Okay, time to vent a little. First of all we are full timers and do not own or operate any RV park. We do volunteer and workamp often so we do see how parks work. Some people just don't think before they post a negative comment. We are currently working at our first KOA and for giggles we like to read reviews and some are just plain ludicrous. Some of the negatives are:Dirty bathhouse at 8AM. These bathhouses are cleaned regularly, so some of our fellow campers trashed the bathroom before the cleaning staff arrived, so it's unfair to insinuate the bathrooms are always dirty.Customer got mad because they extended their stay and had to change sites. Someone else already made a reservation for that site NOT the campground's fault!We all have WiFi issues, we also hate problems.In every park we have worked, the park pays the company big bucks for what they believe is quality service. When it goes down it's NOT the parks fault. If your satellite tv goes down in your rig or home, is it your fault when the kids get mad because they can't watch their favorite show?Occasional dog poop problems. Our fellow campers who are not very responsible sometime leave dog poop for all of us to enjoy, just because you found it before the camp host did, don't automatically "dog" the campground. Now if it's obvious it's been there a long time, or there is a lot of it, you may have a valid complaint.Yes, we have also stayed at a bad campground and reviewed it accordingly, but our reviews are when it's obvious it's long term neglect or terrible employees.So before you hurt someone, put yourself in their place trying to take care of a large park with lots of people, many who are slobs,and please as many people as possible.

....And the people reading the reviews need to read a few, do some averaging, and go from there.

Sooner,When I'm researching a park to stay in, I read the reviews and if a park has significantly more good than bad reviews the park goes on my list. If the bad and good reviews are equal then I read through the bad and throw out the ones like you posted above. Those are reviews from folks who have never had to deal with the public or maintaining a facility used by the public.If the bad reviews are greater than the good reviews, I read through again throwing out the reviews like you describe. Those that are left will usually indicate things like:Trashy Permanent tenant RVsRundown facilitiesRude staffRestrooms always dirtyLoud parties after 10PM not stopped by security/staffThese parks would not go on my list.My favorite negative review regarding what I consider as a 5 star RV Resort came from a Gay Couple. They claimed they were kicked out of the park because they were gay. Which is ludicrous because the park would be liable for slander plus the resort each year hosts several gay camping club events.

korbe wrote:....And the people reading the reviews need to read a few, do some averaging, and go from there.very good point, korbe. When you have 10 "great staff" and then one "rude staff", you may want to think about where the problem really lies.

Sooner Schooner wrote:korbe wrote:....And the people reading the reviews need to read a few, do some averaging, and go from there.very good point, korbe. When you have 10 "great staff" and then one "rude staff", you may want to think about where the problem really lies.You certainly must read between the lines to form an opinion on a park before blindly accepting a bad review. The one that I always love is the person with the giant 45 bus that complains about a park not being "big rig friendly" when the site size is easily viewable before making a reservation and the omipresent complaint of poor satellite reception due to a large overhanging tree cover. I mean who wants to go to a park with some actual trees growing in it?

korbe wrote:....And the people reading the reviews need to read a few, do some averaging, and go from there.X2. People complain about the stupidest things. But if I read 5 reviews from a 2 year period and 4 of them have similar concerns, it's a reasonable assumption that there is a problem that I can avoid by going elsewhere.

Please THINK Before You Review | Good Sam Community

bukhrn
Explorer III
Mar 15, 2015
Does this mean I can't Flame Yosemite, because I didn't get a site reserved for when I want to be there? Surely, the CG's suck. :R ;) or at least it's someone else's fault. :W
westernrvparkow
Explorer
Mar 15, 2015
Axe Grinding is as old as the Axe itself. The people who thrash a business are usually not interested in helping others. They want to vent and if it hurts the business, all the better. But those review sites are surely better than nothing. There is no way to police them and no way for a business to respond to them (I don't mean physically, since some do offer a response feature. I mean effectively, since most people will dismiss any response as nothing but meaningless damage control and heaven forbid a response actually told the WHOLE truth). They are what they are, and no amount of pleading, logic or persuasive arguing is going to change them. Enjoy them for what they are, 75% helpful information and 25% a peephole view of a train wreck.
4X4Dodger
Explorer II
Mar 15, 2015
mdcamping wrote:
I have no experience with yelp, Tripadviser, but I am on the boards of RVPR often enough to say they make a sincere effort about keeping the gaming to a minimum. The 3 review minimum, the policy where any review over 6 months will not be allowed, having to write a few sentences about the park and more with the new site on line. All of this keeps the gaming to a minimum.

My "opinion" 90% of the reviews are legit.

I have been using the site since 2007 and I have never been steered wrong about a review from that site.

Further more, about 5 years before I started using RVPR we had a terrible experience at a campground in VT and sure enough when I go back to reading the reviews of that campground I find all the flags/warnings in the reviews, short story read all the reviews, the site does work.

Mike

I am sure that there are some sites that do make and effort to contain the Gaming, but you know that it is impossible to stop. All anyone need do is take 5 minutes and create a new identity then log on and continue.

The other facet of reviews is that many people who do give actual reviews (as opposed to the gaming type) have an axe to grind. If you have legitimately asked someone to stop breaking the rules (like smoking in a room or letting your dogs run loose for example)they get angry and get back at you with a bad review. The whole review system is flawed at it's foundation.

While you can try to read between the lines it is often impossible to discern the real from the gamed or the "gotcha" reviews. People can be very crafty about how they write these.

Mob sites like TripAdvisor and Yelp are just that. Mostly just an unruly mob with many hidden agendas and axes to grind. I wish I could say that sites like this one were substantially better in this regard but I am not sure that is true either. (I am referring here to the Reviews NOT so much the other topics)

The real problem lies with the Anonymity. It's a two edged sword for sure.
mdcamping
Explorer
Mar 15, 2015
I have no experience with yelp, Tripadviser, but I am on the boards of RVPR often enough to say they make a sincere effort about keeping the gaming to a minimum. The 3 review minimum, the policy where any review over 6 months will not be allowed, having to write a few sentences about the park and more with the new site on line. All of this keeps the gaming to a minimum.

My "opinion" 90% of the reviews are legit.

I have been using the site since 2007 and I have never been steered wrong about a review from that site.

Further more, about 5 years before I started using RVPR we had a terrible experience at a campground in VT and sure enough when I go back to reading the reviews of that campground I find all the flags/warnings in the reviews, short story read all the reviews, the site does work.

Mike
Bigdog
Explorer
Mar 15, 2015
I use Yelp a lot,not necessarily for the reviews,but to find different places to eat and how to get there. I sometimes wonder where some of those folks that write those reviews get their taste buds 'cuz sometimes their opinion of a place is a lot different than mine. I was looking at one restaurant once and wondered why the reviews were so different,one really good one and one bad one,then another good one. I ate lunch there for three days and the first day was just ok, the second day was really good and the third day was really bad. I ate the same thing all three days. I asked for the manager and discussed it with her and I think the cook that was there the two bad days may no longer be there. She said that they rotate two cooks on the grills,so that they are on the grill every other day.
2gypsies1
Explorer III
Mar 15, 2015
rockhillmanor wrote:
4X4Dodger wrote:
It is common in the Hotel business to "GAME" the system and either pay for good or bad reviews for you or your competition. There are companies that openly advertise this service.

I am sure a bit of this goes on in the Campground Business too....

X2 Fact.
They hire people for ALL and EVERYTHING on the internet that allows a space for comments and/or reviews.

I watched a documentary where they interviewed the people that are
hired to give good reviews and comments.

They get paid quite handsomely for sitting at their computer going down the list of their employers companies and writing rave reviews for them under different email address.

I DO NOT read or use any reviews I see on the internet.

YELP is a big one for doing this. That site is awful!
rockhillmanor
Explorer II
Mar 15, 2015
4X4Dodger wrote:
It is common in the Hotel business to "GAME" the system and either pay for good or bad reviews for you or your competition. There are companies that openly advertise this service.

I am sure a bit of this goes on in the Campground Business too....

X2 Fact.
They hire people for ALL and EVERYTHING on the internet that allows a space for comments and/or reviews.

I watched a documentary where they interviewed the people that are
hired to give good reviews and comments.

They get paid quite handsomely for sitting at their computer going down the list of their employers companies and writing rave reviews for them under different email address.

I DO NOT read or use any reviews I see on the internet.
4X4Dodger
Explorer II
Mar 14, 2015
It is common in the Hotel business to "GAME" the system and either pay for good or bad reviews for you or your competition. There are companies that openly advertise this service.

I am sure a bit of this goes on in the Campground Business too.

After having owned a small boutique Hotel in SE ASIA I absolutely hate TripAdvisor. Many of the reviews in my area were being written by the owners of the hotels. One Manager thought it was her way to promotion to give the other hotels in town bad reviews...TripAdvisor was completely unhelpful even though there was definitive proof that the reviews were gamed. Much of what I read on TA seems to be "Gaming".

I read almost all reviews with a jaundiced eye. Especially those that Gush superlatives or that are clearly a rant.
mdcamping
Explorer
Mar 14, 2015
SDcampowneroperator wrote:
We were fortunate to be the first this winter to review a couple of camps, bring them into the data base. Look at Denio Junction, Nv.
Unfortunately, other unreviewed camps we have knowledge of, but have not visited in the last 6 months were denied listing.

Yes, I believe RVPR has a long time policy where any review over 6 months will not be allowed.

I've found a few gems also I have put in their data base,

GrandView CampResort and Cottages, Moodus, CT
Barrewood Campground, Westfield, VT
Tomlinson Run State Park, New Manchester, WV

Mike
SDcampowneroper
Explorer
Mar 14, 2015
I recently made my first reviews on RVPR. I've resisted doing so before for ethical reasons.
For correctional reasoning of some camps we visited recently we posted reviews on camps that had recent other reviews with commentary on facility or residents that had no bearing on a visitors stay.
We were fortunate to be the first this winter to review a couple of camps, bring them into the data base. Look at Denio Junction, Nv.
Unfortunately, other unreviewed camps we have knowledge of, but have not visited in the last 6 months were denied listing.