Calis Beach and Fethiye Turkey Discussion Forum
Calis Beach Forum => Calis Bar and Restaurant Questions and Discussions => Topic started by: JohnF on September 02, 2016, 16:59:02 PM
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Read a good article recently by Marina O'Loughlin, a restaurant critic and food writer, who really dislikes Tripadvisor - what do you think? Is it a useful tool or is it too full of fake reviews to be of any significant use?
Personally, I think it started out as a good concept but now it's often a case of having to disregard so many obviously malicious reviews, so many 'one review' glowing reviews that at times it can be difficult to get a balanced view. I've lost count of the times we've eaten somewhere and had an excellent meal, only to find that it's number 972 out of god knows how many in that city. Whenever we go somewhere new, like Marina O'Loughlin, we tend to try for personal recommendations from friends, locals etc rather than rely on dodgy ratings from TA.
"It was in a small seaside town in Croatia that my dislike of TripAdvisor petrified into loathing. The site’s top listing wasn’t one of the ad-hoc shacks down by the beach that sold the freshest fish grilled over wood (where my nose would have led me), but we went along with it all the same. Never before or since have I eaten in a restaurant where our hosts fished the meal from a vast chest freezer in full view. Remember to write about us on TripAdvisor, they urged as we dolefully paid our bill, giving us a free liqueur that tasted of Cif and cynicism.
Despite the fact that virtually every week brings a new story about how useless TripAdvisor is, how it enables users who are corrupt/greedy/mendacious, the site trundles on like a marauder, spewing an ever-increasing volume of freely given, unpaid “content”, as it has since its conception in 2000. Despite all evidence to the contrary – in 2013 its CEO, Stephen Kaufer, pocketed more than $39m – TripAdvisor has convinced its contributors that it is “one of us”, like a digital version of Nigel Farage or Donald Trump.
Regardless of the fact that it is riddled with fakes and idiots, a huge number of otherwise sensible people continue to give credence to the aggregated opinion of, at best, unqualified strangers. A 2015 government-backed Competitions & Markets Authority investigation found that UK consumers spend more than£23bn a year after reading online reviews. “Only a very small proportion [of respondents] felt that it was ‘not very likely’ or ‘not at all likely’ that the reviews were written by genuine customers,” the report concluded."
Read the rest here: Five stars – says who? My trouble with TripAdvisor (https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2016/jul/08/trouble-with-tripadvisor-summer-food-drink-marina-oloughlin)
JF
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I used to contribute to Trip Advisor, but haven't for a while now.
I don't refer to it for restaurant recommendations but have used it for reviews on hotels before making a booking and found it to be pretty much 50/50 on accuracy. Of course that is only my opinion, which is of course the main problem with Trip Advisor - too many opinions.
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I don't do hotel reviews on Booking.com (although I do use it to book hotels quite a lot). I did three reviews a few years back, two good and one not so good - the two good ones are still there, the not so good one disappeared.
You can make of that what you choose :)
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We stayed in a superb hotel in Rhodes (our opinion) some years ago.
Shortly after our return we read a scathing report on the very same hotel. :( :( :(
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We had a 'lovely' stay in a British owned house in Toronto.
The thing is there are a few bad reviews like ours but there are so many that loved it.
To me it was dirty and not well run. My mate and I even had to check in a couple from Israel as there was nobody else around. The dog farted and the cat got everywhere. There's not many places I wont eat but this was one!
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g155019-d290550-Reviews-or20-Pimblett_s_Downtown_Toronto_B_B-Toronto_Ontario.html#REVIEWS
I'm lazerjet by the way.
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I must confess to being a review addict.
Used it for all our travels.
I dont tend to post reviews unless somewhere is dreadful but John always does the reviews.
Hes had over 40,000 readers which he's very proud of.
Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk
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Never used it. I use personal recommendations, my eyes, my head, and my wallet. Been fairly lucky so far.
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The trouble is that everyone has different standards, so what would be classed grubby for some, others would say its very clean and so on. I must admit I do read the reviews on booking.com and would never say anywhere less than 8.00 rated.
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I must admit I do read the reviews on booking.com
As do we - the difference between reviews on booking.com and TA is that they are verified, as in they are all from genuine paying customers.
JF
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I have a nosey now and again but can't say I use it to choose where to eat, holiday etc.
I prefer to make my own judgements. If it's crap then there is no one to blame but myself
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Realistically, some reviews of hotels and restaurants will be from owners' relatives and friends, and some from the relatives and friends of the rival hotel/restaurant next door.
I look at the last ten reviews to get a balanced view, and ignore the ones written in poor English which are more likely to be fake I think.
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Or from poor people
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I recently booked a place in Bridlington classed as 9.5.... We stayed and it was probably one of the worst places we have ever stayed. Certainly in Brid. I wrote an honest review but still gave the postives a good plug.. I received and answer from the owner which was an absolute pack of lies and I now have noway to contradict him or give my truthful side... Grrrr... It beggars belief that the other reviews can be truthful.. They must be relatives, friends or morons... Having said that we booked last year with the best place we have ever stayed at which was also a 9.5 Unfortunatley they were fully booked all season..
It is funny though that I can read through 2 pages of good reviews but the bad one is the one that sticks in my mind...
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ignore the ones written in poor English which are more likely to be fake I think.
Surprisingly, English isn't every traveller's first language.
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You're right KKOB but reviews for non-UK hotels and restaurants are more likely to be from 'interested parties'.
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Why would you assume that poor people would write in poor English, Scunner?
I have many faults, but snobbery is not one of them.
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Spotting tongue in cheek comments is though
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Lindsey -
I learned a lot too; early on in my CBF career.
Scunner - snobbery?
Far from it.
Dammit - the man's not even a Southerner (to the best of my knowledge) so no chance of snobbery.
Only Southerners can be snobs and apparently Devon doesn't count.
(plus - there shouldn't be a comma between "faults" and "but" ;).
Poor/uneducated - no grammar school product, are you?
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All very true - except I am very much a Southerner, living in exile :)
My tongue in cheek comment added the poor to the list (of people who's opinions shouldn't be considered) to the foreigners as indicated by Lindsey. How are badly written reviews the work of foreigners? Have you not seen British people on Facebook? Why are foreigners more likely to be friends and family of the owners? How does that work with UK restaurants owned by British people? Why ignore non-British opinions?
Maybe not a snob. Maybe just a tad racist.
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I recently visited my daughter's holiday home in Cornwall and then took one of my grandsons to Wales.We stopped for a break at Tanya's near Bodmin and I can vouch for the truth about the Tripadvisor reviews.It was one of the most surreal experiences of my life and if I had not experienced it myself I would not have believed the reviews.I hope that I have not caused too much trauma to my grandson!
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I was not accusing Scunner of snobbery, but thought he was accusing me of it! As a coal miner's daughter from Barnsley who failed her 11+ that Iis hardly likely!
If I were to post on a Turkish website, it would soon be apparent that Turkish was not my first language; I was simply pointing out that if there were to be a fake review of a Turkish hotel or restaurant (from a friend or rival) it would be far more likely to be written by a Turk, although not necessarily.
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Rest assured, you're unlikely to meet anyone as common as Scunner. ;)
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Salt of the Earth me
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I wouldn't believe anything that Scunner bloke wrote - it will probably be tongue in cheek.
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re Trip Advisor - we do put reviews on and we do look at reviews to check out what people think. However, sometimes we see reviews of places we have been and cannot believe they were in the same hotel. Have just read one on a hotel we go to in Spain, it is right on the promenade and the reviewer thought it was in the 'wrong place' and had 'a bit of beach' in front. The beach which is deep, and has beautiful soft sand is 5 miles long !
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By the way, the Hisaronu Ritz does a lovely Stuffed Calves Tongue in Cheek.
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We stayed in a fabulous hotel in Venice - lovely views across the basin and literally a minute along from St Marks' Square.
One TA reviewer slated it, saying the furniture was old fashioned and the whole place needed modernising.
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We stayed in a fabulous hotel in Venice - lovely views across the basin and literally a minute along from St Marks' Square.
One TA reviewer slated it, saying the furniture was old fashioned and the whole place needed modernising.
Could have been worse they might have moaned about the flooded roads!
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I'm a self - confessed, serial reader of reviews. Trip Advisor, Booking.com, Hotels.com. local area forums on the internet etc. I wade through pretty much all of them when planning to go somewhere new for a week or two.
I'm the same with buying stuff - "Which" magazine and their online reviews are an essential part of my buying process.
As Mercury said, it's the bad reviews that remain with me. I'll then check the poster's other reviews to try to determine their "neutrality".
Suggested room choices in a particular hotel are always interesting as are the features about things to do in the area.
Restaurant reviews, whether here or abroad, are an absolute must. If enough people give top marks and write informatively about good food quality and high service standards, I will go out of my way to try that place.
Having retired, I try to get away a few times each year and every trip is planned as best as I can to minimise disappointment
I scrimp and save to have the best time I can afford and the "research" is, for me, a wholly enjoyable part.
There's always going to be a few exploratory days to wander off and take a chance with somewhere new.
With Trip Advisor particularly, I check the reviewer as much as the review.
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There's only so much you can do with choosing on sight/appearance - not least being in a position to see them in the first place. Choosing 'in person' is something I am not bad at, I can get a feel for a place just by walking past (and sometimes a bad feeling within a minute of being seated).
But using this method I doubt I would have stumbled upon the likes of King's Garden for example, to even be in a position to weigh it up. And places like Mozaik Bahce, I might (but probably wouldn't) walk past if I was on holiday in Fethiye once and once alone, and if I did, would I be able to tell that it was one of the most recommended in Fethiye - probably not.
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I do read as many reviews on different sites if Im going to a place I've never been too. I also write reviews on Trip Advisor and Booking.com. I try to keep them balanced and as honest as I can be.
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After last years disastrous holiday in Majorca (a very tough decision to try somewhere different from Calis) taken after reading glowing Trip Advisor reviews I will now take them all with a pinch of salt!! The apparently 'family run' hotel with excellent service and friendly staff was the worst, dirtiest most unfriendly place I have ever stayed and literally made hubby so ill! It's amazing how differently people see places. It's put us off trying anywhere else and we are back in Calis on Tuesday. Can't wait.
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I don't think there are many hotels that you couldn't put a negative review on about if you wanted to. It's not all about quality - expectation and value for money are huge factors too.
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I like,occasionally,to preview a visit to an area ,a specific hotel or attraction and use, and contribute to,
Tripadvisor.
Usually I just take my chances and go or go in because I like the look of the place.
There is always the option to contact a contributer on Tripadvisor and put specific questions to them about an area or premises they commented on.
I have done this a few times and also had people contact me looking for further information on my posts.
I would never rely entirely on anyone's opinion posted on Tripadvisor or anything similar.
Overall this has worked for me but I have still managed,occasionally,to end up in an area,bar,restaurant or hotel which did not suit me.
The responses I have had have always been reasonable and,I think, honest.
On the few occasions that I felt that things were 'bad' I told the management and depending on their response either gave them another chance or never went back.
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We recently had a holiday in Portugal. One local restaurant was given a 1 Grade ("Terrible"} by a reviewer. His reason for this?
"I ordered scallops and received some kind of pork cutlet. My fault for ordering scallops that were listed under the meat section but someone should probably at least try to check the translation of the menu. Apparently escalope means cutlet."
Some people aren't fit to be allowed out without a minder.
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I occasionally have a look at TripAdvisor just to see what people think of places we have visited and see if they are realistic. I find they are usually agreement with what I thought. I can honestly say that the review of Tanyas of Bodmin Services is dead accurate. It is a place that is so surreal the ratings are nearly 100% terrible.! I went on to TripAdvisor to see if it was on there as I was so shaken by my experience there whilst visiting with my grandson. Somebody wrote "Avoid like the plague unless you want to catch it!"