The problem with online travel reviews

Whenever I go on holiday, I always try to plan my trip down to a T. This planning involves me searching on TripAdvisor for the best things to do at my holiday destination and then adding them onto a Google Maps saved list – this way I know what there is to do in a certain area when I am nearby. This planning method is very time-consuming if I am going to a big place like Copenhagen, which has thousands of things to do according to TripAdvisor. But sometimes my reliance on TripAdvisor does end up causing some issues, and mistakes are made on my part.

The first question I raise when I see reviews is can I trust them? In 2024, TripAdvisor removed 2.7 million fake reviews and have now employed a system to detect fraudulent ones. By seeing that so many fake reviews are being detected, it makes you wonder how many of the reviews you read are actually fake and have gone undetected. This is always a worry for me. I can’t put away the thought that a restaurant is just highly reviewed on TripAdvisor because the owner’s family or friends have given it loads of top reviews. But then the pendulum can swing the other way, and the bad reviews could be the business’ competition. You just never know, so that is why I take reviews with a pinch of salt. If the reviews generally say the restaurant or attraction is good then I will take the risk and go, but if the place has maybe a few five-star reviews then I will take caution to the wind and avoid it.

I often find that the people leaving reviews on art museums tend to be those who actually enjoy visiting them on their holidays. This means that they tend to review them higher as they are into that sort of thing

Another issue with reviews is that you may have different tastes to the person writing the review. This definitely resonates with me for art museums. I am not a big fan of art museums, especially on holidays when I can do so much other stuff. This is just my opinion, but I only have a limited time at my holiday destinations, and I’d rather not spend it in an art museum. So, for me to go to an art museum on holiday it needs to be something special. It is a bit difficult to find amazing art museums on review sites. I often find that the people leaving reviews on art museums tend to be those who actually enjoy visiting them on their holidays. This means that they tend to review them higher as they are into that sort of thing. This makes it a challenge for me to determine if the art museum is actually an outstanding one or rather just one that is good for those who like art. But this issue may not just be for art museums: I see the same a lot with churches and sculptures or statues. But I just happen to like visiting churches when on holiday, so the reviews on those do not affect me as much.

A final small issue I have is that people’s acceptance levels of quality may be different to what I expect

A final small issue I have is that people’s acceptance levels of quality may be different to what I expect. What I mean by this is that somebody may think the food at a restaurant is nice, because they are comparing it to what they know at home, but for me it might not be nice. This is especially an issue when travelling abroad in touristy areas as you will have reviews of a place from tourists all over the world, who all have different tastes and different things they compare their trip to. This isn’t as big of an issue if you are doing a staycation as the people that tend to review places in locations such as the Peak District tend to be domestic tourists, so their reviews are more relatable to me. So again, when looking at reviews of restaurants abroad I do look at all reviews, but I also try to find what UK tourists have said about the place, so I know how a British person reviews the experience.

So generally, I do tend to take reviews with a pinch of salt. It always helps to be savvy with how you interpret reviews. Once you know you can’t always trust every review 100% and understand people’s ideas on what makes something a five-star review may be different to you, then you can definitely use reviews to plan your vacation.