TripAdvisor - Do you use it?

[RooFlyer]

Yeah yeah I have tried that - how do I tell it to show ALL listings?

View attachment 40072

Still same problem even with NO checks at the top ... searched for hotels in several cities round the world; nearly always omits #1 and/or #2 (or ar least starts at #2 or #3).



(BTW the Fountainside as #5 hotel in Hobart :shock: :shock: ? Good grief, I'd rank it #47 out of 47!! )

like we've seen before - a good product stuffed by tinkering, presumably to manipulate traffic for Google's profit.

 

[RooFlyer]

<snip>

As for the rankings - whist the score out of 5 is the major contributor - replying to the reviews by the manager gives you "bonus points" for the ranking. Other little points for TA only specials and "paid" advertising space also contribute to the ranking.

Ah, thanks for the tip. That's why in a recent stay, mine was the only non 5 rating (3) and the ONLY review in the past 20 or so not acknowledged!!

 

[get me outta here]

It looks like you may have gone into a bookings area. If I search fro MEL w' no boxes ticked on ranking, here's what I get:

Art Series - The Larwill Studio

Special Price Book Direct Save 20%Slideshow

Traveller photos | Professional photos | Map

Check InCheck Out

Show Prices​

​

#1 of 171 hotels in Melbourne

132 reviews

• “Unique, great addition to the Art...”
  01/01/2015
  
• “brilliant space!”
  31/12/2014

Crown Towers

Travellers' Choice™ 2014 Winner Top Hotels | LuxurySpecial Offer Family GetawaySlideshow

Traveller photos | Professional photos | Map

Check InCheck Out

Show Prices​

​

#2 of 171 hotels in Melbourne

1,170 reviews

• “Melbourne fly”
  01/01/2015
  
• “Great 3 nights stay”
  31/12/2014

Still same problem even with NO checks at the top ... searched for hotels in several cities round the world; nearly always omits #1 and/or #2 (or ar least starts at #2 or #3).

View attachment 40073

(BTW the Fountainside as #5 hotel in Hobart :shock: :shock: ? Good grief, I'd rank it #47 out of 47!! )

like we've seen before - a good product stuffed by tinkering, presumably to manipulate traffic for Google's profit.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

It's working perfectly for me now thanks.

 

[Nizar]

I use it extensively when choosing hotels, look at the proportion of 5* ratings to overall amount of reviews and then I read all the average, poor and terrible reviews.

Sometimes people post a terrible or poor review because the concierge wasn't smiling or because they were made to wait six minutes to be checked in lol that's why it's important to read the review IMO as opposed to just looking at the number of stars awarded.

Overall find it to be very useful.

 

[get me outta here]

I think the Fountainside wins on price mainly, and at the door parking.

(BTW the Fountainside as #5 hotel in Hobart :shock: :shock: ? Good grief, I'd rank it #47 out of 47!! )

 

[RooFlyer]

It looks like you may have gone into a bookings area. If I search fro MEL w' no boxes ticked on ranking, here's what I get:

Right again ... and thanks again . I cleared dates and got all rankings. I can only echo Cruiser Elite's comments in post #20

 

[RooFlyer]

I think the Fountainside wins on price mainly, and at the door parking.

... certainly not on the outside, open-to-the-weather corridors up the tower and Hobart's busiest piece of road right in front (OK, its not as bad as the Tulla, but during perk hour it has its moments ...)

 

[Nizar]

As a hotel employee - TA alerts managers if a particular poor review is actually legit and response to the review can be done actually by the manager before posting. Emotive language (tags) especially comments directed to staff are picked up and alerts the hotel to make contact.

As for the rankings - whist the score out of 5 is the major contributor - replying to the reviews by the manager gives you "bonus points" for the ranking. Other little points for TA only specials and "paid" advertising space also contribute to the ranking.

I posted a scathing review of a hotel once and after a delay of a day or so it did appear up on the website. The hotel then contacted my travel agent who contacted me saying they wanted my phone number to discuss my stay. I told my travel agent to under no circumstances is to give them my phone number as there was nothing to be discussed.

 

[get me outta here]

Yes, it's very irritating when someone lists a few things that are bad or need urgent attention and the manager replies with some sloughing off inane comment saying thank you and hope to see you back soon, which just reflects very badly on the place.

 

[get me outta here]

Yes agree, very noisy but suits the popn on tight budgets and the like as they can get 4 people comfortably in a room.

... certainly not on the outside, open-to-the-weather corridors up the tower and Hobart's busiest piece of road right in front (OK, its not as bad as the Tulla, but during perk hour it has its moments ...)

 

[drron]

I did use it a lot in the past but once I found out how to post pics in my TRs then AFF for me.
I find TA skewed to low cost venues particularly with restaurants.Though putting the Governors Residence top of the hotels in Yangon is now a mystery to me.
The just for you selections show they don't know me.Even selected the WA in NYC when I gave it a 1 star review.
Will use it for places we haven't been and less travelled.However you do need to know the reviewers.One Japanese woman who is a local expert in a few SE Asian countries is only useful for discounting anything she recommends.Her way of life is obviously very different from mine.
I still occasionally do reviews.

 

[drron]

I posted a scathing review of a hotel once and after a delay of a day or so it did appear up on the website. The hotel then contacted my travel agent who contacted me saying they wanted my phone number to discuss my stay. I told my travel agent to under no circumstances is to give them my phone number as there was nothing to be discussed.

Happens on FT as well but in my instance turned out that they wanted to give me a suite on my next stay.Didn't take it up.

 

[Flying mermaid]

I use Trip advisor extensively but more as a final check. I.e. I build up a short list of hotels which I am interested in and then I use it to look at comments and get a picture. A few bad reviews don't put me off but if there is a trend you can see it. It is very useful for getting info on things like a noisy disco across the road or something like that. . People can be quite generous with advice as well e.g. Staying at the airport hotel in Istanbul in May and apparently it is very hard to walk to from the airport (bad design?) but I now have a detailed set of directions, which someone on trip advisor posted! I agree TA is skewed to lower cost hotels, so I don't pay much attention to their top lists.

 

[amaroo]

I use it as a tool to cull an already established list.

Reviewing the photos is a wonderful way of eliminating the dodgy operators that manipulate images of their dog box into a luxurious suite.

 

[outbackowner]

I use it and have over 40 posts with only one very negative report given and it is useful for the reviewer's photographs.

Some nationalities are very hard to please and I generally look for the Australian reviews.

It is also handy for location reviews and local hints.

 

[Alanslegal]

I regularly rely on TA and sometimes post reviews as well. I like TA for the amateur photos as they give a more realistic image of the hotel versus the professional photos hotels use to make it look better. In terms of reviews, I read/skim about two dozen of them to get an idea of the hotel, I usually discount the really good and really bad ones, unless of course all the reviews are pretty consistent.

I have posted as well, once I wrote a glowing report with really nice photos and TA emailed me that they were not going to publish my review because they thought it was a *fake* and trying to promote the hotel.

 

[VPS]

I use it regularly - have also posted over 70 reviews and some quite scathing but they have always been published - as others said I will often look at a variety of comments and ignore some of them. Obviously there are a lot of people out there who have much lower food standards than me (some of them raving about how good the food was and I think it was just ordinary) My pet hate is when the manager comments and says thanks for your feedback we've taken it on board and hope to see you again - I doubt you'll see me back there again in a hurry - I too trust AFF much more than TA

 

[eric2011]

I use it all the time for accommodation and restaurants. I don't take tooooo much notice of the top tier ( written by the provider or contacts ) or the bottom tier ( written by the opposition ).
Learn to read between the lines and its a very helpful site.

 

[Virgin Bart]

I use it all the time for accommodation and restaurants.

Same.. And it got me an amazing restaurant dinner in Marrakech last night.