In Tripadvisor hotel reviews why do some people go out their way to give nasty reviews for no reason? I don’t mean the poor reviews planted by competitors to sabotage ratings but ones written by actual guests but who grossly exaggerate minor issue and who make up imaginary if not fictitious faults.

For some years we have been taking our main holidays in the Italian Lakes because we love the area and the hotels and restaurants are well above average. About five years back we stumbled across an exceptional family run hotel in Sirmione and since have been returning year on year.

The hotel makes no pretence at being a grand hotel, it is a small hotel in a fantastic romantic historic location that is run with panache and attention to detail by a family who have owned hotels in the town for a hundred years plus. Add that the hotel charges about average for area and as a result most guests keep coming back.

At the time of writing the hotel has attracted 206 reviews of which 171 were “Excellent”, 26 “Very Good” and and the remaining 9 “ just Average”. The two recent “Average” ratings are from the members of a couple who accompanied their ratings with reviews that were downright nasty and contained negative remarks that have no basis in reality.

I feel for my friend who manages the hotel and I am just glad that I am not in the hotel trade.


Spleen vented I will now put away my soap box.

[Edited on 11/8/12 by britishtrident]

Playing devils advocate here.... if the hotel is run by your friends of course you are going to get above average service...

Perhaps something went wrong for those people that left negative comments...... No one/hotel is perfect 100% of the time....

Read any reviews online for any product and there are always loads of silly negatives... most people dont bother leaving posative reviews unless it really was outstanding... so I wouldnt worry too much!

I agree with you Britishtrident. It seems nowadays you are obligated to give you opinion everywhere you go, to the point of being harassed by businesses you threw money at once. I assume some people are just so perfect they feel they can run down everyone and anyone, but others are just fussy who can't be pleased. Certainly most businesses try as hard as they can, and some don't succeed.

Also, people like "fancy". I was discussing this with my brother, with whom I share a property and is occasionally rented out, and I was emphasising this point - 5 star or bust for some, and everything else is crap. Getting them to pay 5 star prices is another matter...

If they want to be on Tripadvisor, they have to take the flake as well.

Some friends of mine have a 'posh' B&B in Northern France. They spent a fortune doing it up to look the part. An American was not too pleased when she had to wash in a 'plastic' bath, and put it on tripadvisor.

My mate's Mrs. immediately countered with 'Our Baths are NOT plastic, they are fibreglass.'

From the other side of Tripadvisor....
Late last year SWMBO treated me to a 40th birthday treat. Just a night away with the kids staying at her folks so it was the first time in 7 years we'd been without the kids. The hotel had rave reviews on the intetweb and Tripadvisor. The room was £150 for the night and was advertised as a tranquil, luxury spa hotel with full leisure facilities.
When we got there, there were three Christmas parties ongoing so we quickly got booked in. The room was tiny and tired. Not too clean but most annoyingly, it was off the ground floor corridor next to the toilets so all the party-goers were trampling past our door and clattering the toilet doors.
We asked if there was another room and the grumpy receptionist was most rude. There were no more rooms. We discovered the leisure facilities were a small scabby pool.
We went out for a walk in the hope by the time we got back, the parties had gone.
We returned to find the dining room was now also hosting another party.
These parties went on until 4am........
After leaving a neutralish comment on Tripadvisor, acknowledging it was Christmas, the management replied saying that they had no record of any complaints. But then they sent us a £10 voucher in compensation......
So.....it works bith ways. Sort of.

quote:

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Originally posted by designer
If they want to be on Tripadvisor, they have to take the flake as well.

Some friends of mine have a 'posh' B&B in Northern France. They spent a fortune doing it up to look the part. An American was not too pleased when she had to wash in a 'plastic' bath, and put it on tripadvisor.

My mate's Mrs. immediately countered with 'Our Baths are NOT plastic, they are fibreglass.'

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Some couples have resorted to threats to make negative reviews on trip advisor unless given a discount on their stay. No end to the cheating that passes for normal in the modern world.

We have just stayed at a caravan park in Kent, and it was qyuite a cheap deal, compared to other sites, normally we do our own thing with a tourer and awning, but with the two grandkids, Daughter and both of us, room would be very snug! so a static it was

The first van they put us in was disgusting, it smelt of dogs, and dog hair everywhere, and was generally not clean, so wifey complained,

The staff, were brilliant, and once we offered to pay for an upgrade, rehoused us, in a new van, at no cost to us

So, once home, wifey added her feedback, it included the fact that the site was cheap, and thats what you got, but the staff could not of been more helpfull in any other way, and we had a good holiday, and to this, was a fair comment
She did not include the first van was disgusting, but she could of,

feedback wether good or bad has to be of a constructive nature, "a plastic bath is not a constructive comment!" it is a personal choice of the twit who wrote it,

Some individuals would still have reason to complain no matter what, and normally you can easily spot these above the genuine ones

One such person, is my sister in law, who i know has complained about the most ridiculas things, and who once, staying at my house, asked why we had pink toilet rolls in the bathroom ?????

My curt answer, much to wifeys disgust, was "fine, i will take them out and you can use your hand to wipe your arse"

She didnt complain again,

Steve

We use tripadvisor too, and tend to take several poor ratings with a pinch of salt. As suggested some folk are just dicks anyway.



Your post reminded me of a small&friendly hotel we stayed in on Corfu. 15 rooms. Excellent reviews on the site.

The owner couldnt be more pleasant, if you spent all day drinking his drinks, or where third party customers to his restaurant. Return guests were treat with total respect , while us as newbies had to wait at the bar for drinks, and normally got the duffer table in the restaurant. The front sea view tables were kept for return guests or third party guests.

The final straw was when he accidentally watered my paperback and magazine, with the hosepipe. He made a remark about them probably being his, so being a bit fed up with my second class status , he got a new arsehole. Love the Greeks but he was the one with a chip on each shoulder and a major arrogance problem with women.


So then, I returned home and gave him both barrels on tripadvisor. Only to get some abuse from returning customers in their posts following mine. However that did seem to set off a wave of similar reviews in the months after, with exactly the same circumstances.



So my bad experience was real, clearly to others I was exagerating. I know I wasnt . All we did was keep ourselves to ourselves, didnt drink his drinks, or laugh at his jokes about women.



Tripadvisor is good, just take it with a pinch of salt.