In order to filter out potentially paid reviews, I usually find myself reading the low-star reviews to objectively compare hotels. I try to prioritize the ones with images too.
Any personal tips on how you guys use reviews to find the best (i.e., least bad) hotels?
I generally go to the 1, 2, 3 star reviews looking for red flags, and ignore the ‘I am a ***** platinum member and no one kissed my ass’ and the ‘the person at the front desk was mean to me’ reviews. I write reviews a lot and always try to provide useful information to my fellow travelers such as: pillows and mattresses (I always travel with my own pillow), general state of repair and cleanliness, general area, specific positives, and that is what I look for in reviews.
@Noahg
This is great. Do you just refer to the reviews on booking sites?
Unless you have a very particular set of requirements it’s not worth getting too in-depth on reviews. Anything that’s like, a Hilton or Marriott flagship or above is gonna be pretty good. If you’re paying $175+ USD you can expect a good hotel going in blind.
Likewise, if you’re under $100 you can expect just-okay at best. It’s the rates in between where quality can swing wildly.
I trust Expedia reviews the most and you can rely pretty heavily on the number score. 8.0 or above is going to be somewhat impressive. 7.0-7.9 is going to be very solid.
It’s below that that you want to be a little wary, but there’s plenty of hotels from 6.0-6.9 that are fine.
Most recent reviews carry the most weight. Look for things that are objectively bad and not likely to have changed: renovations, traffic noise, a place that’s popular with young children or traveling sports teams. Those are the places to avoid.
With practice, you can learn which complaints can be dismissed entirely.
@Paxton
I’ve been using Booking.com a lot but should definitely look into Expedia. Thanks for this!
@Paxton
I usually just use search in reviews and check something about noise.
I have a similar approach. I always sort by most recent to the top. I then read through them until I’ve come across at least a few negative reviews. I think that gives you the most information about the current state of the property.
@Voss
Yeah, this is what I do most often too. Do you ever specifically search for the worst reviews or just read the recent ones?
I like to cross-compare reviews at different sites. For example, checking the reviews on Google, TripAdvisor, and Agoda. Sometimes the reviews can vary drastically between the sites.
The 5-star reviews are often fake. The 1-star reviews are usually from crazy people. Go for the 2-4 star reviews. Those usually tell you what wasn’t perfect but what saved the day.
Lane said:
The 5-star reviews are often fake. The 1-star reviews are usually from crazy people. Go for the 2-4 star reviews. Those usually tell you what wasn’t perfect but what saved the day.
The 1-stars are often one bad issue, so the person just slams the hotel. My last hotel was a nightmare which I hated, but it got two stars just so people checking didn’t miss it.
I normally include how many reviews I have, so people can check that my reviews are balanced, etc.
Lane said:
The 5-star reviews are often fake. The 1-star reviews are usually from crazy people. Go for the 2-4 star reviews. Those usually tell you what wasn’t perfect but what saved the day.
I have been burned on places with really good reviews, mostly restaurants, but what I have noticed is when someplace gets a bad review, there is a bomb of really good reviews usually by people who don’t post much.
I always sort by most recent. I want to know about the hotel in the last 90-120 days. 2 years ago is irrelevant to me.
If it’s all 5-star in the last 90 days, I assume they are fake and look elsewhere.
@Eli
It’s weird that isn’t the default setting. What does ‘most relevant’ even mean?
Personally, I read them.
I use the search function to search reviews for red flags, e.g., ‘issue,’ ‘noise,’ ‘smell,’ ‘odor,’ etc.
Tan said:
I use the search function to search reviews for red flags, e.g., ‘issue,’ ‘noise,’ ‘smell,’ ‘odor,’ etc.
This is a good tip! Which platform do you use to search for reviews? Or is it just a Ctrl+F search?
@Ivy
I do these searches on Airbnb.
It’s not worth obsessing over, but look at most recent and a few negative ones, and a few pictures. Personally, I’d say fake reviews aren’t really that frequent, and are fairly obvious.
I’m more suspicious there are some fake negative ones. Read a lot of ‘the owner disrespected me,’ which I interpret as, didn’t pay up for a good review.
I make sure to read the negative ones. They’re the most informative.