Trip Advisor

We use TripAdvisor when we plan our holidays. We sometimes contribute if we feel that we can add value. It's a very useful resource. The simple concept of creating a web site that is written by travelers for travelers is very powerful and it is no surprise that TripAdvisor has become one of the best known examples of social media worldwide with over 20 million reviews.

TripAdvisor's original re-assuring strap-line "get the truth. then go." smacked of integrity and professionalism and implied that the reader can trust the site to provide impartial, accurate advice about where to go, where to stay, what to do and where to eat.

Often, in our experience, nothing can be further from "the truth". In fact, there is nothing in TripAdvisor's own guidelines on what constitutes an acceptable review to suggest that a review need be truthful or factual. Interesting, then, that "get the truth. then go" has recently been replaced with "world's most trusted travel advice"! TripAdvisor need to take the issue of fraudulent and inaccurate reporting far more seriously than they appear to do at present and its parent company Expedia should be more transparent with their customers. As one blogger from Hawaii wrote, "When your stock in trade is reviews, it's essential that consumers of the reviews have confidence in them. Otherwise, isn't this like going to the ATM and being unsure whether the cash you receive is counterfeit?"

Don't get us wrong, this isn't being written because of sour grapes or as a result of an overbearing sense of injustice - the Cross actually benefits quite nicely from reviews which are mostly very positive - but rather that we have identified serious flaws and inadequacies in the TripAdvisor model and we think it only right that if you intend to read and take account of TripAdvisor reviews you are aware of these and if you are considering penning your own review we would like and urge you to do so responsibly.

So, before you use TripAdvisor reviews to plan your holiday you need to know:

that travelers reviews are not checked for factual accuracy and where significant errors are identified it is impossible to have these corrected. In fact we don't believe that reviews are subject to any sort of scrutiny prior to posting (we complained recently about a review of a local campsite that contained blatantly racist remarks...to no avail).
that property owners write their own reviews. This of course is taboo as far as TripAdvisor is concerned, but the reality is that there are insufficient measures (or penalties) in place to ensure that it doesn't happen. On two occasions we've pointed out such reviews to TripAdvisor, on both occasions the reviews in question were removed, but in neither instance was any further action taken against the properties concerned. We've also been at the receiving end of scathing reviews written by neighbouring hoteliers! Recently, The Times wrote and submitted six glowing reviews, all fake, on hotels generally considered to be amongst London's poorest. TripAdvisor posted all six reviews without question.
that property owners run campaigns to encourage their customers (and friends?) to write positive reviews - in fact TripAdvisor positively encourage this and such is TripAdvisor's potential as a marketing tool for the hospitality industry that public money is spent in running training courses for small businesses on how to manipulate TripAdvisor to best advantage. Posting on TripAdvisor is, sadly, one of the most basic tactics in the PR 2.0 world and it's been written that some hotels incentivise their staff to write reviews.
that, largely as a consequence of the three points above, the TripAdvisor rankings cannot always be relied upon as an objective guide to comparative quality. They are also too easily influenced by too many or too few reviews and are highly subjective. Pleasant but mediocre and somewhat unremarkable properties do seem to populate the top rankings whilst the sometimes astonishingly low rankings of properties that are generally regarded as among the finest in the country would suggest that something is awry with the TripAdvisor scoring mechanism. The Cross is/was ranked by TripAdvisor as around the 30th best "hotel" in the Scottish Highlands (we were in the top ten before we created this filter page)...and the reviewers of The Cross have on average stayed in and reviewed almost 10 other properties. Compare that with the two highest ranking properties..but their reviewers have on average only stayed in and reviewed just over 2 other properties. At the very least this strongly suggests that the algorithms used by TripAdvisor to determine its rankings are biased against properties such as The Cross that are recognised more widely to be amongst the best in the Highlands. Recently, TripAdvisor has begun to display each contributor's review history...this is a step in the right direction but whilst it makes it easier to disregard some reviews it really hasn't changed anything as far as rankings are concerned. And if the accommodation rankings are dubious then restaurant rankings are derisory. The restaurant at The Cross crashed a dozen places in the local rankings as a result of a single scathing review written by the operations manager of a local hotel. TripAdvisor would neither publish our considered management response or remove the damning review which is quite clearly a rather sad effort at competitive sabotage. It was all very frustrating and the only way in which we could make our pint was to post a clearly sarcastic & tongue-in-cheek response.
that TripAdvisor is big business and, as a unit of Expedia, obviously serves first and foremost to further it's global travel marketing business. TripAdvisor makes money via pay-per-click links and adverts. The value of that business is largely driven by the number of reviews posted as well as the total number of site visitors, therefore they have a vested interest in ensuring that as many reviews as possible are posted, accurate or not. The commercial aims of TripAdvisor have recently become even more apparent as they have begun to tout hoteliers for extra revenue in exchange for enhanced entries and hot links to their own web sites.
that there is evidence to suggest that properties whose management have been critical of TripAdvisor are in some way black-listed or disadvantaged...for example, since we posted this filter page to our web-site and went public with criticism via hospitality trade press we have had very few reviews posted on TripAdvisor...hmm? Is this a big deal? Not really, but be aware that, with no reviews being posted, our position in the rankings slips steadily downwards! TripAdvisor revenge? Perhaps.

We also suggest that you:

check each reviewer's profile you're basing a travel decision on, in order to see how many he or she has written...if the profile has only one or two reviews then disregard it. If on the other hand the reviewer has written on numerous occasions on properties in varying locations then the review is likely to be more objective.
consider disregarding the the very worst and the very best reviews.
also do your own research - find material written by professional reviewers (Michelin, AA, Rough Guide, Scotland the Best, etc.) that will corroborate what you have read on TripAdvisor.

And, if you are thinking about writing a review (about The Cross or anywhere else):

do remember that once you've posted your review you can't change it so do please be sure of your facts (and tone) before pressing that button! Remember that if you make an ill-judged criticism, pass a cheap remark, quote the wrong dish or price, or you are economical with the truth in order to sensationalise your review you will have at best irritated the owner, demotivated their staff and lost all credibility...but at worst you may have caused lasting damage to someone's business.
your review should be balanced - of course you will want to describe your stay or meal and express some opinions, that's what it's all about...but please do consider if your experience of staying in hotels or eating out is so comprehensive that you are fully qualified to make comparative judgments or to advise hospitality professionals on how to run their business.
be sure that you are writing for the right reasons, i.e. because you genuinely wish to enhance a fellow traveler's experience and not because you're a frustrated travel writer and get a kick out of seeing your words in print, because you hold a grudge, or that you merely want to bring a successful business down a peg or two. Maybe you and your choice of hotel just weren't right for each other!?
at least afford the management the courtesy of bringing any criticisms or disappointments to their attention at the time of your visit, and before you write to TripAdvisor There's nothing that's so cowardly, frankly, than to settle your bill without comment, nod meekly when asked if you've enjoyed your stay and hot-foot it to your computer when you get home to vent all of your pent-up anger across a TripAdvisor review. You'll be pleasantly surprised at how often complaints can be resolved if raised at the time. If after all your efforts have been in vain then by all means spill the beans but even then there's no need to be nasty or melodramatic about it.
and, please, don't write about a property six months or more after you've stayed. It's a disservice to your fellow travelers If your review is negative the chances are that anything that had gone wrong when you stayed has already been put right, and if it's a glowing review you've written you have no guarantees that things haven't changed.

After all that, and you still want to post a review, all you need to do is click on the TripAdvisor logo below and we'll leave the rest to you!

And in the event that you want to read even more about TripAdvisor you can follow an interesting topic thread on www.travelblog.org and, for the other side of the argument, you might like to read a report that was completed by Highland Business Research!