TripadvisorReviews 607

Many times visited restaurants, recommended by tripadvisor and they were awful. So - dont trust to this website any more

Can not be trusted
Some of the firms listed pay to have editing or veto over what you post
I have tried to post scams with hotels in Morroco that are dumps but have rave reviews on TA and they were never allowed
It is not clear how but many of the posts are not by real people but firms that write reviews that obviously not true. Yet what else is there you can trust...?

I always use this trip advisor for my family tripe. This website really helped me to get a best tripe experience along with family. Their tripe suggestions are always very good and useful for us. So I use this tripadvisor.com for making my trip successful. Even you can get a best trip advice from here.

I starrted using it many years ago and it still works.
The main problem is that the reviews can be fake as tripadvisor doesn't check if you have really been there.
Anyway I think that if you only consider the reviews of people with more than 30-40 reviews, you can still get good advices!

They do not update you if a business is no longer in business. More than one time I tried to eat in a restaurant that was now closed! Same goes for tours. There was a free city tour I wanted to try and it no longer existed, but trip advisor did not update their website.

I used to trust the food reviews, but not anymore. Same for hotels. Some restaurants and hotels encourage people who had a good experience to write reviews, so the results are skewed. There are also too many large or high volume restaurants that overshadow smaller and better places.

When I called Banff International Hotel in Banff, Canada to make reservations for 3 rms for 3 nites I was told all they had left are their most expensive rooms for@ $145 Can dollars a nite. Well they LIED to me bec I called several other websites selling case in the same hotel and they all had availability for a much lower rate $105 per nite, for 3 rms, for the same date May 7, 9, 10, 2014. So I made reservations w Booking. Com. So be careful, Banff International Hotel has dishonest booking practices to charge hundreds of can dollars more such as my case. Grac

TRIP ADVISOR and Flipkey -FRAUD
I booked apartment in central London via Tripadvisor paying also for their "peace of mind policy" insurance (88 $). I gave visa card number and instead of blocking money on my account they collected it immediately.
I tried to contact the owner Martin C., I wrote him several times on his e-mail stated on flipkey but he did not respond. So I called the number provided in booking and man picked up: he said that I got the wrong number, that he is Martin indeed but he does not rent any apartments...
I tried to find property on flipkey or trip advisor but... It was not listed anymore... They removed it as they "found out that this individual does not have right to rent those apartments" but they were happy to keep my money on tripadvisor account (quite profitable business if you think about number of clients) and they didn't bother to inform me about the situation!
I contacted flipkey and they said they will "cancel" my booking of non-existing property and return me money. I got 1 day to find a hotel in London and I do not have to mention that prices were overwhelming.
Trip advisor returned my money (US$2358. 00) after 10 days (payment on 4.04, return on my account on 18.04) but... I am from Poland so to my horror I noticed that I miss 910,47 PLN (about 300 $, which is actually half of my monthly salary) - there was the spread!
I paid the insurance so of course I complained to tripadvisor to give me back that difference: without any result, they said that they reimbursed fee in full (so even if that was totally their fault, I had to bear the cost of this transaction. Their insurance is obviously meaningless. Contact with support desk is not so easy and stress I had trying to find accommodation for 5 people just before departure was terrible.
It is a disgrace for renown service to behave like this. So: never ever again!
Summary:
- seek other agencies DO NOT book via Trip advisor or Flipkey, - they do not take any responsibility of whatsoever they advertise, just your double fees you are paying
-never give them your card number- they do not block money like booking.com but collect it and keep on own account. They call it safe way- think for yourself for whom it is safe and profitable. Pay after arrival and if it is not possible, seek other accommodation (that was advice from their support desk 1 day before my departure, when money for my hotel in London were still on their account!)
-do not bother with this insurance- it is worthless- they said it covers up to 10.000 $ but just try to get something of cost you paid (actually they should also give me back money for my hotel- it was much more than cost of this apartment)