The world of hotel reviews can be a double edged sword.
They are fantastic for uncovering problem hotels or motels, are great for the tips they provide about the area near the hotel or local attractions and they can help you watch out for certain recurring events that you want to avoid.
But are they all honest? Are they all legitimate? Are they all applicable to your situation? I do not believe so.
After researching hundreds if not thousands of reviews, I find a very common and disturbing pattern.
People who (may) have a legitimate beef tend to exaggerate problems to the extent that an otherwise exemplary hotel may seem to reside within the very jaws of Hades if you believe everything you read.
And people who have a problem rarely account for personal responsibility.
So they will trash a hotel that did not let them cancel a reservation at 9 p.
m.
on the day of arrival.
Or they misinterpret an 'authorization' of a credit card (which their BANK does, not the hotel) with the actual charge and claim they were double charged.
Yet the authorization amount will soon disappear and the amount reserved (again by the bank, not the hotel) will return to the credit line.
Here is what you need to know to make sense of reviews that sometimes seem to be at odds with each other.
Always make sure there are at least 10-15 review to read.
If after 15 reviews a motel's score is still 2.
1, you know you are inviting trouble.
But if the average is 4.
3, yet you only center on the two 'bad' reviews (one of which may claim staff was rude when 6 other reviews praises the friendly staff and the other claiming they were overcharged and it took 8 weeks to get credited) and avoid the property based upon these two reviews, you will be missing a hotel or motel with a rather high average score.
You do want to read some of the reviews but you should be looking for things like how clean the room and bathroom were.
Avoiding a hotel because the 'carpet was stained' will cause you to pretty much avoid ANY hotel because short of replacing carpet every year, hotels cannot keep up with the messes many guests make.
Reviews should be examined for averages - the average rating, the average number of reviews, the average comments.
Look for rants, where EVERYTHING about a property is bad and make sure the complaints are legitimate.
Use reviews to scout out an area if you have never been to it.
Avoid properties if numerous guests point out that linens were dirty or the location was dicey.
Know that low priced motels will almost always have problems so if price is your only concern, you shouldn't care if the rating is a 2.
4.
Many people note these types of properties by headlining it, "You get what you pay for".
These tips will allow you to make better judgments about reviews and whether they apply to your interests or not.
They are fantastic for uncovering problem hotels or motels, are great for the tips they provide about the area near the hotel or local attractions and they can help you watch out for certain recurring events that you want to avoid.
But are they all honest? Are they all legitimate? Are they all applicable to your situation? I do not believe so.
After researching hundreds if not thousands of reviews, I find a very common and disturbing pattern.
People who (may) have a legitimate beef tend to exaggerate problems to the extent that an otherwise exemplary hotel may seem to reside within the very jaws of Hades if you believe everything you read.
And people who have a problem rarely account for personal responsibility.
So they will trash a hotel that did not let them cancel a reservation at 9 p.
m.
on the day of arrival.
Or they misinterpret an 'authorization' of a credit card (which their BANK does, not the hotel) with the actual charge and claim they were double charged.
Yet the authorization amount will soon disappear and the amount reserved (again by the bank, not the hotel) will return to the credit line.
Here is what you need to know to make sense of reviews that sometimes seem to be at odds with each other.
Always make sure there are at least 10-15 review to read.
If after 15 reviews a motel's score is still 2.
1, you know you are inviting trouble.
But if the average is 4.
3, yet you only center on the two 'bad' reviews (one of which may claim staff was rude when 6 other reviews praises the friendly staff and the other claiming they were overcharged and it took 8 weeks to get credited) and avoid the property based upon these two reviews, you will be missing a hotel or motel with a rather high average score.
You do want to read some of the reviews but you should be looking for things like how clean the room and bathroom were.
Avoiding a hotel because the 'carpet was stained' will cause you to pretty much avoid ANY hotel because short of replacing carpet every year, hotels cannot keep up with the messes many guests make.
Reviews should be examined for averages - the average rating, the average number of reviews, the average comments.
Look for rants, where EVERYTHING about a property is bad and make sure the complaints are legitimate.
Use reviews to scout out an area if you have never been to it.
Avoid properties if numerous guests point out that linens were dirty or the location was dicey.
Know that low priced motels will almost always have problems so if price is your only concern, you shouldn't care if the rating is a 2.
4.
Many people note these types of properties by headlining it, "You get what you pay for".
These tips will allow you to make better judgments about reviews and whether they apply to your interests or not.
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