What did we do before Trip Advisor?

"Where people used to set out on their travels with an open mind and a single guidebook, ready to be surprised, many of us now set off with hundreds of opinions churning through our heads." Kira Cochrane

- The Guardian

It seems that even grand hotels like the Sheraton Mirage, need Trip Advisor these days. On the desk in our room was one of those small little cards asking you to please leave a review. And when we have been overseas staying in our beautiful French and Italian houses, and small hotels, or dining in some little restaurant in some forgotten village, we have often been asked to leave a review on Trip Advisor. And we always have if we have been delighted. Because it helps them. Indeed it seems to be increasingly vital for them.

According to one article that I read, aimed at hotels by a marketing organisation, the site has 340 million unique visitors every month! And yes I confess I have been one of those people, although not actually in this instance. The Mirage has a luxury reputation and I knew it had been recently renovated, so sort of assumed it would be OK. It's a five star hotel for heaven's sake and surely that requires certain standards. They get inspected don't they to get the classification? There are a few tiny things it could do better but overall it is really good. The grounds are exceptional and well cared for, the staff are delightful and our room is beautiful. The food could perhaps be slightly better, but then I'm comparing with Dubai which is very over the top and probably based on near slave labour.

When I have been booking bed and breakfasts and hotels in France I have sometimes checked out Trip Advisor. And this is really where I learnt that you truly can't trust the reviews. I remember one particular bed and breakfast near St. Tropez, just outside La Garde Freinet, I can't quite remember. Anyway I checked it out on Trip Advisor because it was a bit remote and I worried about the access road. And lo and behold there was one very grumpy review that complained about the road and a whole lot of other things besides. Americans they were. What impressed me though was the response from the owners. And apparently this is indeed a trend. People pay more attention to the response to a bad review than to the bad review itself.

"Not only are travellers referencing reviews before they book, they are clearly more highly engaged by businesses that respond to reviews." Trip Advisor spokesman

But how time-consuming for small businesses to be constantly checking what people have said on Trip Advisor and responding in an appropriate way if necessary. And that process costs them money.

So I went ahead and booked, but nevertheless I was anxious - particularly as we approached the property. Foolishly as it turns out. The directions were very clear, the road was fine and the place was to die for. A most spectacular house, a charming hostess, a view over hills, and the village to the sea, plus a super breakfast. I wonder what I would have done pre-Trip Advisor? I'm pretty sure I would have tried to find it on the map - although that too is something we have only recently been able to do really easily. I have a Michelin road atlas, and so it would have been comparatively easy, but not super easy, but most people don't have these things. Nowadays you can go to Google maps and get at least a satellite view, if not an actual street view. Before websites you would not have been able to find it at all probably. Maybe it would have been more ad hoc. Just roll up at one of those wonderful French tourist offices and ask what there was around there. And I have to say those places have never failed us. Or there were guide books. The Michelin Red Guide was always a reliable source of good hotels and good restaurants, though they didn't do bed and breakfasts. That was down to the local tourist offices.

And what about mapping out an entire holiday featuring rented houses. How did you do that? I confess I have only done it in the internet age, and have used sites such as HomeAway and if forced - AirBNB. Before that I guess you would have either read travel magazines to find a suitable house or an agency with a list, or went to a travel agent who somehow had contacts. Or you made it up as you went along. Not a good idea in the school holidays - although when we were forced to do that as recent ex-students we always found something in the end.

But now there are all those internet sites, like Booking.com, HomeAway, Trivago, Expedia and the rest - perhaps the best places to find accommodation, but then you check it out on Trip Advisor to see whether you should go there or not. Well do you? Actually I don't think I do, but I do check it for restaurant recommendations. Rather foolishly I suspect. Having done my usual minimal research for this blog I find that looking for restaurants in particular on Trip Advisor is not a good idea. You might just get recommended McDonalds! You will probably do better with local advice (also not always reliable) or just a mooch around the local restaurants checking out the menus as you go. Which is probably just as reliable. Or go to a 'professional' guide such as Michelin or Lonely Planet.

Trip Advisor is notorious for things like false reviews - from competitors, for example, and for other corruptive practices. Or it features reviews from Americans - I'm sorry but their standards seem to be completely different to my own - grumpy old men or snobs. Or just people with no taste, or people who are looking for a different experience from your own. And yet we check it out on Trip Advisor.

"Regardless of the fact that it is riddled with fakes and idiots, a huge number of otherwise sensible people continue to give credence to the aggregated opinion of, at best, unqualified strangers". Marina O'Loughlin - The Guardian

For it wields enormous power. It must do for an institution like the Mirage Resort in Port Douglas to put out a card asking you to give them a good review on Trip Advisor. Although, more optimistically it must mean they have confidence in their customers giving good reviews. Maybe it has made all these hotels lift their game.

"The terrible reviews prick the pomposity of hotels that would once have gone unchallenged: no establishment is above a negative review on TripAdvisor. The result has been a seismic shift in power, from hotelier to consumer, which has, in many ways, been enormously positive for travellers."

They give the example of the Ritz in London:

"In fact, those reviews of the Ritz sum up all that is simultaneously brilliant and annoying about TripAdvisor: its celebration of consumer power, of the right for everyone's opinion to be heard and accorded equal weight – and the bewildering contradictions in its reviews."

For sometimes it is so confusing and so time-consuming that really you are no better off. As in all things, go for the middle way. Try to communicate with the hotel or gite or restaurant, or bed and breakfast you are considering to form your own opinion.

If this week has taught me anything it is that even the most 'relaxing' kind of holiday - the kind of holiday where you just sit around a pool being waited on hand and foot has its own stresses. Holidays are stressful and reading negative reviews, however few, on the internet will only add to the stress.

"people should "ignore the very best and the very worst" reviews, and while this is undoubtedly wise, it's the reviews in the "terrible" category that introduce an unshakeable note of anxiety into your holiday plans." The Guardian

Will I bother to write anything on Trip Advisor about this holiday? I suspect not. But I might well do it about some small remote establishment somewhere that I have enjoyed. Because it helps.