Comments on: “Doesn’t TripAdvisor contain within itself the germs of its own undoing?” http://www.consumertraveler.com/today/doesnt-tripadvisor-contain-within-itself-the-germs-of-its-own-undoing/ The last honest travel site Sat, 11 Feb 2012 16:27:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Nick http://www.consumertraveler.com/today/doesnt-tripadvisor-contain-within-itself-the-germs-of-its-own-undoing/comment-page-1/#comment-12989 Nick Fri, 12 Jun 2009 22:37:15 +0000 http://www.tripso.com/?p=15297#comment-12989 I have used the phrase "best hotel" or "best service ever" in my reviews and I meant them. Sure they are superlatives, but it is just emphasizing a point that we really enjoyed these things. And I would say most people use these words to describe great experiences more often than not. So ignoring those would kind of be ridiculous. Considering, most people who take the time to write reviews probably either were driven to do so because they really hated it or really loved it and want to vent for revenge or rave as gratitude, making it all the more likely you will hear many superlatives.... Seems useless to skip those. They get the point across. I have used the phrase “best hotel” or “best service ever” in my reviews and I meant them. Sure they are superlatives, but it is just emphasizing a point that we really enjoyed these things. And I would say most people use these words to describe great experiences more often than not. So ignoring those would kind of be ridiculous. Considering, most people who take the time to write reviews probably either were driven to do so because they really hated it or really loved it and want to vent for revenge or rave as gratitude, making it all the more likely you will hear many superlatives…. Seems useless to skip those. They get the point across.

]]> By: phred http://www.consumertraveler.com/today/doesnt-tripadvisor-contain-within-itself-the-germs-of-its-own-undoing/comment-page-1/#comment-12968 phred Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:59:48 +0000 http://www.tripso.com/?p=15297#comment-12968 I have used TripAdvisor for years and it is one of my favorite travel research sites. I actually don't use the reviews that much however since I find that reviewer's expectations or needs may be much different than my own. The TA forums are where you can really get local info and fill in the blanks. I do find it odd that the thought that there might be some shill reviews somehow makes the site worthless. Why is a shill review any worse than the review by the hothead who didn't like his waiter and now has a personal vendetta against a place? You really need to read several reviews to get a feel for a place and then use the forums to confirm it. I don't expect an iron-clad guarantee from TA that I will love a place simply becuase it is rated in the top 10. I have used TripAdvisor for years and it is one of my favorite travel research sites. I actually don’t use the reviews that much however since I find that reviewer’s expectations or needs may be much different than my own. The TA forums are where you can really get local info and fill in the blanks.

I do find it odd that the thought that there might be some shill reviews somehow makes the site worthless. Why is a shill review any worse than the review by the hothead who didn’t like his waiter and now has a personal vendetta against a place? You really need to read several reviews to get a feel for a place and then use the forums to confirm it. I don’t expect an iron-clad guarantee from TA that I will love a place simply becuase it is rated in the top 10.

]]> By: Michelle http://www.consumertraveler.com/today/doesnt-tripadvisor-contain-within-itself-the-germs-of-its-own-undoing/comment-page-1/#comment-12963 Michelle Thu, 11 Jun 2009 21:49:45 +0000 http://www.tripso.com/?p=15297#comment-12963 One note ... although I wrote to tripadvisor many times and proclaimed that this review was obviously fake...it was never removed. And l will never recover from my fear of google'ing my name, sadly. One note … although I wrote to tripadvisor many times and proclaimed that this review was obviously fake…it was never removed. And l will never recover from my fear of google’ing my name, sadly.

]]> By: Stuart Falk http://www.consumertraveler.com/today/doesnt-tripadvisor-contain-within-itself-the-germs-of-its-own-undoing/comment-page-1/#comment-12962 Stuart Falk Thu, 11 Jun 2009 21:01:23 +0000 http://www.tripso.com/?p=15297#comment-12962 REMEMBER CRUISECRITICGATE (Cruise Critic is owned by TripAdvisor): From Jaunted (Conde Nast): http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/3/16/12635/4598/travel/Royal+Caribbean+Cruises+Has+Web+2.0+Viral+Infection Royal Caribbean Cruises Has Web 2.0 Viral Infection No surprise here: Royal Caribbean Cruise Line has a viral infection. For once, however, it's not the Norovirus but that new-fangled byproduct of Web 2.0, the viral marketing infiltration. According to Consumerist, a group of fifty "Royal Champions" was outed by their own creator, the Customer Insight Group, as being a successful project whereby frequent positive cruise commenting on sites such as CruiseCritic was rewarded with free cruises and other perks. So what's the big deal? Well, it seems that the "Royal Champions" weren't always up front about their status as compensated reviewers, effectively misleading readers of CruiseCritic forums with their positive comments. Add to this the fact that CruiseCritic admins assisted Royal Caribbean in choosing the fifty, with one of the stipulations being quantity of posts, "with many having over 10,000 message board posts on various Royal Caribbean topics." From here, the hole just gets deeper. Now that many RC fans feel slighted at not having made the ranks and most everyone else is disgusted at the covert trade of cruising for happy juicing, the trustworthiness of such forums is under fire. Due to CruiseCritic's ownership by TripAdvisor, which is in turn under the Expedia blanket of travel sites, a viral marketing stunt gone awry could possibly continue to negatively ripple. Does news like this affect your ability to trust good reviews on travel sites, or do you already consider yourself an excellent shill-spotter enough to weed out the solicited from the unsolicited? While this whole ordeal is mired in serious muckety-muck, let's hope it serves as a lesson for future viral marketers and as an argument for transparency. REMEMBER CRUISECRITICGATE (Cruise Critic is owned by TripAdvisor):

From Jaunted (Conde Nast):

http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/3/16/12635/4598/travel/Royal+Caribbean+Cruises+Has+Web+2.0+Viral+Infection

Royal Caribbean Cruises Has Web 2.0 Viral Infection

No surprise here: Royal Caribbean Cruise Line has a viral infection. For once, however, it’s not the Norovirus but that new-fangled byproduct of Web 2.0, the viral marketing infiltration. According to Consumerist, a group of fifty “Royal Champions” was outed by their own creator, the Customer Insight Group, as being a successful project whereby frequent positive cruise commenting on sites such as CruiseCritic was rewarded with free cruises and other perks.
So what’s the big deal? Well, it seems that the “Royal Champions” weren’t always up front about their status as compensated reviewers, effectively misleading readers of CruiseCritic forums with their positive comments. Add to this the fact that CruiseCritic admins assisted Royal Caribbean in choosing the fifty, with one of the stipulations being quantity of posts, “with many having over 10,000 message board posts on various Royal Caribbean topics.” From here, the hole just gets deeper.
Now that many RC fans feel slighted at not having made the ranks and most everyone else is disgusted at the covert trade of cruising for happy juicing, the trustworthiness of such forums is under fire.
Due to CruiseCritic’s ownership by TripAdvisor, which is in turn under the Expedia blanket of travel sites, a viral marketing stunt gone awry could possibly continue to negatively ripple. Does news like this affect your ability to trust good reviews on travel sites, or do you already consider yourself an excellent shill-spotter enough to weed out the solicited from the unsolicited? While this whole ordeal is mired in serious muckety-muck, let’s hope it serves as a lesson for future viral marketers and as an argument for transparency.

]]> By: Michelle http://www.consumertraveler.com/today/doesnt-tripadvisor-contain-within-itself-the-germs-of-its-own-undoing/comment-page-1/#comment-12960 Michelle Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:03:04 +0000 http://www.tripso.com/?p=15297#comment-12960 I own a 12 room hotel business on the beach in Cancun and I work very VERY hard to get my guests to write comments when they arrive home. Say we have 12 guests one week, it is easy to get atleast 2 or three to write comments. These guests turn into repeat guests and so they want to please me as much as I want to please them, and see my big smile when they come back to rent from us in a year. Sometimes I have to tell them 3 or 4 times how much I would really appreciate a review. Now when I think of review sites all over the world, I think that only COMPLAINERS go to write to them...even if you look at the Hilton or the Marriott, it is full of complainers...so I thought, I am going to ask my happy guests to write reviews. And they did , And now people seek us out on tripadvisor and they too write good reviews. The world is not all negative and when there are 50 good reviews why do you presume it cannot be true? We work very very hard to keep our guests happy...and reward ourselves with grand vacations 3 x a year. One time a terrible jealous neighbor wrote a horrible FAKE review of us on tripadvisor and attached photos after a hurricane of our resort. It was devastating to me! It terrifies me to this day to google my name for fear of a false review. Reviews are too very important. And if your family is going to write a fake review for you, I would question their scruples...they are dishonest. and probably steal from hotels too. I own a 12 room hotel business on the beach in Cancun and I work very VERY hard to get my guests to write comments when they arrive home. Say we have 12 guests one week, it is easy to get atleast 2 or three to write comments.
These guests turn into repeat guests and so they want to please me as much as I want to please them, and see my big smile when they come back to rent from us in a year. Sometimes I have to tell them 3 or 4 times how much I would really appreciate a review.
Now when I think of review sites all over the world, I think that only COMPLAINERS go to write to them…even if you look at the Hilton or the Marriott, it is full of complainers…so I thought, I am going to ask my happy guests to write reviews. And they did , And now people seek us out on tripadvisor and they too write good reviews. The world is not all negative and when there are 50 good reviews why do you presume it cannot be true? We work very very hard to keep our guests happy…and reward ourselves with grand vacations 3 x a year.
One time a terrible jealous neighbor wrote a horrible FAKE review of us on tripadvisor and attached photos after a hurricane of our resort. It was devastating to me! It terrifies me to this day to google my name for fear of a false review. Reviews are too very important. And if your family is going to write a fake review for you, I would question their scruples…they are dishonest. and probably steal from hotels too.

]]> By: Mark, Richmond, VA http://www.consumertraveler.com/today/doesnt-tripadvisor-contain-within-itself-the-germs-of-its-own-undoing/comment-page-1/#comment-12956 Mark, Richmond, VA Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:38:38 +0000 http://www.tripso.com/?p=15297#comment-12956 I post on the Cozumel, MX TA forum frequently. I can assure you the frequent posters and readers of this locale know exactly when a "fraudulent" post is made on the forum. There are tell tale signs and the Designated Experts and other frequent posters will quickly ask TA to shut down a forum topic to further discussion if they believe it to be blatantly wrong, misleading or a violation of TA rules. The forums are self-policing to a certain extent and TA acts quickly to keep the information accurate. As a frequent visitor to Cozumel (4-5 times a year), I find the TA forum to be one of the best places to glean new information on new places that have opened and things to do on the island. Are there fake reviews? Most certainly, but given the large number of reviews, one can certainly sort through the chaff to see what the real story is. One can also solicit ideas and thoughts on the forum. The people that are frequent readers of the forum know who the business owners are. Most of these owners are careful to make disclosures as to their interests. Do I agree with all the reviews? Not really, but to each his own as to what is good and what is bad. My tastes may not correspond with theirs. I post on the Cozumel, MX TA forum frequently. I can assure you the frequent posters and readers of this locale know exactly when a “fraudulent” post is made on the forum.

There are tell tale signs and the Designated Experts and other frequent posters will quickly ask TA to shut down a forum topic to further discussion if they believe it to be blatantly wrong, misleading or a violation of TA rules. The forums are self-policing to a certain extent and TA acts quickly to keep the information accurate.

As a frequent visitor to Cozumel (4-5 times a year), I find the TA forum to be one of the best places to glean new information on new places that have opened and things to do on the island.

Are there fake reviews? Most certainly, but given the large number of reviews, one can certainly sort through the chaff to see what the real story is. One can also solicit ideas and thoughts on the forum. The people that are frequent readers of the forum know who the business owners are. Most of these owners are careful to make disclosures as to their interests.

Do I agree with all the reviews? Not really, but to each his own as to what is good and what is bad. My tastes may not correspond with theirs.

]]> By: Skip http://www.consumertraveler.com/today/doesnt-tripadvisor-contain-within-itself-the-germs-of-its-own-undoing/comment-page-1/#comment-12952 Skip Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:16:05 +0000 http://www.tripso.com/?p=15297#comment-12952 I'm shocked, shocked! to discover that some properties in the travel industry use shills to boost ratings! I hope no one takes user-reviewer ratings websites with anything but a large grain of salt. I’m shocked, shocked! to discover that some properties in the travel industry use shills to boost ratings!

I hope no one takes user-reviewer ratings websites with anything but a large grain of salt.

]]> By: Larry http://www.consumertraveler.com/today/doesnt-tripadvisor-contain-within-itself-the-germs-of-its-own-undoing/comment-page-1/#comment-12950 Larry Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:13:32 +0000 http://www.tripso.com/?p=15297#comment-12950 It's quite unfortunate that there isn't a foolproof way to filter out the real independant reviews from the ringers, but as it has already been mentioned it's a public site and no proof of ever having stayed in a property or eaten in a restaurant is required before submitting a review. Many reviews are by 1 post wonders, who suddenly seem to have found the site & the time to submit a review, and yet they never post anything again. To me most of those reviews hold no value what so ever. I take reviews subjectively, and if a member has a fair number of posts to the site it indicates that they have likely used the forums for research, and therefore will have a more factual idea of what to expect. Of the few honest reviews that are way over the top, or that tear a place to bits I usually consider it a lack of homework in the first place or attribute it to a relatively inexperienced traveler staying at their first really good property choice. The forums are the place to do your homework by asking questions, especially after having read the reviews. It’s quite unfortunate that there isn’t a foolproof way to filter out the real independant reviews from the ringers, but as it has already been mentioned it’s a public site and no proof of ever having stayed in a property or eaten in a restaurant is required before submitting a review. Many reviews are by 1 post wonders, who suddenly seem to have found the site & the time to submit a review, and yet they never post anything again. To me most of those reviews hold no value what so ever. I take reviews subjectively, and if a member has a fair number of posts to the site it indicates that they have likely used the forums for research, and therefore will have a more factual idea of what to expect.
Of the few honest reviews that are way over the top, or that tear a place to bits I usually consider it a lack of homework in the first place or attribute it to a relatively inexperienced traveler staying at their first really good property choice. The forums are the place to do your homework by asking questions, especially after having read the reviews.

]]> By: Peter http://www.consumertraveler.com/today/doesnt-tripadvisor-contain-within-itself-the-germs-of-its-own-undoing/comment-page-1/#comment-12949 Peter Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:06:03 +0000 http://www.tripso.com/?p=15297#comment-12949 As a frequent user of - and occasional contributor to - TripAdvisor's reviews, I agree with Gus: There are no easy, foolproof answers, and everyone has their built-in biases - whether they set out to scam the system or not. You'd be foolish to rely on any single source for assessments of a hotel. Use the TripAdvisor reviews (and, sometimes even more helpfully, the photos) to get a sense of the place; check other review sites (inc. Fodor and Frommer); and - ultimately - accept that one of the rules of travel is that not everything will always be perfect. Hey, that's life. As a frequent user of – and occasional contributor to – TripAdvisor’s reviews, I agree with Gus: There are no easy, foolproof answers, and everyone has their built-in biases – whether they set out to scam the system or not. You’d be foolish to rely on any single source for assessments of a hotel. Use the TripAdvisor reviews (and, sometimes even more helpfully, the photos) to get a sense of the place; check other review sites (inc. Fodor and Frommer); and – ultimately – accept that one of the rules of travel is that not everything will always be perfect. Hey, that’s life.

]]> By: mary http://www.consumertraveler.com/today/doesnt-tripadvisor-contain-within-itself-the-germs-of-its-own-undoing/comment-page-1/#comment-12947 mary Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:50:23 +0000 http://www.tripso.com/?p=15297#comment-12947 I have used Tripadvisor for years. Like the first comment stated, I use it mainly to see travelers' photos. And it isn't hard to figure out which are the legitimate reviews from travleres who share my goals and tastes. In those reviews, I have found lots of helpful tips and suggestions. I will continue to use TA and my common sense to hlep get the most I can out of traveling. I also post reviews which I hope help other travelers. I have used Tripadvisor for years. Like the first comment stated, I use it mainly to see travelers’ photos. And it isn’t hard to figure out which are the legitimate reviews from travleres who share my goals and tastes. In those reviews, I have found lots of helpful tips and suggestions. I will continue to use TA and my common sense to hlep get the most I can out of traveling. I also post reviews which I hope help other travelers.

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