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beware trip advisor is on the march


euro
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i have an advert on holiday lettings and today opened an email saying my ad would be upgraded for free to a "premium ad " for the duration of the period paid for.

which includes a listing on TA

recently i was horrified whilst watching a TV show where b&b owners / hoteliers were being the most ridiculous reviews by visitors with a resulting damage to their business.

i contacted hol lettings to discuss who have confirmed if a guest writes a review which is untrue / misleading / malicious etc i would have no right to have it removed from the site( unless i could prove they tried to blackmail money from me !)

in the last couple of seasons i have noticed an increase in fussiness and tendancy to seek out some negative point relating to their stay / holiday and believe T/A will only make things much worse.

some examples :-

belgians who wanted to watch the tour de france live on tv - our freeview doesnt get ITV so not possible.They said there were no TV channels !

their Laptops / smartphones couldnt access Wifi for some reason - my caretaker brought his and it worked fine - they said we lied about Wifi

like many of you i could fill pages and pages of ridiculous complaints like this which would be the sort of content one would find in a review.

This is what concerns me , people who are just vindictive and not totally truthful writing whatever the hell they want with no checks and balances and no right of removal

YET WE ARE PAYING TO ADVERTISE !
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 You can reply to criticisms and some hotel/restaurant owners do. Sometimes to thank clients for good remarks and sometimes to refute criticisms.

 My local restaurant is fairly small and has strict conditions for party bookings (they need to know your menu choices ahead of time) there was a falling out with a party who failed to reply to many requests for the information and then posted very critically  on T/A when the restaurant cancelled the booking.... the restaurant owner replied explaining the situation which seemed pretty fair to me...

Let's face it, guests turn up trusting what you say about your accommodation and you could be just a tad biased [:)]

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[quote user="euro"]i have an advert on holiday lettings and today opened an email saying my ad would be upgraded for free to a "premium ad " for the duration of the period paid for.

which includes a listing on TA...[/quote]

Can you not refuse the advertising "upgrade"?

You're not alone in your mistrust of TA. I wouldn't want any link with them, through them or from them, either.

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hi all

yes i have opted out of a "free upgrade " so will not be on the T/A site.

this doesnt prevent guests from posting reviews on H/L

re the post saying our ads maybe a bit biased - isnt all advertising ? highlighting all the plus points / benefits and positive reasons to buy ? thats the way it is

what i have an issue with is the way T/A have set themselves up as some kind of reference site with content that is debatable and controversial.

ie a guest can describe your offer in virtually any terms other than using foul language / racism etc.

but owner replies can not contain any "personal comments about the guest"

so you can have a totally deranged and unreasonable guest writing a review which may contain lies /halftruths or complete rubbish and the owner right to reply is very limited.

another concern of mine is even one or two of these negative reviews could form a large % of total bookings eg i only want about 10 bookings per year so if 2 are on another planet then on the face of it i have 20 % rate of disatisfaction !

just think about when you buy on ebay - personally i feel happier dealing with someone with 95% or above.

i would be very interested to hear from other "Gite Owners" about this as its something which will affect us all in some way going forward , and right now affects those who advertise on Holiday Lettings.

thanks
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[quote user="euro"]hi all

yes i have opted out of a "free upgrade " so will not be on the T/A site.

this doesnt prevent guests from posting reviews on H/L

re the post saying our ads maybe a bit biased - isnt all advertising ? highlighting all the plus points / benefits and positive reasons to buy ? thats the way it is

what i have an issue with is the way T/A have set themselves up as some kind of reference site with content that is debatable and controversial.

ie a guest can describe your offer in virtually any terms other than using foul language / racism etc.

but owner replies can not contain any "personal comments about the guest"

so you can have a totally deranged and unreasonable guest writing a review which may contain lies /halftruths or complete rubbish and the owner right to reply is very limited.

another concern of mine is even one or two of these negative reviews could form a large % of total bookings eg i only want about 10 bookings per year so if 2 are on another planet then on the face of it i have 20 % rate of disatisfaction !

just think about when you buy on ebay - personally i feel happier dealing with someone with 95% or above.

i would be very interested to hear from other "Gite Owners" about this as its something which will affect us all in some way going forward , and right now affects those who advertise on Holiday Lettings.

thanks[/quote]

http://www.laymyhat.com/forum/

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I'm not a Gite owner but a consumer who uses Trip adviser all the time. Like all reviews you have to read between the lines, it doesn't take the brains of Einstein to decipher some reviews, and you make your decision on a gite/hotel/restaurant by common sense. I'm sure that it is galling that sometimes owners get a customer who is a complete and utter pratt, but if you run a good business and offer value for money you have nothing to worry about. I find it strange that Euro slates TA reviews and the admits that he reacts to %'s on Ebay. Come on Euro you wouldn't want us to think of you as a NIMBY would you?
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Nick i think you missed the point i was making.

a hotel having hundreds of bookings every week with a large volume of reviews can show a balanced view even with some vegative reviews and as you say people can read between the lines.

my volume and many gites / 2nd homes is small (maybe just enough bookings to cover annual costs of utilities / maintainence etc)

For me it pans out at around 10 bookings so 2 of these "reviews" = 20 % disatisfaction

I offerd the Ebay analogy to make the comparison.

re your nimby comment - if a guest raises an issue / has a complaint or requests something not provided as standard then i will always do my utmost to meet their needs swiftly so they can focus on enjoying their hols.

what i detest is the guest who does not contact me directly during their holiday , yet is quick to email a complaint listing issues once they get home offering no opportunity to resolve / overcome.

There are people who get satisfaction from peeing on someone elses parade and trip advisor is providing a platform / opportun ity for them to do just this.

So this is why i wont go along with it.

Thanks
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On the other hand the ten or so holiday makers have given you money up front trusting that all is as you describe - if it is not, Trip Advisor provides a platform for them to say so, or if it better than expected they may say that too. I think you would be very unlucky to get a fifth of your clients taking a delight in being critical......yes, it could happen, and either of us could be run over by a bus tomorrow...[;-)]

Like Nick I'm an active TA user

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I am a TA user (and have left one or two reviews).

Personally I would be very unlikely to book up somewhere unseen without me looking at TA.  I always seek out the bad reviews first but take them with a pinch of salt (just as good reviews).  I have never seen any establishment on TA without at least one "stinker", even hotels I have been to and thought wonderful.

If 2 or 3 reviews out of 10 say your rooms are dirty or your food it inedible, I will take note - you may actually have a problem.  If poor reviews are totally different (one about wi-fi and one about TV) then I would tend to ignore them as personal foibles unless I was particularly in need of something.  In that case I would email to confirm, say, that the wi-fi was active.

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[quote user="euro"]i am well aware of lay my hat and have posted there as well.[/quote]

"Euro, there has been much discussion about this subject on the laymyhat forum."

euro

When I left this post I was only trying to put you in touch with others who were discussing the same problem. I thought you would get more help on that forum which is geared towards people who are in the property rental business.

I see you posted there (LMH )yesterday[8-|]

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I'm another TA user, who finds it an extremely useful site. I disregard rave or terrible reviews from one post wonders, and yes, I know we all have to start somewhere! Also any reviews which go on about TV channels and other (to me) very minor matters. I care about the cleanliness and quality of the place, and if those are mostly agreed on by posters, that's a good start for me; if it's as good as in the ads, even better. If there is praise about something that is better than expected, that's a bonus. I think most people sift out such info in such a way.

I had misgivings recently about booking a room at a hotel which had very mixed reviews on TA, but did book in the end as 2 sets of relatives had already booked it, and we were to attend a family event nearby. I was ill, so couldn't travel to stay at the hotel; I was told that it was appalling, that rooms which had been promised were not available (niece and her quite big son ended up having to sleep in a double bed together, when they'd been promised by phone that they would have a family room with a double and a single bed), and that I was lucky I'd been ill! I should have stuck to my original TA decision about that hotel - and, of course, I was lucky to be ill! [:D]

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[quote user="NickP"]I'm not a Gite owner but a consumer who uses Trip adviser all the time. Like all reviews you have to read between the lines, it doesn't take the brains of Einstein to decipher some reviews, and you make your decision on a gite/hotel/restaurant by common sense. I'm sure that it is galling that sometimes owners get a customer who is a complete and utter pratt, but if you run a good business and offer value for money you have nothing to worry about. I find it strange that Euro slates TA reviews and the admits that he reacts to %'s on Ebay. Come on Euro you wouldn't want us to think of you as a NIMBY would you?[/quote]

I have to agree with NickP, could not have said it better ;-)
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I'm on Trip Advisor (voluntarily) because I think that reviews are the way the holiday rental business is going, like it or not. I use TA when I book elsewhere and if you listen to any discussions about it, then most users are clever enough to read between the lines and spot fake or malicious reviews. There are a lot of things I dislike about TA, but people like to read reviews of everything they are going to spend their money on these days and that includes hoildays.

If you get a bad review (or something petty) you have the right to reply and as long as you do so in an intelligent, measured and non personal way, I think that can counter a 'bad' review.

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[quote user="euro"] some examples :- belgians who wanted to watch the tour de france live on tv - our freeview doesnt get ITV so not possible.They said there were no TV channels ! [/quote] I have to admit to being confused about this - isn't your holiday let in France, don't you get French TV? The TdeF is live every afternoon on France2 and France3. You can hardly avoid it! FairyNuff
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Perhaps depends on location.

I used to receive analogue Terrestrial transmissions from the channel islands in a campervan on the central part of the west coast of the contentin peninsula.

Presume the same would apply to numeric terrestriel freeview.

Locations less favourably localised might be successful using the high gain aerials available at selected Dixons stores.

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