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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Expecting Trip Advisor reviewers to be fair

83 replies

alsmutko · 09/01/2017 12:38

I know. I'm BU. But I fancy a rant.
Is it fair to blame the hotel, rating it TERRIBLE because it's not in the location you wanted it to be (in one case, near the Eiffel Tower)? Why not look up the hotels location before booking and if your travel company misinformed you, complain to them. Is it fair to complain the reception didn't point out how to get to the beach when the hotel is ON THE FUCKING BEACH? Is it fair to blame the hotel for the resort's restaurant touts? Is it fair to compain about continental breakfasts being served in a Paris hotel? If it's stale bread, tell them THERE AND THEN and ask for something fresher. If you're lacking a pillow TELL THEM, don't get home and moan onTA, and thus spoil your holiday.
Rant over.

OP posts:

MorrisZapp · 09/01/2017 13:50

I think some Amazon users don't know how to use the stars when writing a review. I've seen lots of one star reviews praising the product. It's amazon's fault - there should be a choice of clicking one, two etc stars.

At present all reviews start with one star unless you know you're expected to change it, and how.

I find Amazon bizarre. They're the biggest website in the known universe but the whole review system - writing, uploading and reading - feels like using the Internet ten years ago.

SeasickCrocodile · 09/01/2017 13:52

I find the clearly paid for reviews the most galling. Oh look they have one review and it's this place. Zero detail that would make you think the person has been there but gushingly positive about the service. TA has become a joke due to all the fake bought reviews.

dustarr73 · 09/01/2017 13:55

5. A tourist at a top African Game Lodge over looking a water hole, who spotted a visibly aroused elephant, complained that the sight of this rampant beast ruined his honeymoon by making him feel "inadequate".

That has to be the funniest review.

I try to be fair,i give good reviews.But i try and be truthful and will often give places another chance.And if someone leaves a really bad review,i look up their page.And usually its the person giving the bad review and not the place itself.

HelenaGWells · 09/01/2017 13:57

HelenaGWells Well I always look at the worst reviews for any business rather than just the number of stars.

I do as well because I think the worst things people say can tell you more about a place but I do think we are in the minority.

FondantNancy · 09/01/2017 13:58

A friend of mine owns a small hotel and he HATES Tripadvisor. A lot of the people who leave him bad reviews have a vendetta, eg, they asked for a discount or a certain room and didn't receive it, due to it being high season or the room already being booked. My friend replies to each and every review, and sometimes he's clearly angry, which does him no favours but I do get it.

The hotel is in a town that is famously difficult to get to, (seven hours by bus, boat, donkey etc). A couple of people gave the hotel one star because the town was so out of the way! By the replies to those it looked like my friend was about to have a stroke.

FlyingElbows · 09/01/2017 13:59

I love reading reviews. Trip Advisor and Amazon can be very very amusing.

FlyingElbows · 09/01/2017 14:00

Oh and Argos.

SaagMasala · 09/01/2017 14:01

I love reading Trip Advisor reviews, and whenever I'm considering somewhere I read the bad ones first. I'm always amazed at the utter stupidity of some of them. As others have said though, several complaints about the same things would probably put me off.

Having said that, a local pub which is known locally for good food has had quite a few bad reviews (which do sound genuine, reasonable opinion, not unjustified rants) complaining about the food, and the service, so I suppose any busy place can have a bad day.

I don't post much on TA and I try to be positive. I have left a couple of rather negative reviews (though balanced against a couple of good features). I always try to provide constructive comments so I hope they are taken in the spirit in which they are intended. However, I made a couple of very reasonable suggestions about a well-known tourist attraction in Northumberland which received a rather scathing response from the manager! His attitude has put me off going back.

Emmageddon · 09/01/2017 14:01

We stayed in a hotel in Crete that had horrifically bad trip advisor reviews - it was incredibly cheap and I only looked at the reviews after booking

However, the fact they only served Greek cuisine, spoke Greek, the sun was very hot, the bar served beer, wine and ouzo only, there was a nudist beach nearby (won't somebody think of the children??) and mosquitoes can bite, didn't actually put us off and we had a fabulous time. They certainly didn't deserve their half a star rating on TA.

NapQueen · 09/01/2017 14:02

I have to reply to the TA reviews for the hotel I work at. Sometimes I need to pace my office a little before I formulate the sentences. Don't want to get the sack after all.

JadeT2 · 09/01/2017 14:04

TripAdvisor is infuriating. I manage a restaurant and we get complaints about everything from waiting longer than 5 minutes for food (we do actually have to cook it you know!) to the type of food we serve. Unfortunately I have the awful task of trying to pacify the idiots.

ShotsFired · 09/01/2017 14:06

Mynestisfullofempty There are some funny people about. How about the ones who answer questions on Amazon about the products with "I don't know, I haven't got one" and similar? confused I can't work out how their minds work.

Aaah, reminds me of a many moons-ago (pre mobiles, pre internet) Jack Dee sketch where he took the mickey out of people who rang up phone polls to choose the "I don't know" answer.

Spam88 · 09/01/2017 14:13

Hotels in Paris seemed to have particularly silly reviews when I was looking for somewhere there to book. There was one particular reviewer who couldn't speak highly enough about the hotel - staff were amazing, room was brilliant, perfect location, best nights sleep ever - only to conclude with "but unfortunately as there were no tea and coffee making facilities, I can only give one star".

Original poster

alsmutko · 09/01/2017 14:17

I usually post reviews and have never given less than three stars
And I never swear so I think I am very pleasant! This is Mumsnet so I think we're all grown ups here.
I also try to make my reviews helpful. As in 'when the coffee machine runs out of water and there's a wait for it to heat up, just ask the bar staff, they'll make you a cuppa' instead of moaning about the coffee machine running out of water!

OP posts:

WyfOfBathe · 09/01/2017 14:18

It happens with apps too. I recently downloaded the EHIC app, which tells you how to use your EHIC card in all the different countries which accept it. The description on google play is clear about what it does, and explicitly states that the app is not a card...there are loads of 1* reviews complaining that the app is not a digital version of your EHIC card... it never claimed to be!

WankingMonkey · 09/01/2017 14:19

When we went on holiday we checked tripadvisor for the hotel. There were complaints along the lines of 'the weather was terrible' and that. Stuff that is totally beyond the hotels control..some people are a bit..stupid.

LadyLindaT · 09/01/2017 14:19

I think my favourite on Trip Advisor was the one where they posted a bad review, because the shower gel dispenser was empty. They posted pictures of said dispenser to prove it. Might it not have been more productive to ring/go down to Reception and ask for some shower gel?

Original poster

alsmutko · 09/01/2017 14:21

The worst restaurant review I did (3 stars) was when my pizza arrived just as my partner finished his without a word of apology. I understand these things happen & I didn't mind the wait (it was only 15 mins or so) but I did feel a 'sorry about the wait' would've been nice, as would 'did you enjoy your meal'. But there was nothing. Food was good though.
I can imagine some would review that as terrible!

OP posts:

WankingMonkey · 09/01/2017 14:21

"No-one told us there would be fish in the sea. The children were startled."

Has got to be one of the best ones

Only1scoop · 09/01/2017 14:23

Also unfair when on really lovely hotel sites.
"We didn't actually stay here but they turned us away for food as they said they were fully booked, we saw at least one table free"

superbean · 09/01/2017 14:23

YANBU

I think you can tell though from reading the reviews themselves quite a lot about the people writing them.

I am lucky enough to have a holiday home in Cornwall. Most of our guests are lovely, but the odd few write the most horrendous things! It really is a beautiful property but we've had people complain about pillows (too hard/too soft even though they are all regularly replaced), the fact that the welcome basket had Tesco (yes really) butter in it, and the fact that they can hear noise from the harbour...er, it's in the old town people.

One woman complained that there was some dust on the inside of a lampshade. I really think some people just have to find something that is wrong.

This year we have finally given in and put in wifi. For several years we've tried to resist on the basis that it's a chance to get away from it all, but clearly this is what people want.

I think I will also be updating the website to tell the pillow fussers to take their own bloody pillows.

HardofCleaning · 09/01/2017 14:24

There are some funny people about. How about the ones who answer questions on Amazon about the products with "I don't know, I haven't got one" and similar? confused I can't work out how their minds work.

Yes I find these hilarious, I think if someone asks a question about something you've bought amazon sometimes email you so perhaps these people think they've been asked personally.

Tweasels · 09/01/2017 14:25

The hotel we're staying in this year is apparently racist against the English because the entertainment is sometimes delivered in French and Spanish and not 'always' English. Which in this chap's mind you isn't fair as he knows all the French and Spanish speak English

He also said the French guests were given bigger portions of food than him and the staff were nicer to them. To be fair they probably were because he sounds like a total prick.

If these reviews stop people who think like him going it's all the better.

Only1scoop · 09/01/2017 14:26

Agree
"We haven't actually used it yet, but the box looks nice"

JadeT2 · 09/01/2017 14:26

alsmutko with some guests I've dealt with I would've had to deal with screaming in my face for ten minutes before comping their bill and giving them vouchers to get them out. Although I must admit that does sound like a pretty awful/odd experience!

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