Travel reviews: can they be trusted?

When it comes to booking the best holiday accommodation, should you trust online travel reviews or not?

Planning a holiday is always fraught with difficulty - from haggling with friends and family about the budget to finding a decent flight time. But making sure you book a clean, comfortable place to stay for the duration of your break is equally important. After all, no-one wants to end up staying in accommodation that could feature on ITV’s Holidays from Hell, or BBC1’s Watchdog.

But what’s the best way to research your holiday accommodation when you’re hundreds of miles away? That’s where online reviews by other holidaymakers come in. They are the 21^st Century equivalent of word-of-mouth recommendations.

TripAdvisor says it is the world’s largest travel site with more than 45 million reviews and opinions from travellers. I never book holiday accommodation without checking out their site and similar to get a feel for what other holidaymakers have to say.

But online reviews can be both a blessing and a curse. Some people claim that most holidaymakers who go to the effort of posting a review are disgruntled customers, resulting in, according to certain hoteliers, a string of unfairly negative reviews which puts prospective holidaymakers off booking a stay.

Some hoteliers have been so upset by what they claim are unfairly negative reviews that they have threatened legal action against TripAdvisor. But the company says the majority of reviews posted are positive, with an average rating of four out of five stars, and that every review is screened before it appears on the site. The company adds that hoteliers can also publicly respond to any reviews.

In a statement, TripAdvisor said: “... if the reviews people read didn’t paint an accurate picture users would not keep coming back... the sheer volume of reviews allows travellers to get the facts, spot trends among reviews and determine whether a property is right for them.”

So, what should you, as a consumer, do when it comes to making sure the holiday accommodation you want to book matches your brief?

Firstly, assess the person posting the review. Note their age if mentioned and if they were on a group, family or couples holiday. After all, a couple in their forties may understandably have a gripe against their accommodation if it also housed large groups of twentysomethings on a raucous party holiday. But if you’re planning a party holiday with friends this could be the right place for you.

It’s also worth noting when the reviewer stayed at the property as service at any accommodation during peak and off-peak season tends to differ.

Also, look at the average star rating. If the latest review is a negative one, yet the overall reviews give the establishment four stars out of five, don’t write it off immediately. Read further reviews.

However, if you’ve done your research yet you arrive at your accommodation to find it isn’t what you expected, make sure you complain.

If your accommodation forms part of a package holiday then under the Package Travel Regulations 1992 tour operators have legal responsibilities to their customers and if it fails in its duty then it may be liable to pay compensation. In the first instance speak with your resort representative. Explain the problem and give them the opportunity to move you or put things right.

If you get no joy, make notes of the problems including names, dates, places and contact details and take photographs to prove your complaint. This could prove useful evidence at a later date.

If the problems remain unresolved, write a letter of complaint to the tour operator when you get home. If it’s a member of a trade association such as ABTA then contact them. You can seek advice from your local Trading Standards department and the Citizen's Advice Bureau.

If you’ve booked directly, speak to the hotel owner and see if the matter can be sorted. If not, again, make a note of your complaint and take photographs. If you’ve booked on your credit card then under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 your card provider is jointly liable if anything goes wrong, such as breaches of contract or misrepresentation regarding your accommodation. This protection applies to purchases between £100 and £30,000.

And don’t forget, if your accommodation wasn’t up to scratch or equally, if it was excellent, you can always post an online review to help other holidaymakers decide where to stay.

Comments

[Maurice]

People have different standards. If I read a review where 75% of comments are positive, then I book,if 75% are negative I don't.There will always be complaints from people who want to pay 3 star prices and are dissapointed not to get 5 star service

[Paul]

As a hotelier in Blackpool, we encourage guests to write reviews about their stay, we ensure that the hotel offers exactly what we say on our web site, this way, guests will not be disapointed, infact they are usually far more impressed with the overal quality of their stay.

[Peter Layzell]

I always check the review sites and usually leave a review after each holiday.
It is important to read ALL of the reviews and take into account the complaints and the praise along with details of the person writing it.
One hotel has two reviews complaining about food- the complaint was that burger and chips were not available every day. No problem to me as the last food I want in Greece is burger and chips!
Different people have different expectations. After many uses I have always managed to book a hotel that is excellent using the review sites.

[Lorraine Johnston]

I have never found Tripadvisors reviewers to be far off the mark. You can usually tell if a review is unneccesarily petty and discount it. What hoteliers need to understand is that clients will forgive most things, but not dirty rooms/beds and a lack of response to their clients valid complaints. Instead of complaining that review sites are costing them clients, they should be saying 'our work practices are costing us clients' and respond accordingly. Generally, hotels have the review ratings they deserve.

[Naphtalia]

Hi! Naphtalia here. Thanks for all your comments, always nice to hear from readers of this blog.

I have just come back from a holiday where I booked accommodation off the back of a positive Trip Advisor reviews and I'm glad to say it was as good as the reviews made out - phew!

[andy]

trip advisor is the only thing we have as a personel recommendation. As stated hopefull hotelliers and Tour operator should take note of any comments and trends building up.

I always like to but a report in most are positive but I have a had a few not so good.

we have all positive and negatives about our holidays and if you read them you can find out if the hotel lives up to its rating or is potentially one to be avoided.

We all work hard and pay good monies for our holidays and expect somewhere that is clean, comfortable and is described correctly in brochure or online.