It seems that these sites "review" the user reviews before they are posted. That is logical, but here is the question: "Do legitimate bad reviews get scrapped because of advertisers?"
Here's the deal: we both work in advertising and know that certain hotel chains pay big bucks to get recommended first (at the top of the results lists) on these travel sites.
Our conversation started because we were talking about how when we submit good reviews on hotels, they are posted almost immediately, but when we submit bad reviews they are rarely posted at all.
If a high-end hotel is paying 10% commission (or whatever) to these travel sites, do you think they are going to let the sites post bad reviews right next the "Book Now" button? Do you ever wonder if these sites conveniently "leave out" reviews that are negative to their advertisers?
Am I being paranoid or is this logical?
I guess that would be better from tripadvisor.com who accepts most of the reviews of the hotel even from people who haven't really stayed at the hotel. :p
As with all information posted on the internet, travel reviews should be taken with a grain of salt (including this one).
I think travelocity and orbitz are right in filtering out any improper language that may sometimes be included from an irate customer but that doesn't necessarily mean that they wouldn't show the different sides of a hotel, both good and bad.
For instance, I have a friend who used asiahotels.com for booking her honeymoon trip to Bali. The online reservation process went smoothly, she didn't have any problems, but when she arrived at the resort, she found that the resort's standards didn't quite meet her expectations. After her trip, she was given a survey/questionnaire email by asiahotels.com about her stay, and she poured her heart out. She gave the good qualities of the resort, but also offered suggestion on how their services can be improved, and this was posted on the site. Later on, she was surprised to learn that after asiahotels forwarded her feedback to the resort, the resort gave apologized and responded on her suggestions.
All in all, I think this way would help both the guest and the resort/hotel. If travel sites don't give a balanced view of a hotel, it would also hurt their reputation for not being able to help their customers, and the customers would also be turned off of the hotel.
i have always used expedia. they are great. i have not had any problems and i have used them several times.
No it seem totally logical but there are other sites around that also post bad reviews you just have to look for them.
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