TripAdvisor has improved tremendously in the recent years and also the user base has grown all over the world amongst both, the clients and the service providers. Also, it has turned from a true tourist database into a traveller guide site and is able to help almost any traveler anywhere in the world and includes even the most remote destinations.
TripAdvisor is not based on facts, it's based on personal experiences
Just like with everything else in life, always do your research, trust your own instinct and form your own opinion. TripAdvisor is a collection of peoples opinions and experiences that always depend on their personal point of view, previous life experiences, origin, mood, you name it!
Keep an eye on the location of the reviewer, the age and even family status. A review written by a dad with 4 kids might not be the best source for information if you are searching for a hotel for a wild bachelorette party. Also, travelers from US prefer (and are more used to) larger room sizes than Europeans. The room that Europeans may call large or of decent size is often on the smaller side for someone from the US.
Looking at the Traveler Type you get a pretty good overview of the average visitor profile of the hotel. Like this hotel below is popular among couples, business travelers and friends. Might not be the number one option for large families but ideal for a weekend getaway with you loved one!
Never trust reviewers with just a few (1-3) reviews
Many hotels, restaurants and tourist service providers rate themselves or ask their friends and family to review them. Many create fake profiles and rate their business excellent to get the rating higher. Most of them are everything but excellent!
See a review with less than 4 reviews? We suggest you skip reading the review or, at least, stay alert when reading!
Found a TripAdvisor listing with lots and lots of reviews that don't seem authentic? It's a huge red flag and the place should be avoided. Move along, there's plenty more to choose from!
Review reading order for hotels/accommodation:
Hotels or other accommodation often has a huge amount of reviews. The overall rating can be high so don't get stuck only on the rating.
1. read reviews on several pages (flip back at least 2-3 pages). No need to read them all but do browse back to older reviews and read here and there if you don't have time to check them all
2. always check the reviewer and their number of reviews on the left of the review
3. take a look at the date of the review
4. always look at the pictures taken by visitors
Always read negative reviews (but don't make up your mind solely based on them)
Always read the negative reviews when booking a hotel. It might not be important when booking a restaurant but when it comes to accommodation, this is what you must always do! Does the hotel have a history of stealing or burglary at hotel premises or even worse, from the room or the safe? Be cautious! If you find reviews like this, just move on and never book at that hotel. There's plenty to choose from anyway!
No stealing or anything alarming like that and overall rating reflects your needs and expectations? Looks promising! Go back to all reviews, flip through few more and make up your mind. Don't let the negative reviews affect you (unless they mention stealing or frauds), it's important to form a realistic expectation before booking.
Booking accommodation on TripAdvisor?
To get the best price, cross-check the prices on a couple of different price comparison sites. TripAdvisor is currently making it's way to the top of our list as one of the best price comparisoon sites as it lists the most popular (more importantly, most reliable!) international booking sites . Also, you can list hotels to fit your needs by filtering hotels by your preferences. They have lots of different filtering options from the price, hotel class/ rating, style, brand/chain, location, amenities and so on. We love centrally located luxury hotels with a pool and that's the filtering we often use. TripAdvisor has saved our filtering options and uses analytics to gather information from our profile and the hotels we've visited before meaning that every time we search for a hotel we can sort it either by our preferences, ranking, price etc.
However, never rely on just one source. Also check HotelsCombined.com or Trivago.com, to mention a few.
Destination pages (written by travellers)
Destination pages have recently had a facelift that made a huge difference! The pages are very easy to read and browse through, also it's easy to search for specific information and if you have the patience to scroll all the way down, you see an overview of airfares for the next three months!
For more specific questions, check out Forum and post your own questions.
Also, browse through the travel guides written by fellow travellers for 3/5/7 day guides, arrival info, shopping guides and more.
Why the #1 restaurant in town is not the best place to go
The top-on-the list restaurant rarely is that good. It is, however, ok in price, located near touristic hotspots and have something for everyone. The best restaurants are often on page 2 and 3 (depends on the size of the destination). Want to take it to another level? Search for restaurants with top reviews in the local language!
In the picture below I'm on page 2 and all of these restaurants have the Certificate of Excellence which definitely makes it very promising!
TripAdvisor is not based on facts, it's based on personal experiences
Just like with everything else in life, always do your research, trust your own instinct and form your own opinion. TripAdvisor is a collection of peoples opinions and experiences that always depend on their personal point of view, previous life experiences, origin, mood, you name it!
Keep an eye on the location of the reviewer, the age and even family status. A review written by a dad with 4 kids might not be the best source for information if you are searching for a hotel for a wild bachelorette party. Also, travelers from US prefer (and are more used to) larger room sizes than Europeans. The room that Europeans may call large or of decent size is often on the smaller side for someone from the US.
Looking at the Traveler Type you get a pretty good overview of the average visitor profile of the hotel. Like this hotel below is popular among couples, business travelers and friends. Might not be the number one option for large families but ideal for a weekend getaway with you loved one!
Never trust reviewers with just a few (1-3) reviews
Many hotels, restaurants and tourist service providers rate themselves or ask their friends and family to review them. Many create fake profiles and rate their business excellent to get the rating higher. Most of them are everything but excellent!
See a review with less than 4 reviews? We suggest you skip reading the review or, at least, stay alert when reading!
Found a TripAdvisor listing with lots and lots of reviews that don't seem authentic? It's a huge red flag and the place should be avoided. Move along, there's plenty more to choose from!
Hotels or other accommodation often has a huge amount of reviews. The overall rating can be high so don't get stuck only on the rating.
1. read reviews on several pages (flip back at least 2-3 pages). No need to read them all but do browse back to older reviews and read here and there if you don't have time to check them all
2. always check the reviewer and their number of reviews on the left of the review
3. take a look at the date of the review
4. always look at the pictures taken by visitors
Rule of the thumb is never to book hotels with a ranking less than 4/5. Certificate of excellence is brilliant (but doesn't tell the whole truth). Always check the negative reviews!
Best combination is this: Great rating, a decent number of reviews and no Poor or Terrible ratings at all! This is The Augustin in Brussels, by the way! They've really done well and probably have a Certificate of Excellence coming their way this year!
Always read negative reviews (but don't make up your mind solely based on them)
Always read the negative reviews when booking a hotel. It might not be important when booking a restaurant but when it comes to accommodation, this is what you must always do! Does the hotel have a history of stealing or burglary at hotel premises or even worse, from the room or the safe? Be cautious! If you find reviews like this, just move on and never book at that hotel. There's plenty to choose from anyway!
No stealing or anything alarming like that and overall rating reflects your needs and expectations? Looks promising! Go back to all reviews, flip through few more and make up your mind. Don't let the negative reviews affect you (unless they mention stealing or frauds), it's important to form a realistic expectation before booking.
Booking accommodation on TripAdvisor?
To get the best price, cross-check the prices on a couple of different price comparison sites. TripAdvisor is currently making it's way to the top of our list as one of the best price comparisoon sites as it lists the most popular (more importantly, most reliable!) international booking sites . Also, you can list hotels to fit your needs by filtering hotels by your preferences. They have lots of different filtering options from the price, hotel class/ rating, style, brand/chain, location, amenities and so on. We love centrally located luxury hotels with a pool and that's the filtering we often use. TripAdvisor has saved our filtering options and uses analytics to gather information from our profile and the hotels we've visited before meaning that every time we search for a hotel we can sort it either by our preferences, ranking, price etc.
However, never rely on just one source. Also check HotelsCombined.com or Trivago.com, to mention a few.
Destination pages have recently had a facelift that made a huge difference! The pages are very easy to read and browse through, also it's easy to search for specific information and if you have the patience to scroll all the way down, you see an overview of airfares for the next three months!
For more specific questions, check out Forum and post your own questions.
Also, browse through the travel guides written by fellow travellers for 3/5/7 day guides, arrival info, shopping guides and more.
Why the #1 restaurant in town is not the best place to go
The top-on-the list restaurant rarely is that good. It is, however, ok in price, located near touristic hotspots and have something for everyone. The best restaurants are often on page 2 and 3 (depends on the size of the destination). Want to take it to another level? Search for restaurants with top reviews in the local language!
In the picture below I'm on page 2 and all of these restaurants have the Certificate of Excellence which definitely makes it very promising!
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