Trip Advisor

[stetwood]

Cautionary article about Trip Advisor

When doing my research looking for places to stay, eat, or visit, I have relied heavily on Trip Advisors, but with a grain of salt. I only looked at those with a large number of reviews, but if the negative reviews are being axed, then maybe Trip Advisor needs axing.

What are your favorite (reliable) places to check for reviews?

[SpeakEasy]

Read the Article.

Then, put yourself in TripAdvisor's (or any online review publisher's) shoes. If you publish something that is libelous you could be sued. If you publish allegations that damage a business, and those allegations turn out to be untrue, you could be sued.

I'm not necessarily defending TripAdvisor's business practices, because, as the article said, they aren't disclosing much about those business practices. But I am pointing out that a business like TripAdvisor HAS TO protect itself somehow from publishing stuff that is untrue and that could damage a business.

Not that any internet user ever puts anything untrue out there. No.

-Speak

[rr2254545]

stetwood wrote:
Cautionary article about Trip Advisor

When doing my research looking for places to stay, eat, or visit, I have relied heavily on Trip Advisors, but with a grain of salt. I only looked at those with a large number of reviews, but if the negative reviews are being axed, then maybe Trip Advisor needs axing.

What are your favorite (reliable) places to check for reviews?

I find TripAdvisor quite good and I use campground a lot as you can see from my profile - I find that they have more current reviews than RVparkriviews

[TyroneandGladys]

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) may be looking into revelations about TripAdvisor suppressing negative reviews, judging by a report in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

As the Journal Sentinel revealed earlier this month, TripAdvisor users who had been sexually assaulted at resorts and then tried to warn other users found that their reviews were repeatedly taken down.

[jplante4]

One of the things I like about RV park reviews is that it shows you the other reviews made by a person. So if you see a negative review you can see that person's other reviews and determine if they're the type of person that is never happy.

Similarly, if the reviewer has just one review I disregard the post whether it's positive or negative.

[stetwood]

rk911 wrote:
for parks and campgrounds we use rvparkreviews.com.

For campgrounds we do use rvparkreviews, but for the occasional motel stay, used Trip Adviser.

[ScottG]

There was a thread here a long time ago about how folks have had negative reviews deleted from RVparkreviews as well.
So they aren't the best source either.

[SDcampowneroper]

You mention that a place with a lot of reviews is one you consider. The trouble with that is that a large camp will get proportionately more reviews than a smaller one. A 500 site camp is likely to get 5 times as many reviews as a100 site camp.
To offset the disparity, we use the rating system. A large camp can easily achieve high ratings due to high income..
A small camp with high ratings shows us that income is put back into the camp.
Its not the # of reviews, but their quality from reliable sources. When a questionable review is seen, read their previous reviews to determine whether their criteria are also yours.

[RGar974417]

I use it as one source of information.I use other sources as well.

[rk911]

coolmom42 wrote:
I do look at Trip Advisor some, but take it (and other review sites) with a grain of salt. Google reviews are probably the least biased.

why is that?

[K_Charles]

A review is in the eye of the reviewer. Some reviews say a place is garbage and it turns out to be a great place. Some the other way around. Some people don't like trees in the forest and some don't like sand at the beach. They mean nothing.

[rk911]

fj12ryder wrote:
Actually we rarely bother simply because it seems that all those review sites are pretty sketchy and not really reliable. Just go and see how it works out. That's the best way. Be willing to be surprised.

On edit, we do some looking for campgrounds on RVParkReviews, but with the caveat that tastes and desires vary.

yes, they do but if the majority of reviewers were happy then we'll generally be happy. vice versa is also true.

[coolmom42]

I do look at Trip Advisor some, but take it (and other review sites) with a grain of salt. Google reviews are probably the least biased.

[Ductape]

Google reviews usually.

[fj12ryder]

Actually we rarely bother simply because it seems that all those review sites are pretty sketchy and not really reliable. Just go and see how it works out. That's the best way. Be willing to be surprised.

On edit, we do some looking for campgrounds on RVParkReviews, but with the caveat that tastes and desires vary.

[rk911]

for parks and campgrounds we use rvparkreviews.com.