Standard Dive op. rating?

[justleesa]

I agree that rating a dive operator is very subjective.

I also agree....just like anything in life. There are foods you might like and others don't...clothing, cars, people....it's all a matter of personal opinion.

Also wanted to mention that we have the insider information forum and a thread where you could post your feed back on dive ops and other activities you would recommend.

If the interest and participation is big enough I could start another thread, with the final form, just for dive shops.

 

[friscuba]

I agree that rating a dive operator is very subjective.

Some divers only look for the cheapest or best bargain as their criteria. Others want to be pampered and not rushed. Almost all divers want to be able to dive all the air in their tanks and not be limited to 50 minutes max!

My wife and I both worked for several "big" dive operators in Kona and eventually started our own 6 pack charter operation.

The "great reviews" most big dive operators get (some in Undercurrent) are usually prompted by the shops and boats handing out the mail in forms and "suggesting" they write what a good time they had.

The glowing reviews are also tainted by the amount of advertising dollars spent by the dive operators. Basically buying future customers!

Thanks for mentioning Undercurrent, I hadn't looked at their Hawaii reviews in quite some time, and surprisingly it's not dominated by larger shops that solicit reviews, at least not in Kona, if they are soliciting they're doing a poor job of it. A couple of the 6 pack boats are fairly well represented in the reviews despite serving a fraction of sheer numbers of divers the larger ops serve (I know for a fact one doesn't solicit reviews there, highly suspect the other doesn't either).

That said, reviews can be skewed for many a reason and I think any subjective review method would come up with conclusions that wouldn't necessarily make sense to some people as there's no real "one size fits all" in this business.