Tripadvisor.com

I love tripadvisor and I use it frequently both for the reviews that others write and to write my own. I'm currently planning a trip and scouring reviews. Some reviews are terrific, even-handed and a fair assessment and others...

Ugh.

There are those who expect the moon if they are paying over $5 for a hotel stay.

There are those who don't bother completing the profile page (I don't need a picture but a little something about the writer helps when I'm trying to figure out how legit the only review you've ever written on the site is).

There are those who never write a positive review, ever (frequently overlapping with those above).

I try to be generous about spelling and grammar but it's not always easy to take a negative review seriously when the third sentence in:
"I had took my SUV to valet parking, took my ticket from the attendant and proceeded upstairs to the ballroom."

...further down, the same person writes:

"Out of a crowd of people, mainly Caucasian and Oriental"

(really, WTH uses the term Oriental for Asians anymore? This reviewer signed up, wrote one review and nothing again.)

My favorite reviews are those that offer pictures of the room reviewed, view from the room (with room # please!) and any particulars important enough to comment on (for instance, if you complain about rusty fixtures, post a pic). I admit, I don't always post pics, although I'm trying to do it more frequently. I'm not interested in pictures of your honey or your cute-as-a-button, wee one but of things the hotel website won't show. ... Speaking of which, the pics on VBRO of various monuments or other fantastic points of interest aren't helpful when you're trying to sell me on your apartment; I know what the Eiffel Tower looks like, thank you; I'm interested in your apartment so I can go see the Eiffel Tower in person.

Reviews that offer good and bad points, neither hysterical over something minor nor overly excited because you've never left your hometown before, those are useful reviews.

Really, if a $49 parking charge in the middle of downtown San Francisco at a luxury hotel destroys your entire stay, don't stay at a luxury hotel in downtown San Francisco. If the view of the ocean overrides a $1600 night's stay in a falling-down-roach motel that makes Motel 6 look like a 5-star resort, something is wrong with your idea of value. And a glowing (in its entirety) review of "I am not sure where to begin....it was heaven on earth....can't wait to go back...a little expenseive but worth it" gives me less information than the hotel website.

Also useless are the reviews by people whose entire stay is ruined because they weren't allowed to smoke in non-smoking rooms, bring their children into 21 and over bars or find a McDonald's while in Tahiti.

I like pros & cons lists. I like reviews that include tidbits the reviewer may not care about but someone else may (like laundry facilities, handicap access, long distances, night life or lack of, is it more kid-friendly or honeymoon-friendly or somewhere in between, dress codes, wireless, etc). If a hotel restaurant is particularly spectacular or awful, make a brief note of it and review it separately and more thoroughly under the restaurant listing, the same can be said of any particular dish at the restaurant (especially if it's really, really good!).

Ok, rant over. Thanks for listening.