TripAdvisor's Travelers' Choice Awards 2006

[mtp51]

I love the list of the 10 dirtiest hotels. I'm sure that list could be expanded.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/travelerschoice

[DCTravelAgent]

Okay - I'm definitely missing something here......

[deangreenhoe]

Originally Posted by DCTravelAgent

Okay - I'm definitely missing something here......

Yeah, I did too. In order to get the list you have to submit your email address. I gave them one of my garbage addresses (thus avoiding spam attacks), then forwarded it to my real email address, then waited a very long time (even on super high speed radio wireless access) for the list to download...

...and then they didn't even have the dirtiest hotels listed, which is what I was most interested in.

You have to go to tripadvisor.com and really dig to find the dirty hotel list.

I did read the entire "top" list (and it's huge) but I'm afraid I had to shake my head at some of the choices. It's pretty obvious that a lot of inexperienced travelers were doing the voting and reinforces my bad attitude about the reliability of Trip Advisor.

Or maybe I'm just a grump?

[Arizona Road Warrior]

Originally Posted by deangreenhoe

I did read the entire "top" list (and it's huge) but I'm afraid I had to shake my head at some of the choices. It's pretty obvious that a lot of inexperienced travelers were doing the voting and reinforces my bad attitude about the reliability of Trip Advisor.

Or maybe I'm just a grump?

It comes down to standards. There are individuals that are perfectly content to allow hotels, airlines, cruise lines, rental car companies, tour operators, and etc. to abuse them with poor services. Also, there are individuals that are perfectly content to justify poor services with “This is (insert the country that you are traveling to, hotel, airline, city, etc); so this must be the best that they can offer” rationale. My wife and I don’t fall into these categories.

In regards to TripAdvisor, I use the site to review hotels that I might stay at when there isn’t a Marriott brand hotel available in the area. As I have posted some hotel reviews. It amazes me how some people will accept poor conditions or services.

[mtp51]

Originally Posted by DCTravelAgent

Okay - I'm definitely missing something here......

As soon as I submitted my email address, I had an access email from them with 2 min.

[deangreenhoe]

It comes down to standards. There are individuals that are perfectly content to allow hotels, airlines, cruise lines, rental car companies, tour operators, and etc. to abuse them with poor services.

I guess that's most noticeable in the "best luxury hotel/resort" category when broken down by destination. More than once I just went, "huh?"

I'll rely on TripAdvisor for details about hard facts, but certainly not opinions about ambiance, service or quality since those things are subjective and too many posters just have an axe to grind, or on the flip side, brag in an unrealistic manner.

Sometimes the reviews are good for a laugh, though.

[DCTravelAgent]

10 Dirtiest Hotels in the U.S.

1. Tropicana Resort Hotel, Virginia Beach, Vir.
2. Hotel Carter, New York, N.Y.
3. Days Inn Downtown/Port, Miami Fla.
4. Budget Inn, Knoxville, Tenn.
5. Red Carpet Inn, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
6. New York Inn, New York, N.Y.
7. Poindexter Ocean Front Resort, Myrtle Beach, S.C.
8. Days Inn, Lancaster, Penn.
9. Ramada Inn Miami Airport North, Miami, Fla.
10. Sea Club Resort, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

"Last year, five of the dirtiest hotels were in New York City but this year, the Miami/Fort Lauderdale region leads the country in filthy hotels, with four properties on the top 10 list," said Perry. The title of the most recent review posted on TripAdvisor for the dirtiest hotel in the U.S., Virginia Beach's Tropicana Resort and Spa, was, "VA Beach's most vile place-ever!!!!!!!!!!!"

[JBM]

In booking a hotel for my trip to Atlanta next week for some software training, the corporate rates for all of the hotels on the recommended list have gone up about $15 as of Jan 1. For some of the hotels, that worked out to a 20% increase. It's still cheaper than their standard rate, but it makes me wonder if their standard rate went up proportionally as well.

Part of it may be that the Atlanta suburbs are booming, and if the hotels are experiencing fewer vacancies, they don't have to be as generous with corporate rates. Maybe it's also getting harder to find good cleaning staff, so rates are going up to keep up with the labor demand? Property tax may also be an issue.

[rconpascua]

Those hotels are pretty nasty. I experienced staying in a cheap and untidy inn when I went to Africa one time. But when I visited the Marrakech in Morocco, I was surprised that the accommodations in Marrakech are excellent.