Do You Read Guest Hotel Reviews? Really!!!

By Robert McGarvey

Consider this blog a continuation of last week’s blog on Booking.com numbers about where we find our travel inspiration and information.

This week, the news in a press release issued by Accor caused me to sit up straight in my chair: We read reviews of hotels by guests, just about all of us do, says Accor research.  

“A staggering 97% of hotel guests have consulted guest reviews when looking to book a stay in a hotel or resort, according to a new report from Accor, a world leading hospitality group.”

We read them in bunches, apparently: “On average, guests read nine reviews (8.63) for each hotel or resort they’re looking to stay at.”

The results go on: “After staying at a hotel or resort, nearly six out of ten people (57%) say they write reviews themselves for at least half of their stays.”

That is: not only do we read ‘em, we write ‘em.

Then I began sorting through my most recent hotel stays: a couple nights in Dallas, nights in Gretna VA, Fountain Hills AZ, Manhattan, San Francisco…and, you know what, not only did I write no reviews for the online sites (I may have written a column or two. But no reviews as such), I also read exactly none.

Yes, I long was something of a fan of TripAdvisor in particular and I know the company has an expensive arsenal of weapons created to hunt down and destroy fake reviews, machine written reviews and the like. I salute the company’s tenacity. But this is a losing battle, a reality I accepted about a year ago when I saw a Guardian piece entitled “Fake reviews: can we trust what we read online as use of AI explodes?”

The verdict then was no. The verdict today is why are you even asking?

Today’s powerful AI tools mean fake reviews can be spit out in a second and even if Tripadvisor’s tech snares many, some likely will get through.  

And there also are human content mills – often in India – that generate fake reviews by the ton.  

There’s a flood of the stuff and, frankly, I can’t bet on the review sites winning this battle.

Today there’s even a website, Fake Review Watch.  Check it out, it’s an informative destination and even a cursory glance will tell you the problem of faked reviews is monumental.

There’s another glaring reality too: even when the reviews are real – that is, probably written by a human being who actually stayed in the hotel – I honestly don’t care about these opinions and see no value in reading them.

A month ago I stayed three nights in a Hampton Inn in Gretna, Va.  It was adequate for its modest price that even included a decent, free hot breakfast and drinkable coffee by the gallon.

What did other guests say?  

The first review I read included this: “The Italian Restaurant across the street is worth the trip.” Uh, I ate there and, no, it’s not unless one’s standard is Chef Boyardee.  After a long day or flying and driving it was an acceptable meal. But it isn’t “worth the trip.”

Then there was this posted in April 2024: “Old and tired hotel which gave the appearance of not being the cleanest, bed on the softer side, couldn’t reach the shower head to make an adjustment. The breakfast was ill prepared with rubbery eggs and not enough of other things to make up for it.”

And this was posted in May: “Excellent service. Breakfast was great with lots of choices. One of the better hotel breakfasts. Rooms were spacious. We got free drink at checkin and checkout. Very good experience here.”

Rashomon. 

If I had checked the review site before booking at the Hampton I would have given up about there.

Opinions are as plentiful as weeds and less useful.

How do I pick hotels where I’ll stay?

Well, in Gretna, the Hampton Inn was the only convenient choice and we needed to be at this location for a family trip.

For a recent stay in Fountain Hills AZ the hotel I stayed in was the site of the meeting I was attending so, naturally, I stayed there.  

On recent walks along the Camino de Santiago in Spain I usually booked hotels in small towns with limited lodging choices and what was available was where I stayed.  

Often, where I stay isn’t a matter of much real choice. Of course I don’t read any reviews for those trips.

In other cases, where there are choices, I’ll ask friends and acquaintances for recommendations and they are a well traveled lot and their opinions are sensible.  I’ll bet you do likewise because we trust the opinions of friends.

I know I trust friends a lot more than reviews written by computers, at content mills, or by real people I don’t know. That’s why I don’t and won’t read them.

But I do wonder who responded to the Accor poll. Was it an army of AI bots?