To that point, if I’m “shopping” hotels / restaurants / etc on either Yelp or Tripadvisor, I’ll usually award a mental “half-star” for establishments that have a representative who responds to reviews (either “Thank you for the great review” to the good ones, or “We’re sorry to have not met your expectations” to the bad ones).
Mine on Trip Advisor are believable. I do keep in mind that some people are more apt to post when they unhappy then when they are happy. I haven’t posted very many either way but the ones that I did are credible.
Perhaps some, but not all. For example, many of the hotels in Myrtle Beach are the most disgusting shitholes on the planet. They are directly on the beach and are low price so they attract budget conscious travelers. But they are the most dirty, filthy, infested, shockingly gross dumps you could possibly imagine. And they are managed by the rudest, most crooked cocksucking assholes you have ever met. If you read a bad review for any of those hotels in Myrtle Beach, BELIEVE IT! I have seen the evidence.
I’ve stayed in a lot of cheap “you get what you pay for” hotels but there’s only two I ever stayed in that were so terrible I left online reviews for.
One was a Motel 6 in Oklahoma City where the lights didn’t work at all (which was a problem since I got there at 9pm). I figured out the bathroom light worked only to see a TON of cockroaches all over the bathroom wall, then I turned and looked and saw a bunch of obvious dents and breaks in the wall with covers strewed on the floor and realized it was probably because whoever was in the room last had a final battle with the cockroaches and lost. Got my money back and went somewhere else but left a bad review because they knew the room was shit and unclean but still rented it to me.
Second was the Wagon Wheel Inn in Cuba Missouri. It’s famous for being the oldest operating motel on Route 66 and oldest definitely seems app. Was a fairly standard cabin style motel room where you had your own little building to yourself. Things were fine until night came and apparently all the cockroaches decided to come up from under the cabin for a visit. Was very weird, they were completely gone all day then night came and it was party city for them. I requested a new cabin, got it, then apparently the roaches from the first cabin followed me and greeted me in my new cabin. Owners refused to give me back my money so I basically slept in my car using the hotel just to shower and use the toilet during the daytime when the cockroaches were asleep. Worst 3 hotel days ever. Apparently they finally remodeled the damn place since i went there in the mid-00s and the rooms look nothing like the nightmare I stayed at.
I’ll be honest, I’m not a fan of TripAdvisor, and don’t use it for hotels - occasionally I’ll use it for restaurants, at a push. I think I’m quite fussy, as I generally find the reviews rather gushy for places which are pretty average, so I take people’s enthusiasm with a pinch of salt. I pretty much ignore 1 and 2 star reviews, as they generally seem to be prompted by some particular event, such as a cancellation.
Instead, I look for reviews from journalists, who are more experienced in what good looks like. I do appreciate they get comped stays to do reviews, but they also have a reputation to uphold. It has served me pretty well so far. I don’t bother looking at reviews for well known but averagely priced chains, because they’re pretty much the same wherever and my expectations are low.
I tend to write more positive reviews than negative on trip advisor. I really like unique restaurants and inns that are privately owned and when I stay at a nice one, I write a good review. I figure that if I want places like that to exist, I need to support them.
I’ve found that Choice brand hotels are really variable as to the quality (no pun intended). I’ve stayed at decent Quality Inns and ones that were horrible. I stay at Hampton Inns if I only need a room because I’ve never had a bad experience per se at them, or really any Hilton brand. (However, Embassy Suites is pretty variable in its quality, but it starts off at a higher average, so a below average Embassy Suites is still decent. I’ve had some that didn’t have room service or a restaurant (only the manager’s reception and a breakfast buffet,) and had a room layout that obviously used to be a cheap hotel, and others that had multiple great restaurants and beautiful lobbies)
It’s kind of a pain in the ass but you can check out the reviewer’s history to help determine if they are legit. I’d totally discount a horrible review if that it their only review. I would believe it if they had dozens of reviews that ranged from excellent to horrible.
In general, yes, I think they’re truthful. But, I tend to discount heavily any reviews before March 2019 as so much has changed.
I’ll be reviewing the two hotels I stayed at in the U.K. soon. I’ve got pictures I took myself as well as a good review for both places. The staffing shortage definitely isn’t limited to the USA, one place had the front desk clerk having to double as the bartender!
A few years ago we stayed at a moderately pricey hotel in a resort area. It was comfortable enough, though quite dated and shabby. The carpet was disgusting. I put my carpetbag on the floor next to the bed, and when I got home noticed a strong smell of cat pee. The smell from the carpet had tainted the fabric of my luggage!
(I didn’t notice it in the hotel room, it wasn’t really obvious at the time or else I would have demanded a new room. Besides, the musty old-hotel-room smell and disinfectant smell were enough to obscure the cat pee smell. ) The hotel was ‘pet friendly’. I wrote a pretty balanced review listing the few good things vs. the obvious bad things (the cat pee smell getting into my luggage, no lights in the parking lot
. I didn’t complain about the poor decor or lack of a view.) … Reading all the other reviews, it seems when someone complained, the hotel would respond: ‘we’re sorry that you had that happen, we will address the issue’. Under my review, not a peep! I think they should have reimbursed me for the tapestry carpetbag that was ruined in their pet-friendly room. But nada. I let it go, won’t be going back there. I did mention the room number to warn future customers of the carpet.
I mostly use Tripadvisor when selecting something like a one night stay between two points. Chances are, the Best Western and Quality Inn in Nowhere, Ohio don’t have a bunch of professional reviews to decide between them so you gotta take what you can get.
I do leave some five star reviews for places that offer a good version of what they’re supposed to be. A travel motel with clean, comfortable bedding, a working pool and an edible breakfast is going to get five stars from me because it’s doing what it’s supposed to do and doing it well. If it advertises things it can’t actually provide (bad Wifi, nasty/closed pool, etc) then it’ll get docked from there.
For some people, 5/5 or 10/10 must be the epitome of excellence. For me, it’s more like a school English assignment: Did you do the five things you were supposed to do and do them correctly? Then you get an A.
I wonder f they’ve fixed it up. The Route 66 FB group is always singing its praises.
It and the Blue Swallow.
Going slightly off topic, this is what I do for movie and TV show reviews. I find that too many of the audience reviews at sites like IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes don’t understand that there’s a difference between “I personally didn’t like it” and “this is bad”. Honestly I’ve seen the same thing in entertainment related discussions on this board.
Yes, my experience has been similar, that Hilton brand hotels are more consistent than others. I was under the impression that was because they were owned rather than franchised, but googling tells me that is incorrect. I guess they just enforce standards upon franchisees more strictly. Best Western by contrast I have found to be inconsistent.
I agree that you should look at the date, but not just to see if the quality has nosedived, but to discount things like complaints about construction two years ago.
I concentrate on specific complaints, not generic “it’s dirty” types. I do the same for AirBnB reviews.
A leaky faucet is probably not going to affect you, the property being next door to a loud club will.
And multiple complaints about the same issue count more.
During our trip around the country pre-pandemic we stayed in Comfort Inn type properties for usually under $100 in rural areas, and all were fine, some finer than others. We stayed in enough to get a free night at the end of the trip. We did get a bad one in St. Louis at the end of another trip, but we had stayed in the chain enough days in the row that when I called the reservation desk they moved us with no problems. I did check the reviews before I booked each night.
I have a complaint about porn in the lobby. There isn’t any! < / Groucho >
My go to is Holiday Inn Express. Fast wifi, free parking, comfortable beds, clean, reasonable free breakfast.
Only read the most recent reviews. It may have been a good hotel years ago but has gone down hill. The average rating factors in how it used to be.
But they’re consistently inconsistent.
That should count for something, though I’m not sure what.
Pro tip: if you decide on a stopover in North Harrisburg, PA, staying in your room with all the locks engaged is a wise move.
Lobby Porn - band name?
Speaking of Best Western, if you’re ever in Southern Arizona, you should definitely check out the Best Western Space Age Lodge.
I lived in Phoenix and actually made the trip just to stay here for a night, it was kinda fun and a nice getaway when money was super tight back then.
I think sometimes the extremes are due to the very differetn experiences two people could have at the same hotel. I left a one-star review a few years a go. It started with the airport shuttle - after 3 or 4 calls in 2 hours , they finally told me that the shuttle was full before it got to door 5 at the airport and I should find my way over to door 1 ( on the previous calls they assured me I would be picked up at door 5). Ended up taking a cab. Finally got to the hotel - the room wasn’t the cleanest and signed up for the shuttle to the cruise terminal the next morning at 9:30. Was told to speak to manager at 8 am about shuttle. The manager credits us for the cab fare- which was good, but I got the impression this happens a lot. At about 9, my husband goes to get change and ask where to meet the shuttle. They tell him the lobby is crowded, it 's too early for the 9:30 shuttle, come back at 9:30, We go back down at 9:15 and after hearing nothing ask about the shuttle at 9:40 or so . We are told there was an announcement made and it left at 9:30. We were in the lobby at 9:15, there was no announcement and no large group of people left at 9:30. They might have left at 9:10. I left a 1 star review, between my issues with the shuttle and the cleanliness- but in truth, if it hadn’t been for the shuttle ( which caused my husband to choose this hotel over less expensive ones) , I wouldn’t have given a one star review so I could see another person giving a better review if they hadn’t had those problems.