Tripadvisor reviews

Me and Mr Nelly started to look at holidays yesterday, as always we checked Tripadvisor, and it baffles me that people who go on a skiing holiday can give what appears to be a fabulous place (according to everyone else) less stars because 'the wifi was rubbish/no english TV channels/the food was all French'. Really? I tend to ignore these, please tell me I'm not alone?

I know everyone likes to have their little luxuries on holiday, but surely you aren't going on a skiing holiday to watch TV or worry about wifi connection? Isn't a holiday a break from the norm?

NellyPS wrote:please tell me I'm not alone?

You are NOT alone! Tripadvisor seems to attract whiners who really shouldn't be allowed on the Internet (or anywhere, really) unaccompanied.

Looking at reviews of restaurants near us this week and one has been given a 1-star rating for "being shut when I went there". A moron amongst many, but I think you quickly develop a sense for which reviews are useful (and genuine!).

With a bucket of salt handy, Tripadvisor can be useful.

No you are definitely not alone!! I have seen reviews by people on the same ski trip as ourselves, but who have clearly viewed the experience totally differently (and in a very negative way).

Depends on whether the reality matched what they thought they were getting. If it advertises fast wifi then rubbish wifi would be valid criticism.
What really annoys me is people who buy a budget holiday then review it as if they were expecting 5 stars.

my friends have been dubious about even putting their place on tripadvisor. I mean, it's a great place they have, and they know what they're doing etc - but as you say, get someone with a bee in their bonnet (or a ski up the bum as I say) who moans about something stupid like 'Our hosts had a day off!!' and it ruins it... even though you can write a reply it's still out there for people to see, and if you don't have 5 stars then people won't be interested - shame

I always look to see if accommodation is listed on trip advisor. It can be very useful although you do need to read a good number of the comments to get a proper feel.

Trip Advisor asked us to put our 2 cottages up for review but I wouldn't do it. I was nearly scared witless! I dumped their piece of paper straight in the bin.
We could easily have a nasty holidaymaker who thinks it's fun to try and wreck our business by blowing up small faults out of all proportion. And anyway, we get plenty of bookings (a lot of them are repeats) without using Trip Advisor.
I admit I do look at it when I'm picking a hotel/chalet for myself, and I've even written 2 reviews, but I tried to make my reviews as fair and honest as possible.

I would tend to agree with Barney. There has to be well over a hundred to make it worth taking into account. You can always get the general gist of what people are saying. I think you need a pinch of salt and some common sense. Also, if you want to go there - just do it ;-)

Ally - If you have a great cottages you have nothing to worry about. Apart from the weather :oops:

Cant you take your listing down once it is up?