After watching the programme on TV about the antics and views of some trip adviser reviewers….I most definitly feel the owners of places criticised should have a forum to put things in context….it is so wrong that lively hoods can be destroyed by many peoples opinions…some quite valid but some over critical….Everyones expectations and experiences are different…but it does not mean a place is bad…..
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…after watching what crawled out of the woodwork on last night’s “trippy show” i fell about laughing at the bunch of saddo’s featured, and what passes for their idea of a worthwhile hobby. trogging about the country searching for kettles with water in, and bogbrushes sporting crap.
when they’ve finished with us, the potential guest will be left with four choices. overpriced five star hotels, so called “budget” chains, those guest houses that play at the game by renting out a couple of rooms in their home, and dosshouses run by people who don’t give a shit. a brave new world indeed, where individuality is a memory, and the premier inn and mcdonalds reign unchallenged.
because, make no mistake, these pseudo reviewers, do rush small business owners, many of whom are doing their best with the resources available to them, out of the door of commerce. it only takes a few malicious reviews to damage reputations, and devastate restauranteurs and hoteliers. having said that, they can, if constructively written, be useful to let us know how we can improve our service. but it’s most strange how people can vent their spleen on the anonymous net, yet lack the courage to leave their name, or tackle you in situ, so that at least they can be given an explanation, apology or restitution.
which neatly brings me to the gutless mental pygmies that i observed last night…despite the spiteful editing that channel four is quite rightly famous for, that bunch came across like the pathetic vermin they so obviously are.
first, the australians….sod off back to broken hill. we seem to have enough home grown whiners to keep us entertained, and we can live without the likes of you.
the two gents that were traumatized by the light shining through the window, the loo brush, the kettle, blah blah blah….go and get therapy. apparently 200 reviews have been attributed to you. you should be proud of your literary work for the benefit of the masses.
stu-bec, or whatever he calls himself, the mature student needs to go and get a bloody job, instead of destroying the tax payers that fund his lifestyle….how much do you owe in government grants mate? or are you a man of independent means? i’ll wager you’re not studying anything like the humanities.
the couple at the old forge restaurant, read that review the ex-copper left them, very badly….he was actually praising them in the main….so don’t look for problems folks, he gave you a four out of five rating. having said that, coppers aren’t renowned for expressing themselves succinctly…..unless someone else is writing the script, they are not famous for their literary skills. maybe he could take up macrame, or basket weaving, and leave people who are at least trying to follow their dreams alone….
and lastly, the supermarket manager, who i suspect, has sadly clartsed any possibility of swimming in the gene pool, as no self respecting female i know would care to take the plunge with such a feeble little gnome, with a tiny mind, and an outlook on life that is to be pitied. for your edification, love, very few places change the sheets daily, so do us all a favour, and keep your skin condition at home in future.
this horrible shower have had their warhole fifteen minutes of fame. what will they try next, one wonders….”coach trip”, or “come dine with me” possibly. it would take more brain cells than they possess for themto have learned anything from their experience….
Sharon, I could spend hours thinking of a reply/comment to match yours, so will not try, fantastic post, maybe Channel 4 could make use of your services.
Will say just one thing, what a waste of a great opportunity to do a serious documentary on trip adviser. By picking the reviewers and properties owners they did, Channel 4 made the programme a joke.
If trip adviser should do just one thing, make reviewers add their name.
Sharon Willis you are a gem; I was torn between pity for the owners and outright loathing for the trip advisors…who did ever so well to secure their role in television history as the amoebic bottom feeders they so clearly are…ha ha
Dear Sharon,
Your were so spot on with everything that you said.
Having been a ‘professional’ contributor to Trip Advisor for several years, I was absolutely horrified by the Channel 4 programme on Trip Advisor.
The so called ‘reviewers’ that were featured were nothing less than imbeciles, and I find it criminal that individuals of such a low intelligence, and with any degree of self pride (?) can allow themselves to do so much destructive damage to would be striving businesses. They would do better to concentrate on sorting out their skin conditions!
I cannot possibly match your words …. they summed up everything. I just hope that Trip Advisor starts to operate a discriminary policy of some sort as to who they allow to speak out!
Kindest regards,
ANNE
Well done Sharon, I could not put it into better words either.
We have run a B&B for 7 years in Dorset and have now stopped because of TripAdvisor reviews. We have had mostly good ones but the few bad ones that distressed me immensely. We also noticed that the ones that wrote the bad reviews were like the sad guy in the documentary ‘A TripAdvisor addict’ as he confessed and was even proud of. Even his mother thought he had a problem when he complained about a drink that he ordered that was with or without tonic (can’t remember!) He was a supermarket manager so he even had a job to keep him occupied. Can’t these people get a life!! B&B’s are basically family homes not 5 star hotels and they are not out to ‘rip the public off’ as one TripAdvisor said. We followed the few that had written a bad review as you can on TripAdvisor and saw that that they had written reviews about everywhere they had been – almost like an obsession – one had written 27 reviews. What also annnoys me more than anything – like they said in the documentary is that they never complain to your face. If they had said something was wrong we would have knocked off half the price and that would have been constructive. They would be happy at paying a lot less and we would know what needed correcting. No, they never do that they pay and smile sweetly and stabbed you in the back by putting it on the world-wide web. What power!! We have had friends from the States remark on those reviews. It was only 2 to be precise but even that is enough to put people off and you cannot defend yourself and they are on there for years. Also, thinking about it, I am sure that the reverse could be the case and you could get your friends to write a good review and make it up. So TripAdvisor is there to be abused!! What used to happen is that professional restaurant/hotel critics used to assess places and were anonymous and they wrote reviews.
I am not going to repeat what Sharon said but if TripAdvisor has to exist it has to be controlled before a handful of very small minded people who think they have some power that can ruin people’s lives. Are they aware of the damage they are causing or do they care?! It was said in the documentary that TripAdvisor had got out of control.
For a start, as one of the comments here has said can there be a discriminary policy
about the negative reviews. Yes, great idea – maybe there have to be at least 3 bad comments about the establishment before it goes on the internet. There has to be some screening about these reviews before the general public can voice their opinion at free will. The people who are reading these comments can’t see the people who they are coming from!!
I am sorry but I am very much against TripAdvisor – it is open to abuse, as I said previously, and it has put me off the whole idea of B&B and I am sure it has many others who saw in the documentary.
Pamela Camp
Well done Sharon, you have summed it up completely. I run a small holiday park with self catering lodges – we have some lovely reviews on trip advisor but i am very aware that it only takes a couple of baddies to knock my business back. I operate budget style accommodation and feel very strongly that there should be more stringent restraints for those placing reviews, as i have seen some on my property previously that we don’t think stayed here.(in other words, rival establishments wishing to knock us) I do feel it should be against the law/trip advisor ethics to be able to make a bad comment unless you can provide proof that you reported the problem to the proprietor of the accommodation before leaving. I also think that you should have to provide a booking reference, exact date of stay, room number etc. and i feel that trip advisor should give more warning about the effects bad comments can have on a business and that legal action could be taken by the proprietors against those leaving bad comments. Anyone know which supermarket this jerk runs – i want to go there and review it! Sian.
Well said Sharon, I was absolutely aghast at the complete cretins this program showed.
Making hard-working peoples lives a misery with their petty reviews.
If I was the owner of the hotel where the guy was marking my sheets with biro – I’d have him done for criminal damage – he’d soon stop that business!
Fair enough if you are leaving sub-standard review for the huge hotel chains – it gives them an idea of what they are doing wrong and they probably see it as an improvement tool – but to do it to a family b&b for some of the trivial little things they found is quite frankly ridiculous…these people need to get a life and a grip!