Take Tripadvisor reviews with a very large grain of salt

[Damselfish]

I think reviews are useful and do get some use out of TripAdvisor, among others. It takes time to figure out which reviews are legit and how they apply to you, but still usually better than nothing.

I find Yelp pretty useless though. Judging by the reviews of businesses I have personal experience with, I can easily believe the stories of paid bias I've heard are true. And their thing about hiding reviews they deem suspicious is absolute nonsense. (Also, they way they redirect you to their app so you can finish reading something, then don't bother talking you to the review you clicked on, is so annoying.)

 

[mikeycanuk]

Yelp is the mafia of online review sites. I never use them, sleazy outfit.

 

[Pirata Canadiense]

Danube very quickly made it to the top of the recommendations for Cozumel on TA. Then, suddenly, all of the really good reviews for Danube disappeared, including my own and that of my friends, Danube got several terrible reviews, and just as quickly went to the very bottom of the TA list. I tried to find out why, and all I could find out was that someone anonymously reported that the good reviews were nought and paid for by Danube’s owner (not true, at least with respect to my review and others I know of), so TA just deleted them."

Yes, sadly this happens. A friend of mine (here in Coz) had his restaurant hit with this. Several people came down to visit and posted reviews, because one was a friend of his, someone reported it and claimed they were all fake - TA deleted tonnes apparently.

 

[kumimonster]

I use TA to learn about businesses and I also write reviews.
When reading them, I try to gauge what kind of diver the person is (if I'm reading up on a dive operation) and by the review, one can usually tell what is important to them.

I try to include why or why a company merits the stars I give them. I also try and include information that covers the entire experience, from ease and flexibility of booking, the type of rental equipment available and the condition, size of dive group, boat, and professionalism of the dive master and crew.
I will include information about the dive sites and types of marine life spotted but obviously, conditions and creatures aren't controlled by the dive operator although it seems some reviewers seem to think so.

But really, I look on scuba board for recommendations and so far, all have been awesome!

 

[ggunn]

... I look on scuba board for recommendations and so far, all have been awesome!

Cheerleading aside, we all kind of know each other in here, much moreso than on TA. TA is full of anonymous shills and assassins; in here the BS detector is a lot easier to run.

 

[scubafanatic]

TA is worthless....such sites are paid mercenaries, not objective. I rely on resources like Scubaboard members reviews and Undercurrent.org as they are not compromised by being 'for sale to the highest bidder'. Although not scuba related, I'm a big fan of Consumer Reports for the same reasons.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Cheerleading aside, we all kind of know each other in here, much moreso than on TA. TA is full of anonymous shills and assassins; in here the BS detector is a lot easier to run.

That's the key. "Review" sites are inherently problematic for a number of reasons. Shills and assassins aside, TA is too generic and too giant--it's hard to get a good sense of who even the most prolific reviewers are. So when I want to find a good dive op, I go to a dive forum. When I want to find a good restaurant, I go to a foodie forum. When I want to find a hotel, I go to a travel forum. The reviews of the most value to me are the ones written by like-minded people.

 

[bigdaveindubai]

I use all 3, google, TA and yelp. I take the good and the bad from all three and then make my educated decision. Now the cucks who post there have agendas, and if you dont follow that agenda they will just tag your post to have it removed. My 2 cents.

 

[DeputyDan]

I guess that I am one of the few that like trip advisor.

I do not use it for the reviews but rather for my list of options.
For example - I had a work related event this year in Maine. I used TA to determine my B&B options in that area and then researched those properties individually.