their breakfast that they got up too late for one day weren't as good as the previous day when they were on time etc.

In general there's some good info and tips on there but like others have said you need to learn to spot the moaners from the genuine bad places.
 
I tend to have a quick look at it before I book, tbf I generally stop in premier Inn for work as I know exactly what I am going to get and even the poorest one I have stayed in is absolutely fine.

I always look at reviews for other hotels as I have stayed on some truly shocking one, and these were always the ones I hadn't checked on TA. I personally think that the trick is to read all the reviews and you can always spot the duff reviews,
 
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