57 thoughts on “How Karma Killed TripAdvisor Reviews”
Pam S.
I’m sorry to hear about the issues TA is having being profitable. I’ve used TA for many years to plan our vacations – hotel, restaurants, and activities and have had great success. I think I’m pretty good at spotting the fake reviews and what to look for. As with any website, it’s best to look at the reviews with an open mind, not as the last and most truthful word. We’ve had some great vacations on Maui and the Big Island using TA reviews and we always tell the vendor where we heard of them, which most appreciate a lot. I checked out Fakespot and was less than impressed. Not a deal breaker for me. I might use it in the future, but not all the time.
2
Stacie D.
Aloha! And Mahalo for sharing this story. I thought it was just me that there was something up with TripAdvisor. While yes, we cannot go anywhere anytime soon, we can start thinking of planning our dream vacations. 🙂 So I have been looking around at places that might be comparable to Hawaii and the reviews just do not make sense sometimes. Ugh. Such a shame. I used to value their reviews. But now, there are so many better blogs, Facebook Group pages, Instagram tags, that you can learn from. But any who – thanks again for sharing your insight to this matter. Much appreciated. Have a great day!
Beat of Hawaii
Hi Stacie.
Thank you! It is interesting to see in comments that visitors think they can spot fake reviews. Perhaps they do not realize how sophisticated a business fake reviews are or how expertly their content is crafted.
Aloha.
Laura S
Trip Advisor is a good source for those us of not in the tech loop about activities and things to do and see. there usually isnt a profit motive for reviewing National and State parks but rating them for safety cleanliness and usability is. That is where I find the value in TA And Ive learned to sort out the fake reviews ie. overly bad or overly good and look at the majority of reviews for accommodations such as proximity to highways etc. However all the online booking sites do this annoying thing that says “Hurry Only one left at this price” something like that. I try to contact the accommodation directly for better pricing and service. Yes its work but nobody wanted to use travel agents anymore who rely on returning clients Yelp is notorious for manipulating reviews. And asking others on TA what they think of some place is also good. There are too many players in the mix.
Patty T.
I liked TA very much but then they changed and became sterile and the reviews you could tell some were written by non tourists. For a while they were outstanding. Hope theycome back as their reviews were invaluable when planning a European trip or going to the Taj Mahal or Yellowstone. They cluttered it all up with car rentals and flights.
Dave R
I used to try to help other travelers by reviewing my experiences. But this exposed me to a relentless spam bombardment by Trip Advisor. I closed my “account” and I’m glad I did.
I did see a lot of fake reviews, but on the other hand Amazon and all other large outfits have the same issue.
You can do pretty good research with Lonely Planet and Google. It takes some time, but it’s better than travel sites, which are all trying to push you in one direction or another to sell you something.
Susan R.
I’ve always loved Trip Advisor and have somehow missed the fact that they haven’t been able to manage a profitable business model after all these years (but can’t say I’m surprised, it’s a tough racket). Their reviews have helped me choose a lot of hotels over the years and and a few activities when traveling. I think I’m pretty good at sniffing out fake reviews but maybe I’m naive.
In any case, I’d be sad to see them go. I would never, ever want to use Facebook to check reviews, and I find the interface for Google reviews to be poorly designed and annoying. Booking.com is fine.
Thank you to Beat of Hawaii for this helpful and interesting blog. We had hoped to come to the islands soon after an absence of more than 15 years, but who knows how long it will be now, major boo hoo.
Beat of Hawaii
Hi Susan.
Thank you. Hope that you will return again soon.
Aloha.
Vicki S.
I use TripAdvisor alot, especially for hotel recommendations and hints/tips for things to do at a new destination. I have seen ‘fake’ reviews in the past, I tend to ignore them.
Regan Y
My family and I, went to Austria, Italy with a short trip to Germany last summer. I used TA to find restaurants to start. It gave me some really outstanding tips.
I left some reviews when we came back and some of the managers requested me to contact them next time we visit so that they could speak to me in person.
Others thanked me for the positive comments. I’m glad that I used TA while there, otherwise, we may not have found excellent service and food that only the locals would know.
Sharon
I like Trip Advisor. I used them ALOT. And, certainly before every trip. I travel somewhere about every 3 months by plain, ship, RV, and car.
Mark V.
I recently submitted a review, which was 100% factual, concerning VRBO and a condo at the Mahana in West Maui. It was about the owner cancelling my prepaid reservation 2 days prior to arrival, no refund. VRBO Tolstoy me I didn’t qualify for refund. TripAdvisor, which fas posted maybe 100 of my reviews, told me they wouldn’t publish my review because it wouldn’t be helpful to other travelers. Huh? VRBO still part of Expedia, T/A must still be part of that
1
Dave R
Yelp does that, too. The reviews they hide as “not useful” are often much more revealing than the ones they show. They can talk all they want to about algorithms and whatever, but these policies aren’t really defensible.
1
Lanell
We have a condo down the road from Mahana and use VRBO to book some, I believe that the owner had to refund you. I would contact VRBO again. Sometimes the agents have absolutely no clue what they are talking about.
Good luck.
1
Comments are closed.
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I’m sorry to hear about the issues TA is having being profitable. I’ve used TA for many years to plan our vacations – hotel, restaurants, and activities and have had great success. I think I’m pretty good at spotting the fake reviews and what to look for. As with any website, it’s best to look at the reviews with an open mind, not as the last and most truthful word. We’ve had some great vacations on Maui and the Big Island using TA reviews and we always tell the vendor where we heard of them, which most appreciate a lot. I checked out Fakespot and was less than impressed. Not a deal breaker for me. I might use it in the future, but not all the time.
Aloha! And Mahalo for sharing this story. I thought it was just me that there was something up with TripAdvisor. While yes, we cannot go anywhere anytime soon, we can start thinking of planning our dream vacations. 🙂 So I have been looking around at places that might be comparable to Hawaii and the reviews just do not make sense sometimes. Ugh. Such a shame. I used to value their reviews. But now, there are so many better blogs, Facebook Group pages, Instagram tags, that you can learn from. But any who – thanks again for sharing your insight to this matter. Much appreciated. Have a great day!
Hi Stacie.
Thank you! It is interesting to see in comments that visitors think they can spot fake reviews. Perhaps they do not realize how sophisticated a business fake reviews are or how expertly their content is crafted.
Aloha.
Trip Advisor is a good source for those us of not in the tech loop about activities and things to do and see. there usually isnt a profit motive for reviewing National and State parks but rating them for safety cleanliness and usability is. That is where I find the value in TA And Ive learned to sort out the fake reviews ie. overly bad or overly good and look at the majority of reviews for accommodations such as proximity to highways etc. However all the online booking sites do this annoying thing that says “Hurry Only one left at this price” something like that. I try to contact the accommodation directly for better pricing and service. Yes its work but nobody wanted to use travel agents anymore who rely on returning clients Yelp is notorious for manipulating reviews. And asking others on TA what they think of some place is also good. There are too many players in the mix.
I liked TA very much but then they changed and became sterile and the reviews you could tell some were written by non tourists. For a while they were outstanding. Hope theycome back as their reviews were invaluable when planning a European trip or going to the Taj Mahal or Yellowstone. They cluttered it all up with car rentals and flights.
I used to try to help other travelers by reviewing my experiences. But this exposed me to a relentless spam bombardment by Trip Advisor. I closed my “account” and I’m glad I did.
I did see a lot of fake reviews, but on the other hand Amazon and all other large outfits have the same issue.
You can do pretty good research with Lonely Planet and Google. It takes some time, but it’s better than travel sites, which are all trying to push you in one direction or another to sell you something.
I’ve always loved Trip Advisor and have somehow missed the fact that they haven’t been able to manage a profitable business model after all these years (but can’t say I’m surprised, it’s a tough racket). Their reviews have helped me choose a lot of hotels over the years and and a few activities when traveling. I think I’m pretty good at sniffing out fake reviews but maybe I’m naive.
In any case, I’d be sad to see them go. I would never, ever want to use Facebook to check reviews, and I find the interface for Google reviews to be poorly designed and annoying. Booking.com is fine.
Thank you to Beat of Hawaii for this helpful and interesting blog. We had hoped to come to the islands soon after an absence of more than 15 years, but who knows how long it will be now, major boo hoo.
Hi Susan.
Thank you. Hope that you will return again soon.
Aloha.
I use TripAdvisor alot, especially for hotel recommendations and hints/tips for things to do at a new destination. I have seen ‘fake’ reviews in the past, I tend to ignore them.
My family and I, went to Austria, Italy with a short trip to Germany last summer. I used TA to find restaurants to start. It gave me some really outstanding tips.
I left some reviews when we came back and some of the managers requested me to contact them next time we visit so that they could speak to me in person.
Others thanked me for the positive comments. I’m glad that I used TA while there, otherwise, we may not have found excellent service and food that only the locals would know.
I like Trip Advisor. I used them ALOT. And, certainly before every trip. I travel somewhere about every 3 months by plain, ship, RV, and car.
I recently submitted a review, which was 100% factual, concerning VRBO and a condo at the Mahana in West Maui. It was about the owner cancelling my prepaid reservation 2 days prior to arrival, no refund. VRBO Tolstoy me I didn’t qualify for refund. TripAdvisor, which fas posted maybe 100 of my reviews, told me they wouldn’t publish my review because it wouldn’t be helpful to other travelers. Huh? VRBO still part of Expedia, T/A must still be part of that
Yelp does that, too. The reviews they hide as “not useful” are often much more revealing than the ones they show. They can talk all they want to about algorithms and whatever, but these policies aren’t really defensible.
We have a condo down the road from Mahana and use VRBO to book some, I believe that the owner had to refund you. I would contact VRBO again. Sometimes the agents have absolutely no clue what they are talking about.
Good luck.