Trip Planner Australia - Understanding Hotel Reviews

" Which to believe? Avoid at All Costs! Pick any city to review on any credible hotel review site and you may just find the following: "Fantastic Hotel" preceded days earlier in a review for the same hotel: "Cheap Hotel!

The task is made that much harder because the seeming whims and needs of the reviewers make understanding simple reviews all the more difficult. Yet many travelers find it a grind as they attempt to get to the bottom line, recognizing which reviews to accept and which to ignore is quickly becoming an art. Perhaps neither and perhaps both.

This is where a little research and common sense can usually increase the odds of your making a thoughtful decision about the Inn of your choice.

Checking several sites can give you a 'composite' picture of a given property. Not to mention give you helpful tips and advice, this will provide great information to you. You can review numerous travel review sites and focus on the properties you are targeting, when time allows. First you must learn to separate the wheat from the chaff.

What one should look for in a nutshell are these four important factors.

O At least 10 reviews offered

O The overall average score or rating.

O Recent reviews - none over three years old should be strongly considered.

O Similar rankings on two or three different review sites.

Seeing a top ranked property on TripAdvisor backed up by a solid 'average score' on Travelocity or Expedia gives you a great view of how different reviewers size up a given property, lastly. Particularly when they describe a run down property that may have been sold and remodeled is common sense, not considering reviews from five years earlier. Having at least 10 reviews to consider gives you much to work with.

Looks for these where possible and on different sites and I guarantee you won't be misled. Ten reviews indicating a 4.2 average tells you a lot! A property with three reviews where one is a '1' and one is a '3' and the last a '5' tells you nothing. THE most important of the above is that there are enough reviews present to give a reasonable average.