Who among us has not used TripAdvisor to choose a hotel or an activity in an unfamiliar location? And who among us has not been confused, conflicted, and confounded by the myriad choices the site reviews? Of course, the hardest part of using TripAdvisor is trying to discern the garbage reviews from the legitimate ones.
Thankfully, Nancy Keates, writing for the WSJ, recently interviewed heavy users and spoke to online-travel experts (though she didn’t ask me) in an attempt to uncover strategies for successful TripAdvisor-ing. Among the tips she learned:
- Throw away the really terrible reviews. (These have likely been posted by the GM from the hotel down the street.) Throw away the really glowing reviews, too. (These have likely been posted by the Assistant Manager’s new girlfriend.)
- Toss the reviews that mention a nearby property as superior (see #1).
- Ignore reviewers who have only written about that one hotel (see #1).
- Study the reviewer: are they from a country that is filled with cramped rooms? Are they Manhattan-ites who may be used to the very best? If the reviewer seems much different from you, take their comments with a grain of salt.
- Avoid any reviews that begin with “I’ve been all over the world and I know…” Nobody likes (or trusts) a braggart.
The piece provides gobs of insight into how to use TripAdvisor effectively. It’s a very long article — so it may take you a while to get through. However, time spent up-front educating yourself about the shortcomings of TripAdvisor will be saved on the back-end: the next time you log onto the site and start digesting the reviews.