Tripadvisor Reviews

I recently stayed at a hotel in Madeira. I studied the reviews carefully on TripAdvisor and one or two other sites that came up from the Google search. Most of the reviews were very good, there were a few specific negative comments (eg the hotel looked a bit old and dated), but only 2 reviews were poor. One of these was so negative that he managed to find fault with everything. When we stayed, our opinion was indeed that the hotel was excellent in most respects. I would say that the reviews as a whole were very correct, and we regarded the sole very negative review as someone who was just having a bad day.

There are a number of clues to follow. A set of 4's with the occasional 5, with mainly positive comments but a few negative ones scattered around, is more convincing than a whole bunch of 5's where everything is painted to be perfect. If a review goes through ALL of something (eg "There are spacious dormitories with great views, and also some private rooms for greater comfort") it is less likely to be genuine than "Our dorm was spacious and had a great view, but there were a lot of stairs to climb". If there are a lot of reviews that mention poor cleanliness, cold showers etc, then there might well be positive reviews that say it's a great party place and are genuine, but other reviews that say the cleanliness and showers are good, together with everything else, and give 5 stars throughout, should be looked on suspiciously.

Other things that raise doubts about a review being genuine: "This hostel is the best in town" (with no specification about what was good about it). And some have giveaway expressions or grammatical styles (one uses punctuation oddly .Like this ,also within a sentence.)

In summary: If there are numerous reviews that are very critical of the same things (whether staff friendliness, cleanliness etc), then be suspicious of other reviews that give 5 stars and mention ONLY good things.

Re guestbooks: A guestbook is a mark of a good hostel. But some hostels make a point of getting you to look at them. When I have had a criticism to make, I have always felt a bit uncomfortable making it, and after I have gone, I always worry that the owner might remember that I have sullied their pristine reputation and not welcome me again!