Although the Internet is still relatively young, it’s difficult to remember a time without it. Until a little over a decade ago, trips were planned using hefty travel books, glossy brochures, 800 numbers, and travel agents.
This limited amount of information meant that many times, travelers entered into their trip hoping for the best. The Royal Imperial Windsor Arms Hotel in National Lampoon’s European Vacation is a great example: the Griswolds were expecting a posh four-star hotel, but discovered upon arrival that it was actually a bit of a roach motel.
The Yelp RV. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
These days, we have a wealth of knowledge at our fingertips. While mainstream publications are still a popular resource for travel guidance, research shows that today’s travelers trust online reviews more than other resources. In fact, according to online research firm Market Matrix, 90% of global travelers state that their booking decisions are heavily influenced by reviews on sites such as TripAdvisor, Yelp, Google Places and the like. Furthermore, 53% of travelers state they wouldn’t book a hotel that has no online reviews.
The real question is – can the reviews you read online be trusted? Not always! While 95% of travelers believe that online reviews are trustworthy, the reality is every major online review site has a percentage of phony reviews – both positive and negative. In fact, Yelp recently admitted that roughly 25% of all reviews they receive are fake. While these sites make an effort to filter out blatantly suspicious reviews, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to identify and filter all phony reviews.
Unfortunately, we’ve had a few experiences with phony online reviews here at Travelpro. As customer satisfaction is our top priority, we continually monitor our reviews on different sites, like Amazon.com and others. There have been a few times we’ve received negative product reviews from individuals who haven’t placed an order with us. When we reach out to them in a private message, the vast majority of the time they never respond to our efforts to resolve their complaint.
How can you separate fact from fiction when reading online travel reviews?
They key to using online reviews is to read a lot of different reviews from a few different sites and make your opinion across a very broad spectrum. If you come across reviews that are either absolutely scathing or overly-positive, always click through to see the other types of reviews that have been posted by that user. If their account is brand new, has only one or two other reviews or only posts one star reviews and/or five star reviews, it’s safe to say their opinion might be biased. Additionally, be aware that some companies offer freebies to existing customers who leave online reviews. While this practice isn’t illegal per se, it can sway the types of reviews people leave.
When trying to determine the actual quality of a particular restaurant, hotel, or travel resort, you need to use your best judgment and look at the total number of reviews. Are more people happy or unhappy? By looking at the trends, you can get a clearer idea of how well the destination will perform.
How do you separate fact from fiction when reading online travel reviews? Share your tips in the comments section below!
Related articles
- 5 ways social media is transforming travel | SmartBlogs SmartBlogs (falkenhaug.com)
- Why Yelp will NEVER be able to get rid of phony reviews (michellechkim.wordpress.com)
- Kayak unveils hotel reviews and gives homepage a facelift (venturebeat.com)
- Why should Hotels care about TripAdvisor ? (customertestimonials.wordpress.com)