Warning over bogus holiday reviews

[isawlashings]

You can't remove an opinion, just because you don't agree with it. That's censorship! I have placed reviews on hotels that other people have disagreed with, that's their right. All I do is try to balance out the pro's and con's of any review, sometimes I agree with what people have written, and sometimes I don't. What we try is to take any opinion with a certain degree of scepticism, as different people have different views as to what makes their holiday.
I have given reviews of certain hotels at a variance to other reviews, but this is my opinion, not gospel truth. I said one was not as good as expected, other correspondents described it as fantastic! Who's right and who's wrong? Also, one hotel I reckoned was superb, but another writer thought it was the pits and couldn't find anything good to say whatsoever.
You pays your money, nad makes your choice.

[Ianmac]

Interesting thread. But I happen to know of a client of ours who has recently come back from a 3 weeks stay in the States which he thououghly enjoyed - although he did say a couple of nights on the Queen Mary in Long Beach was long enough. He called me to say thank you etc and to say he was posting a comment to the effect on your website. He spoke to me again today to say that for some reason it had not appeared. Strange..........

[HW Bex]

Hi Ianmac,

If the review has been submitted it may be in a queue. It tends to get a bit busy this time of year.

I'm sure the peeps behind the scenes are doing their very best to get the reviews added.

Please bear with us.

Thanks - HW Bex.

[tsuser]

There is always a chance that an organisation will try to plant positive reviews in order to promote their own business and negative reviews of the opposition to undermine them. I don't think there is any way to stop that completely.
Use the reviews as a guide, not as gospel, and you probably won't go far wrong. I have seen reviews of hotels etc where the vast majority of people have submitted good reviews and then one individual will post a lousy one. That doesn't mean that any of the reviews were inaccurate as each one is simply a snapshot of individual experience. Maybe the expectations of some are higher or lower than others or other factors influenced the experience.

[katty]

Just wish I had looked on one of these websites before going to Crete in August. Took what was said in the First Choice brochure and website as the truth. Came back very disappointed with the accomodation and resort and that is possibly the reason that my husband and me were conned into the club greece scam. How can supposedly reputable companies offer bad accomodation to families and not warn them about timeshare scams when the accomodation offered by the timeshare people is so much better. Next time I go on holiday abroad I will definately check this website out before I book. I have been on a lot of hols with First choice but will definately take everything they say or write about a resort with a pinch of salt from now on. I think that these watchdog sites are great.

[Mal 54]

Cyprus is our main summer holiday, we return year after year to the same hotel. I have posted a few reviews on the same hotel, this year leaving one review just as an update, even though we visited twice this year. After reading some of the reviews especially the last couple I was suprised to read the hotel was dirty and the staff unfriendly. Ok I may be biased because we love the Hotel, family etc. I agree that everyones expectations are different. Mentioning problems to the owner usually helps, as we have found in the past. I for one did notice the cleanliness of this hotel wasnt up to scratch as in past years. The owner explained to me that one of her cleaners over night had left, leaving them one down in the height of the season. Also who makes these hotels/apts etc dirty...cigarette burns in carpets, dirty walls, stains on carpets...the guests!

Mal:)