What do you do when you book somewhere on an impulse and then trip advisor reviews are awful?

[dameofdilemma]

Just that. I’m usually a cautious booker but had a moment of madness and booked a lodge for three nights at a resort in Cornwall (we’ll already be down there, not travelling especially).

The resort has terrible reviews. No answer when I phone either which is never a good sign.

Trip advisor reviews are often bad when somewhere is perfectly nice. The not answering the phone isn’t good though. At the end of the day you’re going to be in a lovely place- you can just use it as a base if the worst comes to the worst.

Fingers crossed it’s nice!

Depends, i tend to ignore the worst and the very best and take a middle of the road option, however the majority are all awful then id seriously consider cancelling....or at least you go in with your eyes open and accept it for what it is - you could be pleasantly surprised!

I booked a place in Portugal years ago and then loads of really bad reviews. I was almost sick with anxiety by the time we got there but it was fine, a bit dated maybe but much larger than expected and perfectly comfortable. Another time we stayed in holiday homes and they were amazing, very elegant and luxurious compared to our home anyway, i read reviews afterwards saying that they were very basic, i can only conclude that the reviewers must live in a palace! I always read reviews but now i take them with a pinch of salt, i only pay attention if several people say a place is dirty, or further away from places of interest than advertised .

Thanks all….agree we won’t be hanging out there much.

It’s just little things like the small print says the swimming pool can only be used for ore booked 30 min slots and there’s no way to book them until you’re there (will likely be booked up).

There are no tables left in the restaurant for dinner.
There is no click and collect service (advertised on the website) to take meals to your lodge and the on-site shop closes at 6.

So we probably can’t use the pool and will have to go to supermarket and cook or find somewhere else to eat. Not what we thought was on offer.

I feel terrible and have told Dp I’ll pay for it and clock it up to a very expensive mistake!

And according to TA the lodge rugs smell of wee - nice!

I’ll be leaving a TA review….

Me and dp joke about consulting the lunatics of trip advisor when we go somewhere new. I wouldn't worry too much, can you look on other sites- booking.com etc. and see if they have reviews?

Find somewhere else! We've had to leave really awful places. Depends how bad it is.

I take it it's a non refundable booking?

That doesn't sound that bad OP. I thought you meant blood up the walls type reviews

At least you know before you go - Google pubs and takeaways within walk or easy drive, or see if Deliveroo or Just Eat cover it, and / or take some easy to cook meals with you.

We stayed in some pretty crappy caravan parks when the DC were small and it was all we could afford. These kinds of holidays are what you make of them. If you go intending to just use it as a base, and determined to have a good time then you probably will

Look at the number of reviews. If a place has only a few reviews then bad or good ones can skew one way or the other. If there are lots of reviews with similar comments I do take them seriously.

As pp says at least you know in advance.

Yup non refundable. Doh!

We know the area really well (dp is from here and his family are here) so he has ideas up his sleeve to escape if we need to.

It's apparently known as a luxury resort ha!