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Post by Baz Faz on Jul 2, 2017 18:49:01 GMT 2
Are you influenced by reviews on Trip Advisor, Booking.com, Airbnb etc? The common wisdom is to ignore the very bad and the superlative as they are written either by nuts or friends of the hotel keeper or villa owner.
I am planning our trip to the Far east next winter and had a look at Airbnb to see what they had available in Lombok in Indonesia. I was pleased to see there were 2 properties right where I wanted to go. Both had very positive reviews. Then I read in one that the owner of one didn't run the property but it was subcontracted to an employee of a neighbouring hotel; and when the hopeful guest arrived he found no booking seemed to have been made, despite his having a print-out of all the details. The actual owner, when unearthed, said it was nothing to do with him and I imagine lawyers are sharpening their pens even as you read this.
The other property was a home stay. It had positive reviews except for one. The guest was staying on a B and B basis in the owner's family home. He was asked if he wanted to eat with the family. He said yes and asked how much it would cost. Oh, pay what you like, was the answer. This was not the case. At the end of his stay he was presented with a hefty bill, far more than he expected to pay.
I think both those experiences would leave a sour taste in my mouth so I am glad I read the reviews.
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Post by sophie on Jul 2, 2017 19:22:06 GMT 2
As I have yet to stay in an airb&b, I don't look at their reviews.. I look at trip advisor for trip and location advice but tend not to take accommodation comments seriously.. I haven't made any accommodation decision because of trip advisor! I actually like family run hotels and try to use them whenever possible.
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Post by Baz Faz on Jul 2, 2017 20:30:59 GMT 2
Sophie, I agree. It's just that I don't want a family hotel run by Basil Fawlty.
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Post by kuskiwi on Jul 2, 2017 20:37:27 GMT 2
Yes I do. If the place appeals and has mostly positive reviews, without being gushing, and one bad review I usually take a look at the other reviews from that person. Some people have different expectations to mine and even the best isn't good enough, however both your examples would annoy me and I'd consider looking elsewhere. Being ripped off isn't pleasant. I review one of my favourite restaurants here every couple of years as staff change. Last July it was a nightmare and I gave it a bad review for service, a reasonable one for the quality of the food. I went back a month ago and it was back to its old standard. Things change,
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Post by lumi on Jul 2, 2017 20:42:10 GMT 2
I tend to follow the same line of thinking for reviews on anything, not just accommodation. If there are only a handful of reviews and they all sound similar except one (which happens to be negative), I do however assume that the other similar sounding ones are from the owner and the other a genuine customer. Sometimes the way in which a review is written tells you how much attention to pay to it. And when the owner/company reply and then the customer etc you can get an even better idea of how serious to take the review.
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Post by shrjeff on Jul 3, 2017 4:24:15 GMT 2
reviews on trip advisor can be submitted by people who never stayed, ate, or even were in the vicinity - thus i don't even read them any more... luckily booking.com has managed to break into the small, independent hotel market and one gets solicited to make a review after one has stayed at the facility through booking.com. thus i pay close attention to the reviews... obviously one has to weigh the extent to which a specific review is applicable to one's own interests... i am always amused how a bad review is based upon the 'rudeness' of the lady serving breakfast or the desk clerk... obviously an 'entitled' guest it is especially useful when trying to find out about facilities and services which are not listed on the hotel page - such as free shuttles or breakfast items... on airbnb there are typically very few reviews due to the nature of the marketing and the 'personal relationship' inherent in the stay means that the reviews are typically glowing... thus if there's a negative review (which i've yet to see) i would be extremely skeptical about the place.
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Post by Baz Faz on Jul 3, 2017 10:07:15 GMT 2
On Booking.com I read first the English language reviews then the French. If I am really considering staying at the hotel/guesthouse I'll go back over a couple of years' reviews. It helps me get a feel for the place. For instance, at a homestay in Indonesia several people talked about playing cards with the owner and his family in the evening. That sounds friendly - but do I really want to spend 4 evenings playing cards with people who have a poor grasp of English (and I know no Bahasa)?
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Post by auntieannie on Jul 3, 2017 11:53:48 GMT 2
jeffy, a friend of mine has a room that she advertises on airBnB and the stories about it are hilarious... to the reader. sometimes the review isn't as good online, though. I do know businesses advertising on airBnB and therefore expectations are a bit different. at least in the UK.
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Post by mockchoc on Jul 4, 2017 9:35:50 GMT 2
I'm a little unsure on Airbnb. Our first experience on booking a place in London left a bad taste in our mouth when they accepted our money and confirmed the booking then the man who said he wasn't the owner but doing bookings for friends said that because we didn't have any reviews so far the owner said no to us staying. We then booked another and that went very well. No problems at all. I've heard stories of people showing up and they hike the price up too.
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Post by rikita on Jul 7, 2017 2:00:36 GMT 2
i had very good experiences with airbnb so far ... i usually go for places that have reviews (and 4 or 5 stars), but i like looking at the not so good reviews, to see if they are about things that would bother me (like, the very first place we stayed, someone complained about the area being noisy and unsafe - but my impression was they were from some suburb or small town, and i'd be fine there, being from a noisy area myself ... and that's just how it was). when i book a room at airbnb that is actually a hotel rather than private, then i might also check what sites like booking.com or others say about them (and what they cost there, often quite a bit more) ...
i must admit i almost always give good reviews, but it is also because i haven't yet stayed at a place i disliked ... (though there was one where at first i thought it was going to be my very first really bad review - and then they made up for their initial mistakes with very good service)
for booking a tour (in romania we did two daytrips with private driver, in morocco a three day toor) i also checked, i read a few reviews but also looked what rating they had altogether, and how many reviews there were over what period of time - so, over 100 reviews within half a year looks suspicious, but over 100 reviews over several years, and varied reviews made me think they are genuine ...
for restaurants, i usually check if there are some with good rating near my accomodation and have a short look at a few reviews, but not that closely, as i don't always end up eating there, anyway ... i was planning on writing a very bad review for that restaurant in romania that had us wait 90 minutes (and told us after 70 minutes that the dish mr. r. chooses isn't available), but they weren't in tripadvisor yet ...
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Post by Kate_R on Jul 9, 2017 14:03:08 GMT 2
I'm sort of influenced by reviews. It does depend on how much detail they seem to give, if they seem to care about the same things I do (the one who complained about the traffic noise of an apartment in Canberra I ignored as we live in a city near a busy road and the reviewer lived in a small country town). On the whole I'll average reviews out - if there are only one or two massively negative reviews and they seem overly picky I'll ignore them.
As for the comment of Trip Advisor reviews coming from people who never stayed there - I had massive difficulties and emails going back and forth trying to prove I stayed at an excellent holiday let once with Trip Advisor. I had rented privately through the owner and it took ages to get Trip Advisor to agree I had stayed there and accept my very positive review. In fact, it was so much of a PITA to get it all accepted I haven't really bothered to give Trip Advisor reviews since.
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Post by rikita on Jul 9, 2017 14:07:55 GMT 2
haven't reviewed accomodation on trip advisor, but reviewing some tour companies and a few water parks was very easy ...
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Post by Netsuke on Jul 9, 2017 16:32:03 GMT 2
While I do look at hotel reviews on Tripadvisor, I also read the reviews on booking.com. I used booking.com for most of my accommodations, although I have at times booked with the hotel directly. I did this for my Paris hotel because they offered more room types on their website.
A few years ago, I thought of booking with airbnb but was put off by key collection - too much fiddling about, plus I wasn't sure that I really trusted it. At least with a hotel, you just step out of your taxi, go to reception and get your key. Easy as falling off a log. Stayed in a 2BR unit (six in total) on my last trip, pick up key from office, that too was through booking.com.
Location is important for me as well as good reviews. Hotels must have a lift, air conditioning and be close to transport/shops etc.
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Post by Baz Faz on Jul 9, 2017 17:26:13 GMT 2
One way Booking.com beats Airbnb is that they give the address and a map which you can enlarge to see exactly where the property is. Airbnb just gives a vague hint of where the property is and won't give the actual address.
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Post by shrjeff on Jul 10, 2017 1:53:42 GMT 2
i've been turned off lately by airbnb due to the sometimes huge 'cleaning fee' which is charged by most places... not only does it jump the price but cleaning should be part of the deal... that and the airbnb service charge obfuscates the price for comparisons similar to the airlines...
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Post by rikita on Jul 10, 2017 2:17:03 GMT 2
hm, none of these things bother me that much - key collection was easy at most places i stayed at. if it is a hotel that just has an ad on airbnb, then it is like with any other hotel. if it is an apartment you get to yourself, in most cases the owner waited for us in the apartment, or in some cases there was a meeting place nearby (like when staying in the medina where you can't find places easily and where you can't take a taxi all the way to the door) or once we picked up the key at a nearby hostel, and when it is a room in a private home, the owner is there again (or in one case drove to the train station to pick us up, for free).
as for the exact location, true, sometimes i'd have liked to know it more exactly, though in most cases i could figure it out more or less (the trick is to look at the map that lists all the places in an area, rather than the one inside the ad, with the big circle), or if it was a hotel, i just googled the hotel.
and the cleaning fee, well, i always open several places that i like, and then just ignore the ones where the cleaning fee is too high ... i just compare the end-prices for the dates i want ...
the other advantage is, that sometimes it is just nicer to stay in an apartment rather than a hotel, so you have a kitchen, or staying with someone - often very friendly people and a way to learn more about the place i traveled to ... maybe i'd think differently if i ended up having some bad experiences, but as i said, so far i liked all the places ...
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Post by tiltedflipcurves on Jul 10, 2017 4:54:23 GMT 2
The airbnb cleaning fee needs to be separated because it's per-stay while other parts of the charge are per-night. I find pricing there transparent enough.
I agree with Baz's implied wish that aibnb would provide a specific address. On the other hand, sleuthing out the exact address using clues in the comments and photos and Google Earth can be weirdly fun.
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Reviews
Jul 10, 2017 13:30:19 GMT 2
Post by Baz Faz on Jul 10, 2017 13:30:19 GMT 2
I have just come across an interesting review that said in part: "The door to the bathroom is made of clear glass. From the bedroom you can only see the basin. You have to go close to the door before you can see the shower." He sounded quite disappointed, I thought.
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Reviews
Jul 10, 2017 14:06:43 GMT 2
Post by shrjeff on Jul 10, 2017 14:06:43 GMT 2
my problem with the cleaning fee is that it's like the 'fuel surcharge' on flights - a fiction... just like fuel should be part of the ticket price cleaning should be part of the rental fee...
we almost always get apartments on booking.com... more objective feedback and 'cleaning' before the next tenant is included in the upfront price - as is the service charge... that said, checking all the alternatives in the desired area means that occasionally we do get an airbnb place...
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Reviews
Jul 10, 2017 18:50:48 GMT 2
Post by Baz Faz on Jul 10, 2017 18:50:48 GMT 2
When we went to Sicily earlier this year we used Booking.com. A couple of times I noticed a guesthouse that had a supplementary charge for cleaning.
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Reviews
Jul 10, 2017 20:00:22 GMT 2
Post by rikita on Jul 10, 2017 20:00:22 GMT 2
i understand the cleaning fees though, especially for apartments - like, if someone stays for five nights, then you only clean it once, and when five different people stay for a night each, then you have to clean it five times. especially if the owner does not clean themselves but pay someone to do so, i don't think it is a fiction ...
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Reviews
Jul 11, 2017 10:52:08 GMT 2
Post by mockchoc on Jul 11, 2017 10:52:08 GMT 2
We stayed in one of the apartments right above next to the Temple Bar hotel in Dublin a few weeks ago. It was ultra modern and handy although we had to get to a place to collect the keys with our suitcases which we were dragging around Europe so not too small! That was the worst part of staying there. It was through booking.com. First night was not easy to sleep since we could see everyone partying below but expected that and a pillow over the head helped. We were fine for the next few nights. Walking right over the top of a drug bust was interesting too near Temple bar with tiny bags with weed pictures on the front blowing past all of us but the body bag with a body being taken out also to the car as we walked in Paris wins.
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