TripAdvisor reviews that can't be trusted | Mail Online
I don't suppose it's necessary to caution our savvy SB members as we all travel a lot to dive and are careful about swallowing whole what we read on TA. I find this latest news interesting, though because I have long distrusted TA. I know that the top ranked everything is neither accurate nor the whole story where I live and work, which is a major tourist destination, and I suspect the picture is similar in other much-visited locations. The reviews tend to be self-perpetuating in that if a visitor uses the TA ranking and reviews as a basis for choosing a hotel/restaurant/activity they will overlook other better options not listed on TA. Not all of us are willing to bend over for TA. All of my colleagues who are listed there agree that it's a double-edged sword. My son's business on Hawaii is #1 ranked for his destination on TA, a fact that makes me happy for him, but it's a small place without much scope for false claims and faked reviews. For key destinations, though, where there's a lot of competition, backbiting, temptation to cheat to get ahead of the pack, I wouldn't trust TA at all, even weighing the reviewers carefully (post count, longevity, etc.) because many of us won't even go near enough to TA to register our businesses for fear of a smear campaign by unscrupulous competitors.
I don't suppose it's necessary to caution our savvy SB members as we all travel a lot to dive and are careful about swallowing whole what we read on TA. I find this latest news interesting, though because I have long distrusted TA. I know that the top ranked everything is neither accurate nor the whole story where I live and work, which is a major tourist destination, and I suspect the picture is similar in other much-visited locations. The reviews tend to be self-perpetuating in that if a visitor uses the TA ranking and reviews as a basis for choosing a hotel/restaurant/activity they will overlook other better options not listed on TA. Not all of us are willing to bend over for TA. All of my colleagues who are listed there agree that it's a double-edged sword. My son's business on Hawaii is #1 ranked for his destination on TA, a fact that makes me happy for him, but it's a small place without much scope for false claims and faked reviews. For key destinations, though, where there's a lot of competition, backbiting, temptation to cheat to get ahead of the pack, I wouldn't trust TA at all, even weighing the reviewers carefully (post count, longevity, etc.) because many of us won't even go near enough to TA to register our businesses for fear of a smear campaign by unscrupulous competitors.
