The Internet is your Friend: My Tips for Reading & Writing Online Reviews

I use Trip Advisor quite a lot when trip planning.  That just happens to be my trip planning resource of choice.  I read a lot of reviews and I write a lot of reviews.  Reading reviews that other users have submitted not only helps me select lodging, restaurants, activities etc. but, it also helps improve the reviews that I write and submit.

No Generic Compliments Here: When I am looking for information on a specific aspect of lodging and have trouble finding any reviews that include that information, it lets me know that I need to include those facts in my own review.  I cannot be the only reader searching for those details, after all. For example, when I am traveling overseas, I rarely rent a car.  This means that my hotel or short-term rental needs to be located near public transportation.  While dozens of reviews will say, “close to the bus stop” or “near the train station,” I do not find this phrasing as helpful as it could be.  I prefer to write, “a ten-minute walk to the bus station.”  Every traveler will define “close” or “easy walk” differently based on their own age, health status and fitness level.  I find distances or approximate times in a review more helpful and I hope that by including them in my reviews, other readers are finding them helpful too. 

Dollars, Cents, Euros and More: I also try to include a price or two so the reader has a better frame of reference.  If I write a review that says the entry fee for a place (attraction) was $20/person and someone doesn’t read that review for three years, that’s okay.  Trip Advisor shows how old each review is and, therefore, the reader can assume prices have increased some.  The second step to their research should always be to visit the business website directly, anyway.  I don’t necessarily divulge every detail of my meal, but if a particular restaurant dish was a good deal (in my opinion) I mention the size and price.  Some reviews may mention something being “a good value” but they don’t mention the price.  For me, an entrée at a casual restaurant that costs $30 is expensive.  Others may feel that’s a great value.  If I feel something was not a bargain, I will try to explain why I feel that way.  Specificity is key here.

Reading the Highs & the Lows: Trip Advisor has users rate a business on a scale of 1-5.  When studying reviews, I make sure to read a selection of the 1, 2, 4 and 5 categories.  I assume that the people who have assigned a business a one or a five are being rather extreme.  I don’t weight all the ones the same and I don’t weight all the fives the same.  Someone needs to give useful specifics for me to understand why they rated an establishment or attraction very low or very high for me to have confidence in the review.  For example, if they say only that, “it was the best meal I ever had,” that is not enough for me to take their level five rating to heart.  But, if they say, “our server, Mary, had the chef provide a different dressing on the side without me even asking for it when I told her I couldn’t eat a particular ingredient in the dressing that is normally provided with that dish.” 

For a trip to San Francisco several years ago, I was researching hotels.  This is an expensive city, so I knew I had to be willing to spend more on lodging than I normally would.  I saw a review from someone who hated their experience at a hotel in which I was very interested. They said it was not a nice place.  They were so upset that they checked out early and went to stay at a different property.  Fortunately for me, they named the other property.  When I looked it up, it was much fancier and cost nearly twice as much per night.  This was obviously the minimum standard for that couple.  That information allowed me to give their negative review less weight.  I knew that my standards were not as high.  I don’t require fancy.  I just require clean.  In the end, we did stay at the hotel that the other people hated.  We had a very nice stay and would gladly return.  The room wasn’t run-down.  The property did not have a lot of bells and whistles, but it was clean, centrally located and an excellent price for a city as outrageously priced as San Francisco.

Picture Perfect: While I have never gotten in the habit of posting photos on Trip Advisor, I do peruse the photos that other travelers post.  It is important to view real traveler photos and compare them to the perfectly staged marketing pics that each hotel or restaurant posts. If they look reasonably similar, then you can be confident in your selection.  I also use traveler photos to look at details like how large restaurant portions are, how large hotel rooms are, what is included in that property’s definition of a “kitchenette” and that sort of thing.

Filter Fantasy Syndrome:   One last bit of advice that I have is to be careful of overdoing it on the filters.  Most sites will allow you to filter for price, property type, number of stars, amenities, etc.  If you fill in too many of these categories, you might find that your search brings up only two property options. . . or none at all.  By over-filtering, you could be hiding some really cool choices from yourself.  If this happens, fill out only one or two filters in categories that are really important to you.  Complete information for filters that are deal-breakers for you.  This will allow a longer list of choices to show up.  It will take a bit more work for you to review them and narrow it down to properties where you would genuinely consider staying.  There may be certain amenities that would be a nice bonus (a private hot tub, for example) but you might find that you don’t consider them necessities in comparison to other features.

Hopefully, using these resources will allow you to create a trip of joyous memories.  Happy planning!

What other strategies or features have you employed when using travel planning websites? Leave a note in the comments section.