Can you trust reviews on TripA and AirBnB?

[LovelyintheAfternoon]

Just come back from a few days away, booked via an agency who manage the property. Booked directly with them but they also use AirBnB and other sites for their lettings.

The reviews are all 5* and no issues mentioned.

To our disappointment, the apartment was feet away from a busy 3-lane road across the city. The traffic noise was so bad (including sirens) we hardly slept. In fact we had to move out one night to stay with my nearby family just to get some sleep.

The photos of the block of flats (mostly all residential with some lettings) didn't show the exact position of the apartment we had and suggested it was down river away from the road.

This flat has been let since 2011 and only one review alluded to road noise saying it was there but not an issue.

I find that very odd.Can owners and agents delete negative reviews?

Not sure about contacting the agency and mentioning as they have other properties we may want to book in future.

Just to add- we did look on google street maps to identify the apartments before booking...BUT the development is in two sections.

The photo shows the main block facing the river, some distance from the road, which implies that's where the apartment is, but in fact it's in an off-shoot to one side and that photo doesn't actually show the position of the apartment relative to the road. It could be the road side of the building or the street side.

I know with hindsight this means we have to ask very specific questions in future, BUT all the photos and the reviews give the impression the road noise / location doesn't exist.

We always use TripA all the time but only for hotels and restaurants. We go abroad every 3 ish months and I also regularly review both hotels and restaurants on TripA I always try to be honest none of my less positive or even distinctly negative reviews have ever been taken down. Over 6+ years of using TripA on about 4 occasions a restaurant that’s had glowing reviews IMO has turned out to be mediocre at best otherwise I always recommend it to friends. I do always read the negative reviews even the best places will have some e.g. when we went to Asia and stayed in an amazing hotel by tropical rain forrest on a beach four people gave it one star out of numerous 5 star reviews they complained that there were sandflies on a tropical sandy beach! At another huge hotel which has a very famous swimming pool (your main reason for staying there) the biggest complaint was that there were people in the pool.
IME people are very quick to complain about noise the hotel we stayed last year in Rome quite a few complaints about noise from pedestrians cars etc but it was on a road in a busy area so what do people expect? I think some people are definitely more tolerant of noise than others.
I’ve only booked and used Airbnb once the room was exceedingly good value 50% cheaper than an average hotel in the area and clean neat comfortable and the lady whose house it was was charming I gave it a very positive review but would have given it a slightly different review if I’d paid double in a hotel.

The trouble is that people's perception of noise largely depends on where they live. As Londoners we once stayed in a lovely village that had a main road going through it, but hardly any traffic at night, just the occasional car. We found it very quiet. Another guest was worried he'd find it too noisy to sleep as there! We've read similar reviews of places where people complain about noise in places I'd consider very quiet.

Yeah I get that.

The road though was about 20 ft from the bedroom windows. 4 lanes (dual carriageway plus 2 slip roads)and main route to the hospital.

I admit we aren't used to noise as we do live in a village.

However, before posting this I did an online search on 'can you trust reviews' and there seems to be evidence that owners/ agents can edit out negative comments or remove altogether.

????

You don’t seem able to edit out negative reviews on TripA I put on a fairly negative review about a cafe and got a very aggressive PM from the owner demanding I took it down I ignored him in fact it made even more convinced I was right and it’s still on there 5 years later.

We stayed somewhere last year that had 100 steep, unlit steps to reach the apartment. Nowhere in the description or the reviews was this mentioned. We just about managed it but it really put a damper on our break and we left a day early.

If we had been travelling with small children or an elderly relative it would have been disastrous.