Trip advisor is there any point?

[BM06]

I have been approached (for the first time) this year by at least ten if not more proprietors ie (bars,restaurants,hoteliers) if I would put a favorable post about there place on Trip Advisor:-\ so my question is whats the point in the site[?] if, as this seems to be the norm,they get friends and or relatives to big their place up, I would much prefer to rely on this site for our area, to tell it how it is through personnel experience and the truth, what do you think about the site and is there any point to it[?] PS Also has anyone had the same approach[?]

[John H]

It is not a good site if the only postings are favourable ones at the request of owners but I found it a very useful tool when checking out hotel accommodation.
Like every opinion site the opinions given can vary alarmingly so you have to read the ones on your interest then make your own balanced choice.
For example, I posted my views of The Le Meridien Montpatrnase Hotel in Paris which I thought was fabulous and the best hotel I am ever likely to stay in where to others it was on par with a multi storey doss house.
As a contrast postings on the tiny Alhambra Hotel in Kings Cross, including mine, are overwhelmingly in praise of it.
I think it is a very helpful site but you never know until you arrive.
Never been asked to post by anyone in Calis but a few UK hotels have 'invited' me to make a favourable post.  

[KKOB]

It's not just Trip Advisor. I think the same question can be asked about anything that requires a "vote".  I've been asked on several occasions to "big-up" a business or project on the www.  

Also, in the past, I've seen forum members on this and other forums asking for people to vote for a particular singer in a poll, to visit a particular site and vote for their relative's project, to sign petitions etc.

[Scunner]

A lot of it is simply personal taste - it happens on here too - just recently the Lighthouse was reported as the worst restaurant in Calis and the best. On CBF we have the lame newbie "we loved it too much" poster who is so full of praise, most of us smell a rat immediately. Sometimes they are so ridiculously dishonest they are removed, others left because of their huge comedy value. At least we mostly have the information and know what to look out for. If CBF was as busy as Tripadvisor there is no way we could smell all the rats and it would be more likely to happen here. Not that I would care. If CBF was as big as Tripadvisor I'd have sold it and gone

[mike A]

"Not that I would care. If CBF was as big as Tripadvisor I'd have sold it and gone"

Who knows Keith, one day.  

[Jim Fraser]

I have often been asked by local places (mainly in Hisaronu) to recommend them on Tripadvisor, thats a no go with me, I will only praise or critisize if I have experience of the place.
Tripadvisor like any open forum has its users and abusers, but forum watchers do get to know the regulars whose recommendations can be trusted.

[BM06]

Be careful what you wish for Keith:D ;)http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1311066/Hotels-prepare-battle-TripAdvisor-critical-reviews.html