Deciphering Online Hotel Reviews

Do you have a trip on hand and looking for selecting hotels that suit you most by checking the reviews? Are you selecting the 5-star reviews and rejecting the hotels that have low-star reviews. Lastly, are you frustrated to find that someone has given a top rating and just below it someone has mentioned worse things about the hotel the same day? So how can you decipher these reviews and learn the truth? Try the following.

Authentic information and consultation can best be provided by ‘experts’ such as AAA and travel agents. In most cases, the consultations provided by the websites are not genuine as it includes subjective ratings. The services of a hotel may be liked by someone and despised by others, so their comments come from their experience that might not be the same for everyone.

Tourists may not get facilities like connecting rooms or might be charged for services like internet and parking but that does not devaluate the rating of the hotel. It is because of the fact that the other amenities provided by the hotel might be excellent. So, online reviews with low ratings might not reveal true stories always.

Sites like Orbitz.com, TripAdvisor.com and Hotels.com provide online reviews and subjective rating scales of independent travellers and it is not wise to believe their views completely. Always visit the website of the hotel to compare.

To find the right kind of advice narrow the search to few hotels before opting for reviews and only the recent reviews must be taken into consideration. Comments or postings of only those people should be considered who had the same needs as you as a traveller.

Pay attention to the reason of rating the hotel and not at the star rating. It is because guests marking a hotel poorly for some facilities like bad parking may not have any relevance to your travelling needs if you using a taxi to reach the hotel. The motivation behind writing the review should also be noticed. Tourists can give an honest opinion or can express grudge in this manner.

In order to identify the recurring troubles like bad air-conditioning, noisy rooms or unpleasant location; it is better to opt for the comments that are provided online. Have a look at the pictures that are posted by previous guests as the real look of the hotel room is revealed as opposed to the pictures provided in the hotel photo shoot.

Look for hotels that have answered to negative comments by travellers. This shows the hotel is listening to travellers and in most cases the problem might have been corrected.

The best act would be to opt for a hotel without fully trusting the online reviews as this complicates the situation of choosing. Remember, excellent hotels even have bad days, so be suspicious about trusting every hotel review.