While reading this article I couldn't help thinking about my first TripAdvisor experience. After booking a 25 euro room at the Rikka Inn on Khao San Road, I decided to have a look at reviews of the hotel on internet (arguably, it is better done before the booking...) and that search naturally took me to TripAdvisor.com.
As I normally do, I started with the bad reviews and I started to get worried about my future couple of nights in this hotel. That said, I did go and realized the reviews I read were totally unfounded. True, the rooms were not the best I ever seen and the pictures on the website were probably a little dated (from before the opening I imagine) but then again, I am not entirely sure what these people were expecting for 25 euro. The truth is the rooms were not the best decorated rooms in Bangkok but they were clean, the staff could have used a couple of english lessons but they tried really hard and were rather pleasant and while I was lying by the rooftop swimming pool I felt the overall experience was rather good value for money!
My real problem with TripAdvisor and other peer review website, is that people are more likely to make the effort to leave a (bad) review if they've had a bad experience than if they've had a great one or even an OK time. There is also the fact that someone who is traveling once a year and someone staying in hotels a couple of times a month have greatly different standards and expectation. The same is true depending on where you are from, your social background and for all the factors that make us different from one another.
The article mentions TripAdvisor having over 40 million reviews on its site, and maybe it is my own lack of faith in people talking, but I cannot imagine many of them being truly objective reviews, and yet, TripAdvisor, with its 5 millions daily visitors, seems to have become a truly important factor on the way hoteliers are running their business.
I rarely go on Tripadvisor because personally I find it a little bit hard to follow. There are a lot of ads. The rates which clients give for hotels are very general (excellent, good, average, etc.). And then they can say whatever in the reviews.Booking.com is better at rating hotels about their staffs, receptions, rooms, restaurants, etc.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about the review of clients. I work in a hotel. The price is average 90 euros/room/night. We have free wifi, air condition,bath tube, etc. However, there are a lot of clients who always complain about the rooms such as: the price is high, it is far from city centre, etc. They post their comments on internet. I dont know what they expect for a room of 90 euros. Maybe it is on Champs Elysée boulevard, nice view, near metro and it only costs 90 euros for that???
concerning the pictures, web sites of the hotels and reality there is hug difference and a large gap since i did assist in my previous job experience in photoshooting and we were making a big effort to get a nice picture sand most of time it far of the reality that is why i dont realy trust websites and btrip advisors since they always give you a wrong information and show you only the positif side of the trip
ReplyDeletei like to check comments of the guest when i like any hotes or destination ans i do understand that some clients are difficult to satisfy and after a bad experience they like to play with words but still you will have a idea about the services mutch better than the trip advisors and the websites
leila lamrhouti
1. Do you think the number of reviews is really weighted towards negative ones (your suspected reason why most people would boher to post?). Surely the hotels at the top of the list have majority positive reviews and vice versa?
ReplyDelete2. agreed on the danger of popular sites (however flawed, as in your analysis of Tripadvisor) is nothing new - take print media for example. If it's printed in black and white, surely it must be true? Step forward "The Sun," the "Daily Mail," etc. etc. Unfortunately there isn't a single flawless form of communication anywhere, ever. Except perhaps 'sex faces'?