Tuesday 25 February 2014

All Change at Tripadvisor!

As a Hotel owner, you ignore Trip Advisor at your peril.

Many in our industry certainly do not enjoy the constant scrutiny to which it subjects us. A lot are sceptical, fearing that it can be manipulated by rivals and being the subject of someone with a grudge to bear can also be worrying.

However, not withstanding the odd outstanding court case, it seems to be here to stay, so I feel that we are better working with it than against it, as few travellers leave home without having read up on their destination, although I believe most people use it for validation rather than the source of where to choose their accommodation.

Most of us have our gripes about it. A friend of mine was unable to have a review removed which even actually stated that the author hadn't stayed in his hotel! Some of the posts cannot be genuine as they contain huge inaccuracies about the surroundings and one establishment of which I am aware had so many by one time reviewers, so that doesn't ring true either.

It is not just Trip Advisor but grading in general that is my personal hobby horse as B&Bs, guest houses, hotels etc. are all lumped together, so it is very confusing for the customer differentiating between star ratings in the various categories.

Until this weekend that is, when I looked to see that finally, it became little easier to to navigate the places to stay in Douglas.

And the reason for me blogging after all this time away? Well I have to admit that modesty has never been my strongest suit and I wouldn't want the light under my bushell to make it catch fire.

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotels-g190928-Douglas_Isle_of_Man-Hotels.html


Anyway, Irene & I are very grateful for all the positive feedback that enables us to currently occupy this position and hopefully we can justify your kind words by staying there for some time to come.