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20 Feb 14
15:32
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02 Jul 08
Often wondered if people use this to sabotage competitors. It's certainly a handy tool for the spiteful.
Went to a local pub last night where they serve excellent food and the service is faultless. They do however have few tables and stop orders at 21.00.
At about 20.45 a French woman walked in and asked for a table. It was explained that there were none available and that they were stopping service soon anyway.
The dreadful French woman accompanied by two visibly embarrassed friends then started ranting and raving and saying how carp English pubs were (deserved shooting in the face just for that imo).
Getting no joy she then said she was going to give them a sh1te review on Tripadvisor.
The landlord told her he didn't give a rats bottom what she wrote and told her to do one.
How seriously do people take Tripadvisor etc., and are they able to control those out to cause mischief and harm a decent business?
Went to a local pub last night where they serve excellent food and the service is faultless. They do however have few tables and stop orders at 21.00.
At about 20.45 a French woman walked in and asked for a table. It was explained that there were none available and that they were stopping service soon anyway.
The dreadful French woman accompanied by two visibly embarrassed friends then started ranting and raving and saying how carp English pubs were (deserved shooting in the face just for that imo).
Getting no joy she then said she was going to give them a sh1te review on Tripadvisor.
The landlord told her he didn't give a rats bottom what she wrote and told her to do one.
How seriously do people take Tripadvisor etc., and are they able to control those out to cause mischief and harm a decent business?
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Replies: 28
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heard an interview a few weeks ago about this and it seems that there are people out there that give bad feedback to try and sabotage someone's business. I have used it myself and so far all the reviews I have come across have been quite accurate.
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I've never written a review but use it as a guide for booking hotels abroad. Normally get one in the top quarter of reviews but worth reading the reviews rather than focusing too much on the stars.
For example some might get marked down in London for having small rooms but if you are not paying too much and only there for the night then you can't really complain about that. Depends on your personal criteria. |
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Whatever the review, if there is a measured management response to it then for me it can negate a bad review from an awkward customer.
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My bro owns an extremely successful pub, I was there yesterday afternoon and it was heaving with people having lunch. For a wet and windy Tuesday afternoon that's extremely good going. The staff from the only decent competition nearby come in fairly often and after a few complimentary beers they all admitted they were told by their management to do a hatchet job on TripAdvisor on his place.
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*Wednesday* that should have read..
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TripAdvisor is loaded with whingers, oddballs and Americans, who may have very different tastes from you or me.
From experience I have learnt to read a fair few reviews before making a judgement. |
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This guy had the right idea;
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2380758/TripAdvisor-prankster-fools-foodies-Disgruntled-user-posts-spoof-reviews-anger-site-policed-properly.html |
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thanks for posting that MT,
SlippyBlue - The staff from the only decent competition nearby come in fairly often and after a few complimentary beers they all admitted they were told by their management to do a hatchet job on TripAdvisor on his place. bloody hell  cheers for the feedback fellahs |
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Don't 'they' say ignore the best and worse.. the middle majority probably give a fair impression.
(I use them for Spanish resort hotels - and find them every reliable) |
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That's right Ivor. Ignore the 1 and 5 star reviews.
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He didn't mind HH in fact he laughed it off, at least they told him and they were embarrassed by what they were told to do. People vote with their feet and yesterday the place was mobbed, the other gaff wasn't. Having said that it was extremely distasteful that they were under threat to sabotage him at the risk of losing a shift every now and then if they didn't comply.
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Slippy. I remember you saying your bro owns a pub in surrey? Where abouts? No hidden agenda I promise! Just curious...
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Slippy yeah those who live by the sword die by the sword I suppose.
I say b0llocks to Tripadviser. I had to find a last minute hotel in Brighton some time back, and happened upon one which had loads of bad reviews. It was superb! Just loads of people whingeing after paying £100 for a double room and expecting the fecking Dorchester. |
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Just look at how the hotel you are interested in is ranked against the others.
They usually give the figure. Like 34/40 or 10/46. And of course take into account how much they charge as well. |
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As said before just ignore the extreme reports.
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http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g186389-d3768918-Reviews-King_William_IV-Dorking_Surrey_England.html
Anyone near that neck of the woods then do go and you won't be disappointed. I'm not hawking for his business, it's a good place to go and I'm not just saying that. Just passing on a good tip  |
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Always worked well for me booking hotels abroad. Just read the specifics and you can get a really good idea of the place. The amount of times I thought "oh, that hotel looks good, i'll stay there" then read the reviews on trip advisor to find it's a noisy hell hole.
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Don't forget to use the street view on the map and have good look around the place as well.
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Often have a look at places I go to out of curiosity at what people say and stumbled across a review and realised I was there when these people were there.
They were very critical of how they were treated and were right imo although its still my favourite restaurant. |
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Dr.Crippen is wise (as always) - Street Views can reveal a lot about the area - such as busy roads, pubsclubs, poor views/access etc.
Downside can be you're already familiar with the area even before you get there! |
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And the upside is if you arrive in Venice in the middle of a storm at night you can still find your way to the hotel.
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Are you sure there was a storm? The streets are always flooded like that.
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Certainly a storm. No ice cream sellers with large poles floating around on the water.
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Looked at spnish hotel and English complaining on trip advisor there were no chips for breakfast.
Others complaining there were Russians in the hotel Reviews useful but have to read between the lines |
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Slippy's brother's pub is up a very steep hill and is so high up it is difficult to breathe. Further problems, when you eventually scramble up the mountain, like hundreds of roses (flowers everywhere making you sneeze). Instead of getting your food straight away they get in a debate about how it is made and what else they are going to develop to improve. I even stumbled going into the bar for my 8th pint of real ale (watch out for that too). As for the view - you can hardly see anything across the wide valley on the other side - nothing for miles and miles.
By the time you have had your fill (I stayed 7 or 8 hours) You are in danger of rolling down the hill all the way to Dorking!!! Just some of the many obstacles placed in front of you. Give me a modern, chain food pub serving fizzy lager anytime. |
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Small businesses can be destroyed by negative reviews on Tripadvisor, hotels and restaurants especially can take a hammering on there. Fake reviews are big business and there's a whole industry sprung up now with negative PR/marketing services. If you think Tripadvisor is bad, you should look at Yelp - they deliberately filter out positive reviews unless you sign up for their business service (costs a fortune).
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moisok 21 Feb 14 17.30
I even stumbled going into the bar for my 8th pint of real ale (watch out for that too). As for the view - you can hardly see anything across the wide valley on the other side - nothing for miles and miles. To be honest Mo I thought you were fine but just assumed you trod on a snail or summat and skidded a wee bit |
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J. If we have a summer this year I will be there again!!!
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