Accommodations Vacation Rental Reviews and why I love them!

[Pauline]

Thank you to everyone who has posted reviews on this forum (in our Recommended Vacation Rentals forums)! Sometimes I don't want to spend days searching HomeAway, Airbnb and the web for vacation rentals. Instead I just want a recommendation. It doesn't matter that we don't all have the same budgets or requirements. I can figure that out when I look at the listing.

I read vacation rental reviews. I don't read them on Trip Advisor because I have an irrational dislike of that website. But I do read them on HomeAway (and its other sites - VRBO, etc.), Airbnb, Booking.com, and vacation rental agency sites. For all of these sites you have to have booked a place to write a review.

I understand that when someone has rented directly from an owner sometimes they feel obligated to give a good review. I struggle with that myself sometimes. Most owners work very hard to create a vacation rental and then I don't like it because the bedrooms were dark. Maybe most people don't care if the bedrooms are dark. Everything else was great. I am bouncing that around in my mind now for our recent rental.

I think that vacation rental reviews are a way for travelers to talk to each other. I was reminded of this today when reading reviews for a rental in the Caribbean on HomeAway and I came across this line - "be sure to use bug spray in the late afternoon/early evening when the no see ums and mosquitoes are fierce!" That traveler was reminding me that there are mosquitoes in the tropics (duh!) and I had completely forgotten this! Or "the bathroom is cozy". They are warning me that the bathroom is small. I find all kinds of great info in vacation rental reviews. I even translate the ones written in other languages.

I write vacation rental reviews. I post reviews on this forum and I usually write reviews for HomeAway and Booking.com. I am just starting to use Airbnb and will write reviews there once I book with them.

I loved all our old SlowTrav reviews and still look at them.

I'm sure most of you spend a lot of time reading reviews too. What kinds of things have you learned from them?

 

[joe]

I generally agree with you, Pauline - I tend to look at reviews as a certain part of gleaning information on the place, albeit taking into account the idiosyncrasies of each reviewer, and the fact that the review should not be the main factor in making the final decision. A very negative review, nested among very good ones, will make me doubt the reviewer, not the accommodation.
I think that good photos are a real plus and very important, especially of the bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom. No good photos of these? Doubt if I will book, even if reviews are good.

An experienced accommodation that truly cares about its guests, will have learned what type of information is essential to the seasoned traveler, and make sure that this appears. But too often I've noticed that a very good accommodation does not mention these things - which is a pity, because they don't realize that it's this additional info that sometimes tips the scales in favor of booking there. Some owners just don't have the patience to deal with improving their website. Being someone who does use the accommodation's website as the main source of information, I've often tried to give tips (and even take photos for free) to owners who I think might benefit from the advice - but usually I don't see that they use it. Which is of course OK.

Because we more or less return to the same places, reading reviews has become less important to me.

 

[Sojourner]

I rarely look at reviews of any kind of product at all. There are just too many ways nowadays for them to be faked. I do think a review written by someone you 'know' as a regular poster in a forum can be worthwhile reading. I'd accept a review written by joe or you Pauline but not some stranger on any of the sites you mentioned.

 

[chachalaca]

Slowtrav and sloweurope reviews have guided me to incredible rentals (and hotels). I have been a member for many years and trust reviews from you longtime travelers! I read your other posts and know which of your travel tastes run similar to mine. I believe that from the beginning ST/SE has been based on honest, no need for "fame" reviews. This isn't a site where more reviews means you're a better person, it's just a place to share experiences. I take rental site reviews w a grain of salt and cross-reference, usually beginning here.

 

[Lisa in Ottawa]

I love vac reviews. I read them thoroughly. They provide loads of info. But they have to be current . Places change. The old ST ones were too old to be of any real help.
I don't look at pics first or rather I glance at them but I look at availability, owners description, reviews and then pictures. It seems everyones learned how to photoshop.
I love Airbnb reviews. You have to read between the lines because most people want to be positive.

 

[DDTraveler]

I read reviews regularly -- you can get lots of information from them. Plus I find that many owners, especially those on Airbnb who perhaps aren't as savvy in terms of photos and what's important to renters, may undersell their properties. We recently rented an Airbnb in the Chianti region and it was far lovelier than the host's pictures. I wrote a nice review on that agency's website.

I don't tend to write negative reviews. We recently rented a room in a hotel which is recommended by Rick Steves and it was awful. I wrote to RS to let him know that perhaps his crew needs to take another look at the place as it may have gone downhill since their last visit.

DD

 

[Linda Yoder]

I use to totally count on the ST reviews in picking rentals and hotels. I really miss that. I don't trust Trip Advisor at all!