Trip Advisor's love affair

[Alex777]

I just checked out Trip Advisor, a site I normally ignore. Wow! Living the Dream Divers, a small op which just opened up here earlier this year, has 79 posts praising them to the skies. The usual suspects such as Ocean Frontiers, DiveTech and others are nowhere to be found. Wall to Wall does get a few good notices, but most other small ops are missing entirely.

So, purely out of curiosity, how does it happen that 79 divers in the course of a few months feel motivated to write a glowing review when other more established ops can barely get a mention? And why aren't these deliriously happy folks posting here? Just asking.

I have no dog in this race. For the record: I have no commercial interest, direct or indirect, in any dive op. I'm just curious.

 

[jdcpa]

Well, it is a lot based on what most ops/hotels, etc get.

I can only assume that they ask their guests to write a review for them. I know that has happened to me more than once.

It could be their way of advertising.

 

[Damselfish]

I think that was a rhetorical question...

 

[scubadada]

I have only 142 dives off Grand Cayman since 1997. I've used a number of operators including Wall to Wall, an excellent choice of operator. I've never heard of Living the Dream Divers, it's also very difficult for me to understand why they would have such a large number of reviews. According to their website, they are not a dedicated diving operation but also offer snorkeling trips.

Electronic media is very important to all of us by is not immune to manipulation. Consumer beware.

Good diving, Craig

 

[scubacat1]

You know,

Dive ops are like banks. No matter which one you or I choose, as long as you develop a relationship with one of them....they will serve you well!! I like Ocean Frontiers. Others may like the XYZ... OP?

As long as I can drop off the boat, they understand I can read a computer, and just leave me alone, I'm good......with any and all of them.

 

[DandyDon]

Here, we tend to dismiss good or bad reports from brand new members, and our Mods can check IP addresses of members to prevent abuse by sock puppets. If you often share a computer location with another member, it's good to have that in your profile.

There are been threads here before about possibly fake Trip Advisor reports, especially when several similar ones have been over a short time.

 

[Deac in the Wake]

Not sure how you missed Ocean Frontiers on TA: Ocean Frontiers - Grand Cayman - Reviews of Ocean Frontiers - TripAdvisor

DiveTech: Divetech, Ltd. - Grand Cayman - Reviews of Divetech, Ltd. - TripAdvisor

 

[Alex777]

Not sure how you missed Ocean Frontiers on TA: Ocean Frontiers - Grand Cayman - Reviews of Ocean Frontiers - TripAdvisor

DiveTech: Divetech, Ltd. - Grand Cayman - Reviews of Divetech, Ltd. - TripAdvisor

Sorry about that. Guess I don't understand how TA's site is laid out.

Ocean Frontiers has 159 reviews, which makes sense as they have been in business since the late 90s. DiveTech has only 22, which is disproportionately low as they have been here a long time also.

 

[EastEndDiver]

Alex it is suprising that No one posted anything on Trip Advisor about their "incident" last month when they proceeded to take the cruise ship people out to the sandbar when , I believe, it was closed due to dangerous weather conditions.

 

[Deac in the Wake]

Sorry about that. Guess I don't understand how TA's site is laid out.

Ocean Frontiers has 159 reviews, which makes sense as they have been in business since the late 90s. DiveTech has only 22, which is disproportionately low as they have been here a long time also.

Despite its growth and recent notoriety due to a lawsuit, TripAdvisor is still underutilized by many groups. I definitely take the time to create well-developed and balanced reviews and fortunately, TA has increased their awareness of shill posts and contributors. I use it to get an idea of places I'm going so it only works if you're completely honest, otherwise you're just wasting your time. I spent Thanksgiving on Bonaire and am still working on my write-up for the place we stayed and restaurant we frequented. Takes time.

FWIW, just type the search term or phrase you're looking for in the upper-left search field. Works everytime.