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Post by yeoldetangerine on Nov 1, 2011 8:55:22 GMT 1
Did any of you see the Channel 4 programme on Trip Advisor last night?
This is something very close to our hearts, as the recipients of what we would consider to be a few unfair reviews, and having seen friends businesses damaged by the same. However, because it is so close to home, I wonder how it came across to the general public, did the reviewers seem fair, or did at least a couple of them seem to delight in complaining and have unrealistic expectations of what they should get for their money?
Cheers
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Post by yenilira on Nov 1, 2011 10:36:34 GMT 1
Ye Olde: Although I didn't see the programme, I do agree wholeheartedly with the first sentence of your post "....unfair reviews..........the same." There are numerous times when I have to doubt the authencity and credability of posters on that site, ie. some could/may be rival hotelliers with derogatory comments posted. Obviously, we cannot verify if it is true, but some posts seem to be very dubious when, in a space of, say, a month, there are six comments about one hotel or other, two or three of which really pull the hotel down. Ask yourself this: How can a hotel veer alternately from "....smashing time, fabulous hotel..." to "...horribly filthy...meals rubbish..." every eight/nine days. Just doesn't seem right. This used to be a very good website for info on a myriad of (holiday) topics but nowadays, I just take the vast majority of it with a large pinch of salt, and make up my own mind in as many other ways as I can. A case in point: There's a hotel just up our street in Alanya, which, obviously, I'm quite familiar with. I would go there myself - if it weren't for the price. A regular on 'T-A'. But then I look at the comments posted, and half the time I say - "What the f. - this is absolute rubbish, utter bok!" "What planet are you on?" etc etc. A few do indeed have, as you state, "...unrealistic expectations..." of what the place is - in my point, it's a 3* family hotel ffs, although it has the facilities of some 5 star establishments. To be quite honest, 'Trip' seems to be practically the only site with real dubious negative reviews. Doesn't that also make you think? YL.
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Post by Tangerine Sherlock on Nov 1, 2011 12:42:47 GMT 1
A similar web site was set up in the USA and being the USA they got sued and ended up closing down after being ordered to pay 400 million damages to one hotel and the same people also proved that some of the posts came from rival businesses and they also sued them and got another 200 million in damages and ended up owning 2 of the competing hotels.
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Post by yenilira on Nov 1, 2011 14:26:42 GMT 1
There you go. Exactly my point! Thanks, Sher.
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Post by yeoldetangerine on Nov 1, 2011 22:15:24 GMT 1
Some of the online booking sites run their own
Laterooms is probably the best, allowing a management response, or even deletion if there was a legal issue, eg leaving without paying, or threats.
Booking.com is the worst of all, no response allowed, no right to appeal, even Trip Advisor allows a management response
The best response I have read is from a business not far from us thanking the guest for the dreadful review, saying that at least he kept his word threatening to give a bad review if he wasn't given a discount!
We reckon that if you check reviews and 90% are OK, it will be fine, if they are all OK, it probably includes their mates, if awful, have a real good look if the language is the same, if not, it's probably Kosher, there are still too many poor establishments.
And if all else fails in the UK, check if they have a VisitBritain or AA star rating, these are done by professionals, and some visits to all are anonymous.
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