Ordinary Gweilo

The Sunday Times has highlighted some of the abuses of websites that carry ‘consumer’ reviews of hotels and restaurants:

The online review appeared to be a glowing endorsement of a fine hotel by the shores of Loch Ness. “My parents stayed many years ago and said what a lovely spot this place has. They were so right!” said the review of the Drumnadrochit hotel posted on TripAdvisor, one of the most popular websites for travel information.

“Well done to the staff, who were really charming . . . Have no hesitation in booking . . . the food is outstanding . . . Believe me you’ll love it.”

The gushing praise, however, was not the independent judgment of an ordinary guest: in fact, it had been written and posted by David Bremner, the hotel’s owner.

Which is not exactly surprising – Amazon has the same problem with publishers and authors praising their own books.  There’s probably no way to prevent this, but I think most people can tell when a review seems out of line with the consensus (and allowing people to rate the reviewers also helps).  The problem with hotels and restaurants is that there are generally far fewer reviews, so one good (or bad) comment can carry more weight.  There’s also concern that this is driving traditional guide books out of business:

The best travel guides have traditionally been compiled by professional inspectors who visit hotels and restaurants incognito and fiercely guard their impartiality. But it is a costly business and one that can no longer compete.

The current issue of the RAC hotel guide, which employed 12 full-time inspectors, will be the last. It has emerged that the company which publishes Les Routiers’ UK guide, which had eight inspectors, will go into liquidation this week; it said that competition from websites had helped to drive it out of business.

I’m not surprised, but I’d expect that the best guides (e.g. Michelin in France, the Good Food Guide in the UK) will survive because people respect their opinions and know that they are independent.  However, Michelin are being very aggressive in establishing presence on the Internet and presumably hope to make money out of it eventually, so maybe they can foresee a time when the printed guide no longer exists. 

Of course, there is an interesting difference between reviewing books, CDs, software (and other similar products) and the likes of hotels and restaurants.  If 100 people buy the same book from Amazon they all receive the same product, whereas if 100 people eat in the same restaurant or stay in the same hotel they will have different experiences.  I might get a great room in a hotel and encounter very helpful staff, whereas someone else gets a bad room and  bad service.  People also have quite different expectations, so if someone who normally stays in roadside motels has a few days in a 5 star hotel in Bangkok they will be very positive, but that won’t help someone who wants to decide between The Mandarin Oriental, the Sukhothai and the Shangri-La.

The other big difference is that I give a great review to a restaurant, I might find that next time I want to visit it the place is fully booked and they’ve put up the prices – so it might be in my best interest to give a less glowing review.  An even more extreme example comes from websites that let people share their opinions on property that is up for sale – why would anyone want to encourage someone else to make an offer on a place they want to buy?

I am sure that there will an increasing volume of customer reviews and comments on the Internet, but the problem is how to identify the worthwhile from the worthless.