TripAdvisor new gold standard

As for so many things Internet, I have been following Tripadvisor for many,  many, years, well before it became what it is today in terms of seeking out lodging, restaurants and activities in any given location.  When I was planning my Hawaii trip, it was invaluable in terms of trying to get an idea of which side of the island(s) I wanted to be on -- I had no knowledge of Hawaii at all -- and trying to plan a trip in the dark, so to speak, would have been impossible I believe without not only TripAdvisor, but the Internet as a whole.

Years ago when we had booked a hotel in North Conway over New Year's for the kids' ski races, I happened to check Tripadvisor, and their comments were not favorable.  At that time, I just figured it was the rantings of a few unhappy visitors.  Well, they had it spot on!  The pool was dirty and the hot tub disgusting and there were puddles on the floor and kids running up and down hallways (okay, they were ours) but it gave me a new respect for this site.  That was well over a decade ago.

I am a researcher by nature, so while many people might quickly look something up, I take it to the next level and read every single review -- and even review the reviewers themselves to see if we have any common likes.  As a result, I am rarely unhappy with the advice I glean from Tripadvisor.  This last trip to the Florida Keys really brought it home to me how popular it has become in the world, at large!  There wasn't one hotel or restaurant that didn't have a sticker in their window, or a framed copy of their glowing TripAdvisor reviews (and yes, I did take into account that I found all of these places on that site!)  One restaurant even handed out a card asking me to review them on TripAdvisor, along with the name of our waitress.  What a great idea, I thought!  And what a truly amazing tool to have at our disposal -- peer-to-peer reviews with no concerns about money exchanging hands for a glowing review.

My gut thinks that this will change though.  I have a feeling that there is far too much power in this site for something not to evolve to that degree.  Several poor reviews can render an establishment up shit's creek.  I read a series of poor reviews and move on immediately.  In fact, the hotel we stayed in on Key West I had read several complaints about how their shuttle service was undependable.  Lo and behold, what did we have an issue with?  Yep, we were stranded on Duval Street as the bus filled up and they left us with no commentary on whether or not another bus would show up.  We got a cab and went into the desk and asked for a refund (the cab driver actually told us to do this, he said they usually did this).  They were like oh no, we sent another bus, two vans and a suburban, you would have had a ride if you had waited.  Huh?  And their response to my review was so defensive ... they can't get away with what they used to anymore, and they clearly aren't happy about it!  But I even wanted to say, you are going to get a shitty review from me on TripAdvisor!  A power hungry demon I was! 

I review and I received this email and thought it was fascinating:

In seven days my reviews received 5,396 readers!  This is a sea change, people.  Like I said, I have been using TripAdvisor for years, but have never seen this kind of popularity up until now.  So as I see it things could go either way -- either they start paying people to write positive reviews, or it stays the same.  I suspect that there is someone seeing this power and trying to figure out how to harness it to their advantage.  What is most interesting is how the establishments themselves are reading Tripadvisor daily.  As soon as I post a review, I receive a response from "the management" almost immediately.  I can envision new jobs sprouting up across the country -- read the Tripadvisor reviews and see how we can fix things! company owners shout.  If we get one more bad review we are SUNK!

There are certainly positives and negatives that go along with this whole phenomena.  I mean, there are wacky people out there, and accusations that establishments pay reviewers (which is why I review the reviewers!)  I have read how Tripadvisor has ruined people's lives by calling them a pedophile (really, one person called you that and your life is ruined?)  and even a website where you can go as an abused company owner and fight back!  I am not in disagreement that the power of this website is a little off the charts, but I think that there are enough people like me who can critically read the reviews and come up with their own opinions, and who also write the reviews, to make it an extremely worthwhile go-to travel tool.

Anyway, I am not here to promote TripAdvisor, I am just commenting on how much its influence in the travel industry has grown so much as of late.  It is, without a doubt, my go-to site for making informed decisions on where I want to stay at any given place.  And I can also see that it is something for company owners to fear.