Reviews can be very bias... I've had great experience in places with quite a lot of nasty reviews...and been utterly disappointed in places praised all over the internet... It has a lot to do with the reviewer, you know, some pretentious cow could put a place down in a second about something insignificant...like the colour of the walls...for example...
There's a local branch of an international car hire company...they have a truly awful reputation of ripping off clients. Their Facebook page has a litany of crushing, ruinous reviews by irate tourists. But people still keep hiring from them...wtf? Don't people do even the basic research to check out the reputation of the establishment or the company? This is the true power of social media.
pKrema: Reviews can be very bias... I've had great experience in places with quite a lot of nasty reviews...and been utterly disappointed in places praised all over the internet... It has a lot to do with the reviewer, you know, some pretentious cow could put a place down in a second about something insignificant...like the colour of the walls...for example...
Oh absolutely!!...that's the whole point (of the image link posted). But at least with enough reviews and a pinch of salt, and reading between the lines, we can make an informed judgement.
MisterForYou: There's a local branch of an international car hire company...they have a truly awful reputation of ripping off clients. Their Facebook page has a litany of crushing, ruinous reviews by irate tourists. But people still keep hiring from them...wtf? Don't people do even the basic research to check out the reputation of the establishment or the company? This is the true power of social media.
Normally I do at least some research before I settle on anything. So if there's a lot of more negative than positive reviews, it's pretty easy decision to move on to the next place. But when the balance swings the other way, then I tend to look at whether management responded to the complaints. Then I look at what management said in their responses. Did they just give the same canned response to all, or did they respond to each individual problem within the complaints. So if they did the latter, then I feel they take complaints more seriously and probably fixed those problems and I would be more likely to book with them.
One of the few times I didn't research before buying, is when I recently rented a U haul truck to move some items from Florida to South Carolina. It started with the rental agent where they charged me more then what I was quoted. he made an effort to fix the problem, but then got mad and told me I had to take at the incorrect price or go somewhere else (which was not an option.) I talked to several people at customer service including several managers and all said, no problem they will fix it personally, but none of them did. It wasn't until I hunted down a hard to find customer service phone # that I was able to get a manager there who did straighten it out and I finally got the over charges refunded. While I was trying to get my money back I looked at their reviews, it wasn't surprising there were lots of complaints about them for all sorts of problems. But then again their competitors didn't look any better.
PeKaatjeAnkeveen, North Holland Netherlands6,334 posts
Hotel always, restaurant never, but I sometimes posted things on sites with restaurant reviews, when the place should be ashamed to call it self a restaurant.
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