Trip Advisor
My thoughts turned to Trip Advisor this week when they announced their TOP HOTELS list for 2007 and Scotland’s sole representation in any ratings was one Edinburgh B&B. That got me ranting – for a while anyway. I know we work with fantastic hotels offering great experiences and value for money – where were they? As I look at the list I see numerous luxury hotels in glamorous places, often very sunny climates, charging hundreds of pounds per night. A level playing field?
Don’t get me wrong – Trip Advisor has been one of my reference points for researching new hotels and areas since we started, and makes a valuable addition to travel planning, for consumers and professional alike. I do, however, take much of what is written with a pinch of salt – after all its just subjective opinions, which are often contradictory. I know that changes in key personnel, chefs, managers and of course owners can change a hotel completely. Trip Advisor takes no account of these. Many of the hotels I know personally there still have reviews from 5 years ago when previous management was in place. That these historic reviews stay live can be unfair and of course misleading – in either a negative or positive way. Of course, like any research tool you also have to read between the lines on the reviews themselves. Happy to say, that increasingly you will see a comment starting off “Contrary to the other reviews on this site, I etc etc” so many of us want to make up our own minds.
So, while TA is one of my early research sources and one I keep referring to during the year – I certainly rely on my own judgement when choosing a hotel to work with, through direct experience and then listening to what our customers say during the year – after making sure we present the hotel to the most suitable audience. Based on what our customers tell us, we do (nearly always) get it right.
Robert Kidd is a founding director with his wife