Top Ten Tips for Checking Hotel Review Sites

 

Online holiday reviews, should you read them?

When you plan a fabulous getaway either with your family, lover, friend or even alone it's tempting, many would say sensible, to read the reviews of people that have gone before. But how to make sense of reviews of the same hotel that range from "it was appalling I would rather sleep under a railway arch, 1 star" to "amazing stay it was incredible in every respect, totally recommend, 5 stars!" ?

Here are my top ten tips on breaking down reviews, and making sense of them.

• Check where the reviewer is from. With a global reach the internet has reviewers from all over the world. Pay more attention to reviewers from your own country as they will usually have similar expectations to you. Americans for example may mark down a hotel with no free ice machine, while the average Brit doesn't expect free ice as standard so may not mention it.

• See if the reviewer has left lots of reviews or just this one. This is particularly relevant if the review is terrible as people are fast to complain but not so quick to praise. On TripAdvisor for example you can look back over other reviews from the same person. If they review a lot and the reviews vary, then it's safe to assume they are probably fairly honest and balanced.

• Check who was in the reviewers party. Reviews for families will vary a lot from reviews for romantic getaways or adventure type holidays. Complaints of noise can be  relative and might be due to guests at the time of the visit and thus not an ongoing issue. Moans about a busy kids club on a romantic weekend might translate into the perfect child minding plan for a family with 3 young children.

• Pay more attention if all of the reviews are similar. If everyone mention food poisoning and under cooked chicken over several months then it would raise alarm bells. Constant mentions of dirty rooms etc likewise. While one bad review among a lot of good ones probably just shows the hotel has a bad cleaner or a busy week.

• Read the review not just the stars! Amazingly some people post a glowing review but only give 1 or 2 stars for the experience. I'm never sure if they are just holding back for the really fantastic hotels  (for example they may feel a 3 star hotel never deserves more than a 3 star review) , if they clicked the wrong button, or just have no clue how star ratings work! Likewise I've seen 5 star reviews that made the hotel sound awful!

• Think about what you expect in a hotel. I like a clean room, a TV,wifi,  a fridge and a balcony. If reviews moaned about a tatty reception area I wouldn't be that fussed. If they said their TV was broken, the wifi didn't work in any of the rooms and the balcony had been unsafe I would be more interested!

• Check the date on reviews. It is really easy to read reviews that are years old and be fooled into thinking the hotel is excellent or terrible based on very out of date information. Sort the reviews by date if you can and read the most recent ones. I have been caught out this way - turning up to discover the 'free' wifi was no longer free and the hot tub was no longer working - sad times.

• Try and check more than one review site. TripAdvisor is a large site but there are others such as Oyster, Holiday Watchdog, and Travel Republic. Also google the hotel name to see if any bloggers have visited and written bigger reviews with extra pictures. Ask on social media too. 

• Read plenty of reviews before you book, and avoid reading any more afterwards! Once you have booked, unless you are prepared to change or cancel your booking, don't torture yourself by reading more reviews.

• When you get home be sure to add your own review. good, bad or in between all reviews are useful to the traveller. Be honest, try to be balanced, include facts and examples not just personal opinions, although a summing up of how you did or did not like the holiday can be useful. I always review the places I visit as I know how helpful reviews can be. On TripAdvisor it's not just the hotels you can review but the local attractions and restaurants too - you could even review those that are local to you at home.

Do you write reviews online? Do you read them? I'd love to hear your experiences (good and bad) of using online review sites.

This post is (bizarrely) not sponsored ;-)

Would you like coffee?

Today I met my parents for lunch. It is their wedding anniversary, they have been married for 48 years! They are staying at a hotel near me and it seems very nice, beautiful grounds, pretty fountains, quiet location, nice rooms etc etc.

Last night they had dinner in the restaurant and it was wonderful. Helpful knowledgeable staff, delicious food, lovely wine...

So they were a tad surprised at the Fawlty Tower's style lunch we had today.

Perhaps we should have been warned when after asking for 'carbonated water' my mother was told by the (very young) waiter - "we don't have any carbonated water I'm afraid, we only have sparkling or still"

But we weren't.

We ordered our drinks, sat for a while in the nice lounge and perused the menu. Having chosen, (Fish and chips for me, Risotto for my father, Lamb for my mother) we were told that the vegetables on the menu had changed. Some debate finally led to the waiter agreeing that broccoli could be substituted for celeriac. We moved into the restaurant.

The starters arrived and they were all very nice, we were asked several times if we wanted to order wine, we replied (each time) that no we did not. Again we should have realised that communication between the waiters was not going well.

The main courses arrived. They looked beautful. My chunk of battered fish sat atop 'pureed peas' (not mushy as I had hoped but squashed frozen garden peas in a heap) The chips were large and chunky but arranged jenga style - there were 6. The risotto was nice. My mothers lamb arrived ten minutes after the rest of the food, the waiter said "the cutlet is very small so the chef is cooking you another one, it will be along in a minute"  ... "along with the brocolli?" asked my mother. The waiter looked confused but said yes.

I cut into the fish. It was pink. I tasted the fish. It was salmon. Now I know lots of people like salmon, I know salmon is expensive and posh but it's the ONE fish in the world I dislike. I can eat squid, octopus, mussels, pollack, herring you name it but I really dislike salmon and who in their right mind puts 'Fish and Chips' on a menu without mentioning it's salmon? Especially as my dad had the fish and chips the night before and it was white fish!

So we called the waiter and complained. "I didn't tell you what the fish was because you didn't ask" he sullenly told us. Ah.

I didn't ask if it was on a plate either but I'd have been surprised if he'd tipped it into my lap!

The food was taken away. Ten minutes passed an a waiter returned, "would you like to choose another dish?" I chose pan fried pork but of course now I had to wait while my mother and father ate.

We could now hear the maitre d' shouting at the staff in the kitchen. The words were indistinct although 'salmon' was mentioned.

On the table behind us a group of people were asking if there was any cheese in place of dessert. "No" said the waiter "I asked the chef there is none" "No cheese?" responded the startled diner "surely every kitchen has cheese, I do not require an entire cheese board just some cheese, there must be some in the fridge?" "No, there isn't, don't blame me, it's just what the chef told me, there is no cheese"

They ordered coffees.

My pork arrived and it was delicious. Mum and dad had long finished. The maitre d' came over to apologise about the meal, he assured us it would be free.

We ordered dessert and coffee. We had now been in the restaurant 3 hours. The dessert came, it was very nice. The coffee did not come, but a waiter arrived to ask if we would like coffee. We politely replied that we would and that was why we had ordered it. He went away. We finished the desserts.

The table behind us was pointing out to a waiter that a cappuchino and a latte are different and they wanted 2 cappuchinos and one latte not 3 lattes. He seemed confused.

A waiter came to ask us if we wanted coffee. We pointed out that we had now ordered it twice. He responded with "oh yes,  of course" and went away.

A waiter arrived to ask if we wanted coffee. My mother said not to bother unless it was made already "oh it is!" the waiter assured us "I'll bring it now" "If it's not on the table in 2 minutes we are leaving!" said my exasperated mother. Behind us a waiter took the lattes away.

Our coffee arrived. It was nearly cold.

Oh how we laughed.