Travel Reviews: What Do You Look for and What Do You Share?

Jenn Garcia-Alonso
The Purple Passport<

I completely agree with the value of cross referencing various sources, both blogs and standard travel sites (I love Tablet Hotels, Kiwi Collection, and I always do a cross check with TripAdvisor to see if there are any patterns of particular issues across lots of users- TripAdvisor also allows you to see users photos). By involving various opinions, usually you can start to see patterns that tell you the real story.

The problem that I come across a lot is that I lack context - i.e., is the reviewer bashing the hotel because he/she is used to super high end spots, or does he/she love the hotel because she is used to more modest spots. Context is critical, so after I find a site/blog/etc that I relate to, I tend to go back for more, and always trust that more than a site/reviewer that is new to me.

Hi Jenna,
Thanks for including my How To Write a Lodging Review post from Travel Writers Exchange.

I was recently at a San Francisco hotel and was quite disappointed with the room. The website made the property sounds much more appealing and had some outdated information on a new hotel.

Nancy D. Brown

http://www.nancydbrown.com/

http://twitter.com/Nancydbrown

www.2girlsintheworld.blogspot.com ( http://www.2girlsintheworld.blogspot.com )

we live in a different country every 2 months with my spouse's job and travel most weekends. i would be completely lost without trip advisor. fellow travelers are your best source for info. hands down.

however, you have to read the reviews as a whole and take each one with a grain of salt.

i like to go directly to the "terrible" reviews. i look to see if there are numerous complaints about the same thing (a.c. doesn't work, bugs, rude staff, etc) and if so, then you probably want to move on to another hotel.

if you've got one guy who had trouble with his bill that is no reason to shun a hotel. i live full-time in hotels, things happen and mistakes are made. now if you've got 6 people complaining about their bills then you can safely say the hotel has some billing issues.

if they're isolated events particular to that guest's desires/needs (baby cot not delivered, no hot tea in the room, etc) and they aren't my desires or needs then that's a different story.

be smart about reviews and they can be extremely helpful in travel. oh, and pay it forward and always take the time to write reviews!!

I travel a lot with my family and I have 5 boys ranging in age from 5 to 20, so needless to say it's hard to keep everyone happy. I do research the places we'll be staying and usually discount the best and worst reviews of the hotels. Sometimes they sound like they were written by the owner of the hotel and sound too good to be true. The worst make me think about some bitter person who would never be happy, so why listen to them.
Guidebooks are great, but make sure you get one geared to your type of traveling. Are you a budget traveler or will you break the bank on your trip?
I'm about to spend 25 days in Europe with a 5 year old and a 6 year old and only 1 backpack. I've done extensive research on some aspects, but for other things, winging it is half the fun. Just relax and enjoy!

I'm always looking for someplace to eat, so I tend to check Yelp - and I've found some great restaurants that way. I also use TripAdvisor and RoadFood.

Because I find them useful, I've started posting my own reviews - especially for places off the beaten track - things that haven't made it onto Yelp at all, for example. I figure it's my way to give back.

Has anyone been to Sicily recently? I'd like to hear about their best places to go.

Putting life into living.

We saw firsthand what a difference reviews can make when we took a trip with my husband's brother and his wife eight years ago.

My brother-in-law booked their rooms based solely on price. We booked ours based on reviews, with an eye on our budget.

When we dropped them at their "hotel," I was actually afraid to get out of the car. It wasn't much cheaper than ours but SO scary.

The stairs were boarded up so the only way to their room was in a stained and smelly elevator, with something brown smeared across the buttons.

The first thing we saw when we walked in the door was the toilet, and the "closet" was a clothes rod nailed to one wall. I wouldn't have been surprised to have found a chalk outline on the floor.

I don't know why they checked in. We felt awful leaving them there. We invited them to share our room but they didn't want to impose. I couldn't sleep out of fear for their safety.

We still make fun of them.

* * * *

I am more likely to leave a review at TripAdvisor if I feel like something important has been overlooked, good or bad.

I've found that people who leave reviews are receptive to inquiries. I've had some very helpful responses to e-mail.

I review hotels, car rental agencies and restaurants online before I travel. I use trip advisor, yelp and other general googling. I think the best rule of thumb I use is to not trust any one review, good or bad. I form my opinion after reading several reviews. Just because a property has a bad review does not mean it's bad. I study all bad reviews and think about what the reviewer's point of view was. I will definitely discount a bad review if I feel the reviewer is being too nitpicky, complaining about things that don't bother me, or are complaining about things that they knew or should have known about.

I just took my first big trip abroad and I've been procrastinating about leaving good feedback on TripAdvisor. I need to get to it! Too many times I wonder if people only leave reviews if they had a bad experience. I find this is generally the case when it comes to car rental companies.

I read www.consumertraveler.com ( http://www.consumertraveler.com ) and www.elliott.org ( http://www.elliott.org ) on a regular basis and recommend them to anyone who likes travel.

Once upon a time before the internet I use to rely on Lonely Planet and Let's Go Travel guides for places on the off beaten path to stay and eat. Now, I find myself relying on Trip Advisor and blogs to get the best information.