BRITAIN'S leading independent hotel guidebook launched an online version of
its reviews this week - while attacking write-ups that appear on internet
hotel forums relying exclusively on contributions from the public.
Reviews on website forums such as TripAdvisor.com are “an absolute lucky dip”,
said Adam Raphael, the co-editor of the Good Hotel Guide, as they could
include bias from friends or enemies of hotel owners. “You read reviews and
you don't really know whether they are right or wrong,” he said.
The Good Hotel Guide, which has been published for 31 years, has created an
online listing of its 900 recommended properties in Britain; of these about
150 are B&Bs and the rest hotels. The site is free - whereas the book
costs £17.50 - and it also has colour pictures, unlike the book, which has
no pictures at all.
Entries in the guide are based on visits by undercover inspectors as well as
comments made by “regular readers”. Raphael explained that these are people
who have been making suggestions about different properties over many years
- the guidebook editors log all reader comments.
“We wouldn't use someone we didn't know unless we checked them out carefully,”
he said. “We normally use people whose taste and judgment we know.”
TripAdvisor responded by pointing out that the sheer volume of its 15 million
reviews means that hotel-goers get a “comprehensive picture of virtually
every hotel in the world”.
Ian Rumgay, European communications manager, said: “TripAdvisor reviews do not
just focus on the 'good', but also cover the mediocre and the bad, and in so
doing provide a warning about what to avoid as well as a recommendation
about what to seek out.”
On TripAdvisor an average of three reviews and opinions is posted every
minute. Rumgay added that an advantage of the site is that members can
contact people who have posted reviews and ask for more details.
