30 October 2008

New website will only feature positive reviews

A new website has been launched featuring only positive reviews of the best travel products and services available.

Travolaa.com only features holidays, hotels, airlines or other travel suppliers who receive the Ã¢â¬ÅâœDouble AÃ¢â¬â¢ seal of approval.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœIÃ¢â¬â¢d become quite an expert at trawling through various travel websites when suddenly I realised that I wanted a website that would do the hard work for me and help me to find the good stuff, without getting bogged down by bad reviews and indigestible info,Ã¢â¬~ said the websiteÃ¢â¬â¢s creator, passionate traveller
Amanda Brown.

Travel suppliers are invited to put themselves forward for a review if they think they meet the standards required.

If they donÃ¢â¬â¢t, they wonÃ¢â¬â¢t be featured on the site until they do.

Travellers must be members to access most information but registration is free.

The site also offers a lively forum and a monthly newsletter from Miss Travolaa, which features her Ã¢â¬Åâœhip guide to the hottest travel findsÃ¢â¬~.

By Bev Fearis

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Your Comments (4)

Initial reaction is POSITIVE

Initially, I thought, 'Only positive reviews? What's the point of that?!' but actually, thinking about it'¦. what a great idea! To be honest, if it's rubbish, why do I need to know about it? I have always used Expedia, but it can put you off if you find a hotel that looks ideal, then find that some people think it's brilliant & some people think it's awful. I'm already quite indecisive, and varying reviews don't help! If I know that everything I'm looking at has a positive rating, it's got to make it easier to choose. Plus, to be honest, I get a bit sick of hearing people whinge about insignificant stuff. And everyone has different ideas of what's acceptable & what's not. At least if it's all judged by the same yardstick, you should get a clearer picture'¦. I'll wait and see how it goes, but my initial reaction is POSITIVE!!!

By John Willis, Friday, October 31, 2008
mixed feelings

I agree with Jon Hewson - we post all reviews positive and negative for that very reason - but only to a point. It will have 'some' value in that someone independent has rated the product/service positively. In many ways I think that is all that people want to know - we have properties that are rated consistently as 4 or 5 star, they get one bad review and the bookings for that property halt overnight. In many cases the bad review is from a customer disgruntled because they've been charged for damaging the property or bringing more people than they've paid for. It is a very fine line to draw as it comes down to individual customer expectations: what is great for one customer is awful for another. I still believe the right thing to do is to post all reviews, but I know from experience that a bad review is not always justified and that it has a big impact on sales, so it will be interesting to see how this site gets on.

By andrews doug, Thursday, October 30, 2008
Early closure predicted

AS THIS SITE WILL BE OF NO USE TO THOSE REQUIRING AN ACCURATE BALANCE THEN EARLY CLOSURE IS PREDICTED.

By Paul Neaves, Thursday, October 30, 2008
What is the Point of Whitewash?

If this web site will only " ... featuring only positive reviews"it will have little credibility. The recently reported success of the Expedia associate travel web site that features positive and negative travel product reports is successful simply because it does report both sides of users opinions. This allows prospective users to better judge suitability of the product in question. If this new web site will only report positive reviews it might as well sell advertisements, for it will have no other utility.

By Jon Hewson, Wednesday, October 29, 2008