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PostPosted: Fri Aug 11, 2017 9:18 am 
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Is Tripadvisor a good thing or a bad thing?

We were out recently with friends and had booked a table in a restaurant for 8:30
We arrived at 8:25 and there was 1 couple in front of us at the ‘please wait to be seated sign’ When the waiter came over, the couple said “we booked for 8:30, we better be seated on time and it better be excellent service or we will write to tripadvisor”
This sounded to me like they were trying to use tripadvisor as a big stick to threaten the restaurant :bat …what do you think?

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PostPosted: Fri Aug 11, 2017 9:42 am 
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Wrong attitude to enjoy a meal!!

But theres plusses and minuses to any service like tripadvisor. We have used some of the travel and accommodation reviews regularly but its also important to read the excessively good and bad reviews as many have an agenda.....

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PostPosted: Fri Aug 11, 2017 9:43 am 
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Yes Dave,we had this similar experience ourselves.But the guy who said to the member of staff "there,s always tripadvisor" said it in a clear joking way..Alas.the member of staff certainly did not see the funny side. :oops:


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PostPosted: Fri Aug 11, 2017 9:51 am 
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What horrible people to threaten the resteraunt like this.

Trip Advisor can be a good thing
But there is always one or two odd people out there, that no matter what or how good their meals, holidays etc etc they will always find fault...those people sound that way.

Luckily the vast majority of people on Trip Advisor are 'normal' people who want to give an honest review

And the bad ones stand out a mile

If the restaurant is a bad one...the vast majority of reviews will show this and why

Where as, if a resteraunt is a good one...the vast amount of reviews are excellent, with one or two negatives.


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PostPosted: Fri Aug 11, 2017 10:26 am 
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20 astonishing holiday complaints
These complaints are all taken from a survey from Thomas Cook and ABTA, revealing 20 of the most ridiculous complaints holidaymakers made to their travel agent.

"I think it should be explained in the brochure that the local store does not sell proper biscuits like custard creams or ginger nuts."

"We booked an excursion to a water park but no-one told us we had to bring our swimming costumes and towels."

"The beach was too sandy.
"On my holiday to Goa in India, I was disgusted to find that almost every restaurant served curry. I don't like spicy food at all."

A tourist at a top African Game Lodge overlooking a water hole, who spotted a visibly aroused elephant, complained that the sight of this rampant beast ruined his honeymoon by making him feel "inadequate".

"It's lazy of the local shopkeepers to close in the afternoons. I often needed to buy things during 'siesta' time - this should be banned."

A woman threatened to call police after claiming that she'd been locked in by staff. When in fact, she had mistaken the "do not disturb" sign on the back of the door as a warning to remain in the room.

"We found the sand was not like the sand in the brochure. Your brochure shows the sand as yellow but it was white."
A guest at a Novotel in Australia complained his soup was too thick and strong. He was inadvertently slurping the gravy at the time.

"We bought 'Ray-Ban' sunglasses for five Euros from a street trader, only to find out they were fake."

Topless sunbathing on the beach should be banned. The holiday was ruined, as my husband spent all day looking at other women.
"
"No-one told us there would be fish in the sea. The children were startled."

"It took us nine hours to fly home from Jamaica to England. It only took the Americans three hours to get home."

"I compared the size of our one-bedroom apartment to our friends' three-bedroom apartment and ours was significantly smaller."

"I was bitten by a mosquito. No one said they could bite."

"The brochure stated: 'No hairdressers at the accommodation’. We’re trainee hairdressers - will we be OK staying there?"

"There are too many Spanish people. The receptionist speaks Spanish. The food is Spanish. Too many foreigners now live abroad."

"My fiancé and I booked a twin-bedded room but we were placed in a double-bedded room. We now hold you responsible for the fact that I find myself pregnant. This would not have happened if you had put us in the room that we booked."

"We had to queue outside with no air conditioning."

"It is your duty as a tour operator to advise us of noisy or unruly guests before we travel."

They walk amongst us :lol:

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PostPosted: Fri Aug 11, 2017 11:11 am 
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What you witnessed was bullying - pure and simple. We are experiencing the effects of a generation with an inflated sense of entitlement, without responsibility.

Social media is a disease. The smart phone is the spawn of the Devil. People are losing the ability to communicate and to think for themselves. They have their heads stuffed in the mobile phones. They will happily send pointless messages to someone they don't know on nthe other side of the world. Selfies? What's that all about? No-one else cares. But say hello or good morning to them in the street and they will ignore you as if you were not there, if indeed you don't get an abusive response.

Take a walk where people gather in Cyprus and just see how many people will avoid looking at you in case they have to acknowledge your presence. Say Good Morning or Kalimera and watch them fluster. It is very sad.

Even this forum, which started out with the best of intentions has not been without its problems and so I now rarely contribute.

As for Trip Advisor, increasingly it seems that it is used as a weapon. People don't complain, as they are too timid or incapable of conducting a one on one conversation, so they scuttle off and write damning comments.

As an aside, I run a technical web site which has nothing whatsoever to do with Cyprus, and I don't provide free private services, so I don't publicise it here. Those who need what I provide can easily find it. I regularly receive messages demanding information relating to my field of expertise. Some become quite abusive when I point out my terms of business. I have even had people set up one-off e-mail addresses just so they can send abuse to me anonymously via my web site contact page. You have to wonder at the sanity of some people. Unfortunately you don't have to be adult or sane in order to use the internet. No-one checks. The opinions of people who are mentally disturbed command just as much credence as everyone else.

Which brings is back to the subject matter. People are willing to use sites like Trip Advisor to try and damage successful businesses, to bully businesses into preferential treatment ... or worse. Some business owners respond. If they do so intelligently and with humour the complainer is seen as spiteful and rightly ridiculed. What they should do is sue for libel, but this is costly and the outcome never certain, so most just accept it.


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PostPosted: Fri Aug 11, 2017 11:47 am 
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I use TripAdvisor regularly.

I really can't remember the last time I left a bad review. It's some time ago. Now if I feel a place is not good I will usually not leave a review at all.

When researching somewhere that I haven't been before I always read the good and the bad reviews.
It's quite eye-opening to note that when reviewing places over the pond in USA and Caribbean, it's usually the British who give good reviews and the Americans who give bad. Their (Americans) expectations are set very high. They will even write things such as the ice melted too quickly in my rum and coke, lol.
When there are good reports from Americans you can bet that the place is top notch.

I agree that there are local rivals who leave really bad reviews. A friend of mine had a guest house in the lake District. She had glowing reports except for 1. She investigated with the help of TripAdvisor, and found out the email address was in Bowness and could possibly be one of her rivals. I should point out TripAdvisor did not give out the email address but only the location. It was also quite revealing that the bad reviewer had only ever submitted one review.

These little telltale signs can tell you which reviews are genuine.

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PostPosted: Fri Aug 11, 2017 12:28 pm 
Ive read reviews on Tripadviser, and based on those have gone to the restaurant, only to be very let down, Im sure the owners get their mates to big it up, and slag rival restaurants off...dont view tripadviser any more.


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PostPosted: Fri Aug 11, 2017 1:10 pm 
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I read and post on TA. I find it very useful and read a broad range of posts when looking at hotels etc. You can usually spot the ones trying to be spiteful or just make trouble. Like anything, if used in the right way it's a great tool. I don't think I've ever left a bad review, I try to be as fair as possible but honest with it.

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PostPosted: Fri Aug 11, 2017 4:34 pm 
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I'm not a huge fan of TA - their so-called awards are given out far too freely and aren't necessarily a 'badge of honour' in my mind due to the sheer number - anyone can get their friends and family to write reviews under false names!

Why don't we start a list of places that don't have one?!!

;)


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PostPosted: Fri Aug 11, 2017 4:43 pm 
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I regularly use TA to review accomodation, holidays, restaurants etc when I am looking to book something.
It is a double edged sword at times, some giving fantastic reviews and others damning ones.I tend to take the average and make my own mind up.
I do give reviews and mostly positives but will be honest if somewhere has not been a good experience.
It has put me off booking holidays, hotels and restaurants if there are too many negative reviews.


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PostPosted: Fri Aug 11, 2017 4:53 pm 
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I dont give much cred to trip advisor , we have had fake reviews left
by our opposition , people who have not even been in the building , when you contact
trip advisor to complain , all they say is , it is within out guidelines and we wont remove it..
so I dont bother with them ..

I always remember the glasgow hostel for the homeless that got
great hoax ratings on trip advisor ..
read here
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2314546/Jokers-Glasgow-hostel-homeless-5-star-reviews-TripAdvisor-sending-countrys-100.html

it is also owned by google , which means it is manipulated

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PostPosted: Sat Aug 12, 2017 9:36 am 
Exactly...there is a restaurant in the East, where it gets glowing reviews...when we visited it, it was filthy, you could actually feel your feet sticking to the dirty carpets, food was terrible, and the cherry on the cake , we spotted a very hairy dog, wandering around the kitchen...


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PostPosted: Sat Aug 12, 2017 9:47 am 
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migmogs wrote:
What horrible people to threaten the resteraunt like this.

Trip Advisor can be a good thing
But there is always one or two odd people out there, that no matter what or how good their meals, holidays etc etc they will always find fault...those people sound that way.

Luckily the vast majority of people on Trip Advisor are 'normal' people who want to give an honest review

And the bad ones stand out a mile

If the restaurant is a bad one...the vast majority of reviews will show this and why

Where as, if a resteraunt is a good one...the vast amount of reviews are excellent, with one or two negatives.




:agree A very fair and balanced view there migmogs. TripAdvisor can't be blamed if some idiot is using their organisation to try and get something out of it. As migmogs has rightly said, most people giving reviews are "normal" people.


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PostPosted: Sat Aug 12, 2017 7:24 pm 
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Trip advisor started off as an excellent idea but has been perverted into some thing bad. If you have a bussiness there is a company you can goto and pay to get good writeups , there are restaurants in the paphos area which have used this service.
Well said, they do,,,,,,,walk among us !
So I would say ,no
I am glad to see it is not me being biased, but the probable true of the situation is showing through


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PostPosted: Sat Aug 12, 2017 7:38 pm 
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I always read between the lines on TripAdvisor.... if lots of complaints, I check the dates because if something goes wrong people all tend to complain. But you also have to look out for large groups travelling together because if one party complains, so does everyone else and that makes a place look really bad when in effect, it isn't as bad as it's being painted.

However, the resort forums on TripAdvisor are very helpful indeed and I always take a look at the Q&As on each of the hotel pages. You can learn a lot from there.

We're going half board to Benidorm with my Mum next spring and have found out the hotel we're staying at, we can switch our evening meal to a lunchtime meal if we want, that there are no kettles in the rooms but can buy one at the indoor market nearby for €5, which rooms have the best balconies and that I need to take my own hairdryer because the one supplied by the hotel is the kind I don't like ;-)

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PostPosted: Sun Aug 13, 2017 10:01 am 
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However, the resort forums on TripAdvisor are very helpful indeed and I always take a look at the Q&As on each of the hotel pages. You can learn a lot from there.


You've done your research & you are actually still intending to go to Benidorm FF?

It seems Trip Advisor must be VERY influencial. :crylaughin

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PostPosted: Sun Aug 13, 2017 2:57 pm 
Topgun wrote:
Quote:
However, the resort forums on TripAdvisor are very helpful indeed and I always take a look at the Q&As on each of the hotel pages. You can learn a lot from there.


You've done your research & you are actually still intending to go to Benidorm FF?

It seems Trip Advisor must be VERY influencial. :crylaughin


Took the words out of my mouth :crylaughin ....went there in the 70s Christmas day lunch was Tin Turkey with cold chips happy days...and I kid you not we stayed at the Los Pelicanos, the very same Hotel, they now film the Benidorm series from.


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PostPosted: Sun Aug 13, 2017 5:11 pm 
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COYS wrote:
the very same Hotel, they now film the Benidorm series from.
A series? I thought it was a documentary.


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PostPosted: Sun Aug 13, 2017 6:17 pm 
KG wrote:
COYS wrote:
the very same Hotel, they now film the Benidorm series from.
A series? I thought it was a documentary.

:crylaughin


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PostPosted: Sun Aug 13, 2017 6:30 pm 
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Well, let's just say we're possibly a bit more inclined to be experimental and less judgmental than other people.

The last time we were in Benidorm was the late 90s. The entertainment to be had is fantastic and just like Paphos, the place to avoid is where the younger end of the boozy brigade hang out.

Don't forget, my Mum is 76yrs of age - but she's certainly not in her dotage yet!

Benidorm tv series is filmed in several areas - not just one hotel.

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PostPosted: Sun Aug 13, 2017 7:39 pm 
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Fylde Filly wrote:
The entertainment to be had is fantastic and just like Paphos, the place to avoid is where the younger end of the boozy brigade hang out.

Sorry to be the one to say this, but Benidorm is like Ayia Napa on a really bad night!

It is one of the places where they are clamping down on drunken Brits and also where that poor woman fell to her death from the hotel room.

Obviously it is your choice, but it is probably fair to say it is not at the top of the list of best locations.


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PostPosted: Sun Aug 13, 2017 7:55 pm 
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There will soon be more comments on here than on Trip Advisor.
Don't think I will rely on either !
:smilielol


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PostPosted: Sun Aug 13, 2017 8:09 pm 
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Good point. As to Tripadvisor, personally I never use it as it is abused so frequently.


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PostPosted: Sun Aug 13, 2017 9:12 pm 
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Effsie wrote:
Sorry to be the one to say this, but Benidorm is like Ayia Napa on a really bad night!

It is one of the places where they are clamping down on drunken Brits and also where that poor woman fell to her death from the hotel room.

Obviously it is your choice, but it is probably fair to say it is not at the top of the list of best locations.


That girl did fall or jump from a balcony of an apartment block and the case is still being investigated.... drink (in her case) was certainly involved and drugs in the case of the 4 guys who were staying in the apartment, again still under investigation. But, do you go to Ayia Napa to join in the drink and drugs scene? I certainly never have and have had a number of holidays there both prior and following moving to Cyprus in 2004.

When did any of you last visit Benidorm?

We would have gone back at the drop of a hat had it been made easier to reach Alicante airport from Cyprus.

Again, tabloid stories abound.....

Travel broadens the horizons - it's what we taught my stepson from a very early age and why he is currently living overseas and serving in the Australian Navy.

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PostPosted: Sun Aug 13, 2017 10:00 pm 
Fylde Filly wrote:
Well, let's just say we're possibly a bit more inclined to be experimental and less judgmental than other people.

The last time we were in Benidorm was the late 90s. The entertainment to be had is fantastic and just like Paphos, the place to avoid is where the younger end of the boozy brigade hang out.

Don't forget, my Mum is 76yrs of age - but she's certainly not in her dotage yet!

Benidorm tv series is filmed in several areas - not just one hotel.

The pool area is that of the Hotel I stayed at the Los Pelecanos.


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PostPosted: Sun Aug 13, 2017 10:04 pm 
Fylde Filly wrote:
Effsie wrote:
Sorry to be the one to say this, but Benidorm is like Ayia Napa on a really bad night!

It is one of the places where they are clamping down on drunken Brits and also where that poor woman fell to her death from the hotel room.

Obviously it is your choice, but it is probably fair to say it is not at the top of the list of best locations.


That girl did fall or jump from a balcony of an apartment block and the case is still being investigated.... drink (in her case) was certainly involved and drugs in the case of the 4 guys who were staying in the apartment, again still under investigation. But, do you go to Ayia Napa to join in the drink and drugs scene? I certainly never have and have had a number of holidays there both prior and following moving to Cyprus in 2004.

When did any of you last visit Benidorm?

We would have gone back at the drop of a hat had it been made easier to reach Alicante airport from Cyprus.

Again, tabloid stories abound.....

Travel broadens the horizons - it's what we taught my stepson from a very early age and why he is currently living overseas and serving in the Australian Navy.



I think I would prefer 2 weeks in Downtown Baghdad then Benidorm....good luck :celeb2 :crylaughin


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 14, 2017 12:07 pm 
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Effsie wrote:
Good point. As to Tripadvisor, personally I never use it as it is abused so frequently.



How often is "frequently"? You say you never use it so how would you know?

Use it all the time and found that if you read the good and the bad, it actually gives a fair representation of the hotel or restaurant.
I would say that 99% of posters give an honest appraisal of the places.

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PostPosted: Mon Aug 14, 2017 1:21 pm 
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its getting a bit off topic , but ok for a minute ..

regards Benidorm , I say each to there own , some people love it, others hate it ..
me personally , its not my cuppa tea at all .. this picture just sums it up for me ,, who would ever want to go there ..
Attachment:
2AC1790600000578-0-image-a-55_1437579380786.jpg


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