Post by tacosforlife on Feb 23, 2016 11:00:18 GMT -5
If you found a hotel in a foreign country that was a good combo of price, amenities, and locations and had lots of excellent reviews on TA, would you book it nonrefundable even though you didn't have a personal recommendation for it? Or would you go with a hotel recommended by someone you know, even if the reviews on Trip Advisor weren't as good as the other one?
Also, why I am I unable to make my own decisions in life?
I take them with a grain of salt and always look for other reviews as well. If the consensus is good reviews, I go for it. I don't have personal recs usually for most places so I have to use reviews. I always look up maps, photos etc to make sure it is the location I want and you can see the neighborhood a bit as well. Although, I will say I am not a fan of nonrefundable, but again I take it all into consideration.
Post by lovelyshoes on Feb 23, 2016 11:03:56 GMT -5
I read through TA reviews before I book hotels. I've trusted them before and it worked out. I concentrate on what the complaints are. Some people just love to complain, so I take it with a grain of salt. I would probably take a personal rec over TA, but only if they were there recently. Things change from year to year and sometbing that was great 2 years ago might not be so good anymore.
I use tripadvisor a lot and have had good luck. I tend to find the 1 and 5 star reviews to be useless - either nonsense whining, fake, or just too generically good. I will scope through the mid level reviews, and it's usually pretty easy to get a sense of what the real issues are. If it's things like "staff isn't attentive enough", "bad food", "no minibar OH NOES" I go ahead and book if I really want to stay there. If there are multiple comments about safety, cleanliness, or noise, I pass.
Post by sunshineluv on Feb 23, 2016 11:06:28 GMT -5
Yes, actually, I trust good reviews better than bad ones. I read the bad reviews to ensure it isn't some super high maintenance person, or a person who is blaming the hotel for something outside of their control.
Yeah, TA is good for the most part. But I will sometimes check the negative reviewers and see if most of their other reviews are negative too. We loved our HM hotel despite there being a few bad reviews on TA. Turns out, the negative reviews occurred when the hotel was still under construction and they were getting a huge discount. I mean, of course it's going to be noisy if it's still under construction FFS.
I used it when I booked our hotels in France last Dec. We stayed in 5 different hotels, and I found all the reviews fairly accurate.
When I see complaints, I balance those against what was said by others, and many times I seemed like those lousy reviews were from people where nothing would have made them happy.
I use TA as a source. I like to see the reviews that lean towards being 4 stars as usually they tell you the truth. I skip over the perfect reviews because I wonder if they are made up.
Yes, I trust and consult TA before every trip. Unless a negative review has some basis, I generally ignore. I often find that negative reviews are very individualized or the person on the other end is criticizing something that wouldn't bother me at all.
I look at the good reviews and the bad reviews. If the bad reviews just seem to be crazy people that will complain about anything I assume that it is probably a decent place to stay.
Post by tacosforlife on Feb 23, 2016 11:12:43 GMT -5
OK, thanks. FWIW, the reviews for the hotel I'm considering are all very solid. Almost all four and five stars, with the occasional three. Basically the gist of them is that the hotel is a really great value and better than expected while the reviews for the personally recommended hotel are that it's fine but nothing awesome.
I mostly trust them. I ignore the highest and lowest rated reviews. We just booked a non-refundable hotel in Paris which was recommended by Fodor's and the TA reviews sealed the deal. One review that stayed in the same room we are going to stay in said it was the best room in the whole hotel, so I'm choosing to believe that is true
If you found a hotel in a foreign country that was a good combo of price, amenities, and locations and had lots of excellent reviews on TA, would you book it nonrefundable even though you didn't have a personal recommendation for it? Or would you go with a hotel recommended by someone you know, even if the reviews on Trip Advisor weren't as good as the other one?
Also, why I am I unable to make my own decisions in life?
OMG I'm doing the same thing. I have all the details I want for booking a trip to Iceland in September. But it's nonrefundable. Why can't I just pull the trigger?! What if ... What if .... What if ... What if September comes and I haven't booked the damn trip?!?!
Oh and I don't book anything nonrefundable (except my flight) and we get insurance.
I already booked one hotel room for a different portion of the trip nonrefundable. That one I confirmed via Trip Advisor and a personal recommendation that the hotel will be fine. There are limited options for that portion of the trip that fit our budget, and I have no doubt that this was the best one. And the price difference between refundable and non-refundable was significant, which is the big issue with the hotels I'm considering for this portion of the trip. And we are getting trip insurance - that's on this weekend's to-do list!
Oh and I don't book anything nonrefundable (except my flight) and we get insurance.
I already booked one hotel room for a different portion of the trip nonrefundable. That one I confirmed via Trip Advisor and a personal recommendation that the hotel will be fine. There are limited options for that portion of the trip that fit our budget, and I have no doubt that this was the best one. And the price difference between refundable and non-refundable was significant, which is the big issue with the hotels I'm considering for this portion of the trip. And we are getting trip insurance - that's on this weekend's to-do list!
Oh well if you get "cancel for any reason" insurance, then this shouldn't be an issue at all. Jealous of your trip!!
I'm an avid TAer, but you have to keep in mind that everyone has different expectations and priorities when it comes to hotels. What one person might think of as a luxury hotel, you might think of as a mid-level hotel. What one person might think of as a great location might be your nightmare. My general rule of thumb is that I almost never book anything that has less than 4.5 stars on TA.
I find the TA forums to be useful as well, particularly if you are torn between two properties and want to ask if anyone can compare the two.
Yes this is how I book all of my vacations overseas. I think of the many countries I've been to, only 2 times I've gotten personal recs. Once from here and one from SJ. Other than that I just go with trip advisor and usually don't worry about booking non-refundable since it's less expensive. I've never had a bad experience.
I trust good reviews. I don't trust the bad ones, actually. People will find anything to bitch about.
I just left a one star review on a place from our vacation last week. I swear, I do not have unrealistic expectations! I do enjoy reading reviews though. I was looking at the Disney resort and read reviews where people were complaining that the value level hotels weren't that nice and next time, they will stay at Wilderness Lodge or the Polynesian!!11!!! In short, people are dumb.
I already booked one hotel room for a different portion of the trip nonrefundable. That one I confirmed via Trip Advisor and a personal recommendation that the hotel will be fine. There are limited options for that portion of the trip that fit our budget, and I have no doubt that this was the best one. And the price difference between refundable and non-refundable was significant, which is the big issue with the hotels I'm considering for this portion of the trip. And we are getting trip insurance - that's on this weekend's to-do list!
Oh well if you get "cancel for any reason" insurance, then this shouldn't be an issue at all. Jealous of your trip!!
There are four different tiers available from the insurer I'm using (whichever one USAA sends me to since I figure USAA has high standards). I know we're not going with the lowest one, but the policies are kind of confusing and I'm not sure which of the other three tiers we're getting. Mostly I haven't yet figured out the difference between the higher one (nearly $500) and the next one down (more like $260). This is officially the biggest trip I've ever planned, so it's all a little nerve-wracking!
Post by dulcemariamar on Feb 23, 2016 12:03:54 GMT -5
I use TA whenever I have to book a hotel. I always check the negative reviews to see if there is major red flags like the hotel having bedbugs or if the rooms are clean.
If they just complain about the hotel staff then I dont really care.
Yes I rely on TA reviews whenever I books hotels and have not had any issue. In your case, since either one should work out fine, I'd choose the one that has the better location.
Ive only had one bad experience in all my travels. Go figure it was a splurge for the last night of the honeymoon with 300 great reviews.
Definitely check the forums. A as always read before posting because people get tired of answering the same questions that an easy search could handle. But ta experts are generally great. I've even couch surfed with a few
I look at the most recent reviews. Then go read the worst most recent and if it's with in the past year I take it in to consideration like "THEY HAVE BEDBUGS!!!!", unless it's like "The breakfast was horrible!" I don't stay in a hotel for their breakfasts. And then I do the same with the best reviews...
User pictures are also very important to me.
Oh and if thousands of people have reviewed the hotel as 4 and up and there's only a handful of bad reviews, it's prolly a pretty good hotel. That many people can't be wrong.