Example: I was visiting a client in Chilliwack, BC. The hotel that I selected was a two-story hotel.

Also, I m working with a TV news program that is investigating hotel reviews. If you work for a hotel, or have ever worked for a hotel, and have engaged in reputation management designed to influence the reviews your property receives, please contact me directly by Monday afternoon. I ll pass your name along to the appropriate people.
Now, to this week s question. I d like your comments on how these hotel reviews affect your travel purchasing decision. Do you take them seriously, or pay them no heed? Has the way you ve used these hotel reviews changed in the last five years, and if so, how?
I find them very reliable because I only rely on facts rather than opinions. Is there a great cafe called Le Pomp 50 meters away or the train station is 3 blocks or they ll arrange to have you picked up at the airport for free or free bottled water in the rooms. Hard to fake those. Things like wallpaper is dated or Rooms too small are more opinions, but it does allow me to ask before booking how big, in square meters, is a Superior room.
Here s where working at a newspaper for 18 years comes in handy. People are unique writers. I don t care how many marketing classes or how much marketing training cheap car rental for maui someone has had, it s nearly impossible cheap car rental for maui to mask your unique writing style over and over. People tend to misspell the same words consistently, use the same examples, focus on the same issues, etc. Also, a review that is TOO well-written can be a tip-off, as well. Most people s writing does not read like a press release. So for me, it may be a little easier to spot canned reviews.
Having said that, I tend to take Joe R. s tactic and look at the negative reviews, and find out what they were negative about. For instance at one hotel I was researching, the reviewer gave everything 4.5 or 5 stars, but still a negative because the hotel bar wasn t open past 10 p.m., and also because there weren t enough restaurants he liked that were within walking distance. That s just being petty.
What s the proportion of positive to negative? As someone else mentioned, are they all negative cheap car rental for maui about the same things? If yes, there may be cause for concern, if the negative is something that is of particular interest to a traveler. Me? I look for the cleanliness ratings. When those are high, I can put up with a lot of other things. To me, when the cleanliness cheap car rental for maui rating is low, it means the whole property is suffering. But if all they have to complain about is they didn t like the smell of the room deodorizer, then that doesn t bother me.
Check out what the reviews say about hotels in your neighborhood good ones and bad. I ve found that some hotels that were little more than houses of prostitution got rave reviews, including one where they had a fire last year and four people died. Still got dozens of rave reviews. On the other hand, luxurious hotels that I have stayed in get mysterious reviews complaining about stained carpets or vermin. On line hotel reviews seem about as accurate as online movie reviews which is to say they are worthless.
I would agree with Joe R in theory. But these companies cheap car rental for maui that manage social media that the big guys often hire as consultants are sophisticated. They can post negative reviews that seem whiny, because they know once you discount one or more reviews you are more apt to discount others. They understand that a low number of reviews can be detrimental, so they post a variety of decent reviews because they know that numbers matter. They ve taken something that should be simple and made it a manipulation cheap car rental for maui exercise in marketing science.
cheap car rental for maui I think some are written by the hotels and others are written by overly cranky people. For example, I saw one for a Great Wolf Lodge that complained about the number of children and smell of chlorine. When you stay there, that s what you should expect.
I use the reviews, especially cheap car rental for maui on Trip Advisor, but I look at what their criteria is for their rating. People care about different things and I ve seen nice places downgraded for really idiotic and unreasonable stuff. And praised for things that I find irrelevant to a successful cheap car rental for maui stay.
Are there reviews (both positive and negative) that have been fabricated on the site? Of course…there are hotels that have posted good reviews about themselves as well as posted negative reviews cheap car rental for maui about their competitors. Personally, I think that it is easy to spot the fake reviews. There always going to be fake reviews no matter what safe guards are in place. I believe in "buyer be aware".
How about the travel writers? Are their reviews on the up and up? I have never read a negative review in our local newspaper, travel magazines, etc. Since it is common for them to receive free stays or a super discounted rate for their stay, I think this play a role in their review. cheap car rental for maui Write negative reviews…lose cheap car rental for maui your perks of free stuff or heavily discounted rates.
Several years ago, I read a review of a hotel that I have stayed at a few times in the travel section of the local newspaper cheap car rental for maui and I wondered if this was the same hotel that I stayed at. The writer described everything at the hotel as top-notch, 5-star, perfect, etc; whereas, the hotel was only rated as a 3-star hotel. Two local travel agencies ran ads for this hotel in the newspaper for years. Was it payback to these travel cheap car rental for maui agencies?
How about professional reviewers? Are they on the up and up? I remember reading about it a few years, about a reviewer who wrote for a company cheap car rental for maui that publishes travel guides. This reviewer spent all of this time drinking, having sex and etc. and made stuff up about the places that he should have visited.
How about websites for hotels? Are they on the up and up? It is common for some hotels to use pictures from their presidential suite (or their top room) on their website which set the wrong expectations, imply that all of their rooms are like that, etc. The issue is that the hotel doesn't disclose that the pictures are from a top room and most of their rooms don't look like this, etc.
Seven years ago, I stayed a hotel (they called themselves a resort) in Victoria, BC in the middle of summer. On their website, they made a statement that they have every feature and amenity of a five-star hotel or resort in the United States. It was a last minute business trip and my regular hotel was booked full so I booked the reservation. When I entered my room (it was facing west…directly into the sun), I discovered that the room had no A\C…the temperature was over 90 degrees.
I went to the front desk and was told that there is no A\C in any of the rooms at the hotel. cheap car rental for maui The manager told me that every hotel in Victoria has no A\C (this was a lie since I have stayed at five other hotels in Victoria over the years that had A\C). I pull out the printout from the hotel website stating that this hotel has every feature and amenity of a five-star hotel in the US and the front desk personnel told me five-star hotels in the US do not have A\C. I asked if I could cancel my reservation and was told 'No'. They move me to another room that was facing east but the temperature was still over 80 degrees in the room so they gave me two fans.
How about Government ratings cheap car rental for maui systems? Some will claim that they are more reliable. However, I must disagree because in some countries, ratings can be purchased. Back in 2005, we went to China to do a tour. We arrived a few days early before the start of our tour so that we could do stuff on our own. We stayed at the Renaissance Beijing Hotel for three nights and it was rated as a 4-star hotel by international standards it was rated by the Chinese hotel\tourism agency as a 3-star property. My wife and I thought that Renaissance Beijing Hotel was one of the best if not the best Marriott property that we have stayed at. When we started our tour, we stayed cheap car rental for maui at King Wing Hot Spring cheap car rental for maui International Hotel it was rated 5-Star by the Chinese hotel\tourism agency but this hotel was a 1-Star in our books.
4. I discount or disregard reviews from members that are from the same city as the hotel that they are reviewing. I posted a critical review cheap car rental for maui of a hotel in China on TripAdvisor then someone posted a glowing review stating that they were from the US, visit this hotel on a regular basis for business but their profile show that they were from the same city where the hotel was located.
5. I discount or disregard cheap car rental for maui reviews from members that complain that they purchased the room through Priceline, Hotwire, cheap car rental for maui etc. for a super low price but were disappointed that they couldn't get free upgrades, breakfasts, etc.
6. I discount or disregard reviews from members that complain about a feature that a hotel doesn't cheap car rental for maui have. Example # 1: "I hate this SpringHill Suite because it has no kitchen like a Residence Inn." Why did the traveler selected to stay at a hotel that doesn't have a kitchen. If you need a kitchen for your hotel stay then select a Residence Inn or another hotel that has a kitchen cheap car rental for maui in the room. Example # 2: "I hate this Courtyard by Marriott because they have no free breakfast like a Fairfield Inn." Again, why did you stay at a hotel that doesn't have a free breakfast? If you want a free breakfast then select a Fairfield Inn, a SpringHill Suite or another hotel that has a free breakfast.
cheap car rental for maui 7. If there is an issue or complaint that is common or consisent among the reviews, it makes me to believe that it is true. For example, one hotel had two common issues (highway noise and dog barking from the pet-friendly rooms) so I wrote to the GM before our stay requesting a room that was away from these two issues. We were given a room that was perfect and we had a perfect stay at the hotel.
8. Personally, when a hotel has less than an 80% recommendation rating on TripAdvisor, I will skip the hotel. I understand that you can't please everyone but a hotel should be able to please at least 80% of their guest.
Example: cheap car rental for maui I was visiting a client in Chilliwack, BC. The hotel that I selected was a two-story hotel. A lot of the reviews on Tr