A British couple was apparently kicked out of “The Golden Beach Hotel” in Blackpool, England, for writing a bad review on Trip Advisor. The manager actually stormed into their room and called the cops on them two nights into their paid, three night stay, and refused to refund them fom the last night.
I find it kind of funny that this is the direction Trip Advisor seems to be headed. Instead of learning from the feedback provided on Trip Advisor, you’re going to kick someone out for their honest opinion. The idea of kicking these people out is just so incredibly stupid. They’re already vocal online, and you’re going to kick them out based on that. Gee, if they were vocal about their moderately bad experience to begin with, it’s not like they’ll be vocal about having the cops called on them or anything, right?
But I actually can’t say I’m surprised. Look at the responses management seems to post on Trip Advisor to reviews, like this one:
Im quite sure this person did not stay at the hotel as it has jus been refurbished and our service and facilities provided are to a very high standard and provide added value for all guests. I think the only stench is the one comming from this persons fictional storys. It is really quite sad that they haveing nothing better to do with their time.
Or this one:
This man was removed from the premises for his bad behaviour, the hotel promotes a child friendly behaviour and such behaviour that may affect the peaceful and friendly enviroment of the hotel can not be tolerated.
What the hell does that even mean?
Or this one:
The hotel is vey child friendly with a games rooms just fo children so that parents can relax at the bar while children have their own space in a safe enviroment. The hotel has been newely refurbished and the new contemporary look is proveing very popular with all guests this reflected in many customers e visiting the hotel fequently.
Or this one:
This guest was asked to leave the hotel as their behaviour was unaccepteable, the hotel accomodates many families and couples and such unbecomming behaviour is unaccepteable. The hotel at all times pomotes a clean family fiendly enviroment.
Just one more:
what a load of nonesense, this chap was in a lovely family room and was actually upgraded to a family sleep 4 a larger room with more extras. Room was in perfect condition as was the hotel . We where fully booked on that weekend and all guests enjoyed the wkend entertainment and the hotel facilities. We pride oursleves on good customer service and maintaing a well maintained hotel. We are constantly upgradeing all areas of the hotel to provide better value for money for all guests so that they have a great holiday experience. Quite frankly this review is absurd !!!
OK, I think I’ve made my point. I have to say, though, I’m very tempted to pay this hotel a visit and share my feedback with them… 😀
*not happy
Some place really hate this website and last week I was staying at the Westin Waterfront Boston who has a big sign at the check in desk that encouraged people to write reviews. Most of the reviews have a response from mgmt.
My review included that I happy with the check in process that took 50 minutes from the time I got in the line until I got my key. I had a long time to look at that sign :-P
Tripadvisor is FULL of fake reviews.
The ones above seemed to have been written by the same person.
I was the first to review a hotel called the Minamar in Egypt on Tripadvisor and soon there was a ton of fake reviews to counter what I experienced.
Tripadvisor doesn't really seem to care.
I think tripadvisor is a useful resource for seeing feedback on a potential hotel one is thinking of booking. There will always be some highly praiseful or critical comments found, but the main thing is to see how guests view and rate the hotel overall.
It's a lot of fun to go through this list of tripadvisor's dirtiest hotels:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/DirtyHotels
Kind of puts things in perspective when people rant about check-in taking too long.
I used Trip Advisor almost exclusively when I had a 12/11 night trip to Germany/Switzerland in Dec 2008. You have to read between the lines in many reviews since some people are just complainers. I was pleased that the 8 different hotels we stayed at were all either nice or very nice. Neither one of us had been to that area previously. None were in the category of "uh oh" or I would never stay...
I used Trip Advisor almost exclusively when I had a 12/11 night trip to Germany/Switzerland in Dec 2008. You have to read between the lines in many reviews since some people are just complainers. I was pleased that the 8 different hotels we stayed at were all either nice or very nice. Neither one of us had been to that area previously. None were in the category of "uh oh" or I would never stay here again. Most were nice/charming and one was more of a business type hotel.
I will admit that I kind of cringe or chuckle when I see some of the manager's replies to the comments. I think most would agree that you only write a review AFTER you complete your visit otherwise you risk consequences kind of like sending food back to the kitchen too many times.
Oh, I had a trip to Milwaukee and crashed at a hotel near the airport. I arrived late (1130pm+) and when I checked in and went to my room my door wouldn't open all the way. I heard a noise and then realized that SOMEONE was in the room. I went downstairs and only got a "Huh, someone IS in the room?". She then gave me a new room. When I wrote a letter they didn't offer me my money back but only a free room on a later visit.
Later when I thought about the experience I realized how dangerous it could have been if the person didn't have the inner lock enabled. What if I would have walked in on a sleeping lady or possible a person with a weapon? They could have easily assumed I was there to rob/attack them, especially if they were sleeping. I just didn't think the response from the desk person nor the hotel conveyed sufficient concern for the dangerous situation. Hmmm, maybe I should have written a review for that one.
Wow, the bad reviews are so bad and numerous that I wonder if all of the good reviews were planted by the hotel's management.
Do you really want to travel to Blackpool.?