Who reviews the review sites- ARE THEY REALLY THAT THICK?
During a visit to a recent hotel , which I won’t name at this point got an 8.1 on booking.com and a 3.5 out of 5 on TripAdvisor.
Now that I have seen it, I sure as hell wouldn’t give the place anything more than a 50% rating on either site. And if one looks at the balance of positive to negative reviews, both sites must use some kind of seriously screwed up allagorism to come up with such relatively high ratings.
I have often questioned how trip advisor comes up with their scores. And while they and other sites claim they verify their reviews, I do not believe that to be the case. While it is hard to impact on hotels that get thousands of reviews, smaller places can be made or broken by just a handful of fake reviews. How does one spot the fakes?
The number one giveaway is that the poster has only one or two reviews to their credit. A single positive review will often indicate some type of inducement from the establishment. A single negative review may be an attack from a competitor.
Although I won’t go into the details, I conducted my own “social experiment” a few years ago while travelling in Central America. Suspecting that the alleged #1 restaurant was fudging its reviews, I spoke with the owner of a 5th rated restaurant and discovered that it only took 5 or 6 reviews to manipulate the numbers. Over the course of a month I posted completely honest reviews using a few different emails. At the same time I questioned the veracity of emails extolling the virtues of the #1 restaurant.
The end result. Within a month restaurant #1 had moved to #4 and #5 had moved to #3. Ironically, a frigging ice cream parlour took over the #1 spot! Go figure.
Now, some years later, both restaurants are out of business and a good friend, who’s restaurant was never in the top 10 when I was there, has successfully held on to the top spot for quite a while. And that success was achieved simply by offering good food at affordable prices and being a great host. I take no credit for his success, although I always posted honest reviews when I ate there, nor do I take any blame for the two that failed. Inconsistency and indifference were the key items that sealed their fate.
I guess this is just an example of what the #OrangeIdiot has described as “fake news.”
I really shouldn’t complain as 3 nights in this place is costing me $84, but I just paid the same amount for 4 nights in a place that was far and away a much better hotel,even though it scored lower on both websites.
They say that love makes the world go round, but really, it’s bullshit that keeps it spinning.
Now that I have seen it, I sure as hell wouldn’t give the place anything more than a 50% rating on either site. And if one looks at the balance of positive to negative reviews, both sites must use some kind of seriously screwed up allagorism to come up with such relatively high ratings.
I have often questioned how trip advisor comes up with their scores. And while they and other sites claim they verify their reviews, I do not believe that to be the case. While it is hard to impact on hotels that get thousands of reviews, smaller places can be made or broken by just a handful of fake reviews. How does one spot the fakes?
The number one giveaway is that the poster has only one or two reviews to their credit. A single positive review will often indicate some type of inducement from the establishment. A single negative review may be an attack from a competitor.
Although I won’t go into the details, I conducted my own “social experiment” a few years ago while travelling in Central America. Suspecting that the alleged #1 restaurant was fudging its reviews, I spoke with the owner of a 5th rated restaurant and discovered that it only took 5 or 6 reviews to manipulate the numbers. Over the course of a month I posted completely honest reviews using a few different emails. At the same time I questioned the veracity of emails extolling the virtues of the #1 restaurant.
The end result. Within a month restaurant #1 had moved to #4 and #5 had moved to #3. Ironically, a frigging ice cream parlour took over the #1 spot! Go figure.
Now, some years later, both restaurants are out of business and a good friend, who’s restaurant was never in the top 10 when I was there, has successfully held on to the top spot for quite a while. And that success was achieved simply by offering good food at affordable prices and being a great host. I take no credit for his success, although I always posted honest reviews when I ate there, nor do I take any blame for the two that failed. Inconsistency and indifference were the key items that sealed their fate.
I guess this is just an example of what the #OrangeIdiot has described as “fake news.”
I really shouldn’t complain as 3 nights in this place is costing me $84, but I just paid the same amount for 4 nights in a place that was far and away a much better hotel,even though it scored lower on both websites.
They say that love makes the world go round, but really, it’s bullshit that keeps it spinning.
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