Hi Darren,

There’s also IgoUgo and a new one on Lonely Planet called Haystack.

Thanks Darren

I have bookmarked all of these sites.

The problem is if you go to a small hotel that doesn’t have that many reviews. I stayed at a hotel in Norfolk booked thought Active Hotels

It had a few good reviews and we thought it was awful.

Nice sites and very nice blog.

I admit to not checking out hotels before booking them.

So far I’ve been lucky, but I will check them out.

I am going with the girls to the Bahamas in September and I’m dreading reading reviews now we have booked!

THanks for the list. You touched upon one of my favorite hotel review sites, TravelPost.com. What i love about that site is that it uses demographic information to find hotels that will be suitable for you. Great list! Great Blog!

You’re very right about taking advantage of past guests’ reviews being one of the best ways to get a feel for the hotel before booking, Darren.

Karen does have a fair point - Some hotels are either new Active Hotels partners or don’t yet have many guest reviews, but we hope that even when there are only a few, they’re still helpful.

Needless to say, I’m a bit biased, but when it comes to guest reviews, one of my key criteria in whether or not to trust them is how transparent the review process is. With TripAdvisor, it’s easy for anyone to leave a review, regardless of whether they’ve stayed at the hotel or are the hotel manager’s mate and leaving the review as a favour.

On a personal level, I clearly remember getting a hotel on the edge of Toronto a few years ago. I was visiting for a weekend but was too last minute to stay with friends or pre-plan and read reviews. Walked in, and it didn’t look great, but I thought “it’s only one night”. How I wish I had planned ahead! The shower was disgusting, there was trash that clearly had just been pushed under the bed instead of picked up, and some very weird noises came from the parking lot during the night. I can’t remember what chain it was, but talk about a youth mistake…

Ooh I’m pleased you asked! I’m actually really proud of the way our guest reviews work.

If you booked ABC hotel, once you’ve stayed (and only if you’ve stayed), two days later, you’ll receive an email asking you if you’d like to fill in a guest review for ABC hotel, composed of a set of qualitative questions and some scores for cleanliness, check-in process, value for money, etc.

Because of that mechanism, we know the guest is reviewing the hotel while it’s still fresh in their mind, and that their stay did happen.

We then have a look at each review, pass on any “could be improved” comments to the hotels for them to act upon, then publish them without ever editing them: Good comments, bad comments, spelling mistakes and all.

We now have over a million guest reviews, and just as with any other traveller, I’ve used them before to pick my hotel, and so far, I’ve always been very satisfied! And even when I’m not travelling, I’ve been known to lose half an hour reading them just out of curiosity…

(I always end up leaving bloody long comments, don’t I?)

We read reviews about the Hotel Manolya [removed as I suspect this is the owner of the hotel due to IP trace] from the Trip Advisor we book and stay this hotel last september it was very good.

[Editor - Can we trust this hotel, when it promotes its hotel pretending to be someone else?]

If we are going away on a package holiday I get a travel agency site open to see the deals, and another window open with holidays uncovered, as they specialise in package holiday hotel reviews.
I work through the hotels from the cheapest up, until I find one that gets good reviews (often takes a while!). Bookmark that one and move on until I have three. Then I check the other review sites for more validation, and choose the one that seems the most appealing. So far (touch wood) this has delivered great hotels at great prices.

little bit late perhaps… but http://www.LateRooms.com now also feature hotel reviews - and the reviews can only be made by people who have actually booked and stayed at the hotel through LateRooms.

Karen - of course, any review is a subjective opinion and shaped by the guests expectations - what would be classed as luxurious or excellent service by one person, may be seen as something totally different to another - hence it’s always worthwhile checking a number of reviews and using them just as part of the decision making process..

hope this helps

What do you do when you’ve booked a hotel/flight package through an airline’s website and based your hotel choice on favorable reviews - only to have subsequent negative reviews posted about your hotel?!

It sounds like there has been a change of staff or else two very angry dissatisfied guests within days of each other.

Has anyone ever changed their hotel based on this?

Hotel review sites are great, the problem though as some mention above is if you get only two reviews its really hard to judge! I might not have the same interests like someone else etc!

Useful list and appreciated

Don’t take online hotel reviews as gospel. Do you realise a disgruntled client who didn’t get his free room upgrade could trash the hotel and put off many prospecive clients from booking - just one bad comment is all it takes. But that hotel could have had thousands of happy clients who haven’t sent a review and its reputation could be tarnished. Also, what’s to stop the hotelier or his mates posting 5* raving reviews about a c…. hotel? I always say get educated advice from your tour operator or agent who probably know it personally or know how many repeat clients it gets.