Hey Everyone,
Apologise for the delay, but I’m back!
This week I wanted to share with you the three things I look out for when checking out hotel reviews on TripAdvisor.
So you’ve picked your destination, and now it’s decision time on where to stay? Close to the beach, near the train station or someplace relatively secluded?
Here are my top 3 tips that I use to determine where is an excellent place to stay using TripAdvisor:
Hotel rating and review ratio – If the hotel doesn’t have at least three and a half (at the very least 3 stars) star’s on TripAdvisor. I’m going to take a closer look and read through a mixture of the reviews, good bad and the ugly. This is actually an essential factor because if the hotel is struggling to make it to three starts, there may be something terrible off with their service and facilities.
Type of complaints – People complain about various things for several reasons and let’s be honest; some people will just complain about anything just for the sake of it. I do sometimes check the negative reviews to see what the issue was. It if’s a case of rude staff or slow service. I’d then check to see how frequent and recent this complaint is. Complaints about staff, noise, service and food are all also significant depending on the kind of trip your planning to have.
Traveller photos – Hotels do a great job of providing their own professional pictures. However, what I look out for is the traveller photo’s because we all know things don’t always look the same as on their website. To me, traveller photos are more personal and real.
Here’s a tip- Hotels sometimes add sneaky extra charges to your room that aren’t always clear until you arrive. Try typing words like “hotel fee” or “resort fee” into the TripAdvisor search bar. This will help you identify if that specific hotel may have any unwarranted extra charges which you can then later explore further on their official website.
When travelling not only are there a variety of sites you can check for review but also what is considered important to me may not be to you. Therefore, ensure you have your priorities in order with regards to what you are looking to get of out of your hotel.
I.E if sleep and having an abundance of peace is important to you maybe it’s best not to pick a hotel located downtown where the majority of the reviews are complaints about noise at night.
I hope you found these tips useful.
Till next time x
lots of love Sasha