Who, besides me.............

enjoys watching the hotel rankings on the main page? I just wish more folks took time and wrote reviews so the was more feedback to make decisions from. Still, it is fascinating watching places go up and down the ranks.

Who, besides me.............

I had not been watching closely because I didn%26#39;t trust them! I can%26#39;t tell how TA comes about this. I trust this forum more. The rankings of ';hotels'; did not jive with me. I kept thinking ';huh?'; when I saw them. I do love reading the reviews, and seeing pictures, and like you, wish more people would contribute. I myself have not, but hope to do so after our upcoming trip.

I love all the advice and tips people come up with. For the most part, it is uncensored, unlike another site we know of that only allows a review if it is totally positive, not realistic.

Who, besides me.............

My favorites are always the bad reviews. heheheheheheh

The first thing I do when I sign on is look for the bad hotel reviews.

It%26#39;s addicting.

I need to read those so some day when I make it to Paris, I%26#39;ll know where NOT to stay!

I like reading the bad reviews too, except when I am reading one on a place I am about to stay at!!!! There is a particularly bad, overall general review posted about Sanibel in TA, and I admit to being so in love with the island that I almost......no not almost.... I do, get defensive and protective about my Sanibel and fight off the temptation to send a message to those involved and tell them they just don%26#39;t get it. But..... I avoid such, and think in reason that they are entitled to there opinion, as warped as it is, and just let it be.

I really like the %26#39;best%26#39; and %26#39;worst%26#39; feature on the main pages. I get such a kick out of some reviews. Some folks are so clever. Some - I%26#39;m real glad they aren%26#39;t my customers!

McNaught - You remind me of my brother. ';You can agree with me or you can be wrong.'; rotflmao

My children would agree with you!

My children would agree with you!

There is a recent bad post about the Matzaluna in Sanibel and I couldn%26#39;t help but think , ';Is that MY Matzaluna they%26#39;re talking about.'; We have taken our 3 kids there for years without any problems!

Also, I am not sure how willing I am to be so brutally honest anymore. It%26#39;s a bad trait of mine. My post about a property in Sunset Captiva caused a little worry for someone and I felt as if I had ruined their trip before it started!

Another good read, if you haven%26#39;t found it is a thread on the Key West forum called '; places to avoid in key west ';

Tourm, McN: Or the theologian who agrees to disagree:

';You just keep doing things your way and I%26#39;ll just keep doing things HIS way';.

Seriously though, I wrote in about the ';rankings'; a while back and they do disturb me more than amuse. I don%26#39;t know how much relative traffic TA gets but as it becomes substantial the effect of rankings can be huge. Since TA refuses to share how it comes up with these wildly swinging ratings there is no way for a casual user to gauge their reliability.

In the past six months, my complex, Pointe Santo has gone from a starting point of 6th, peaked at 3rd, had a low of 12th and is back to 7th (out of 30). It%26#39;s more unpredictable than the stock market!

What%26#39;s more, the saying goes that bad news travels faster... the format that TA uses would probably be weighted somewhat towards negative reviews as these folks- those with a bad experience- are likely to be motivated to take the time to write a review.

I have also seen first hand malicious reviews (thankfully not against me) and it is unfortunate that TA will not remove them. In my opinion, a patently offensive, emotional review is as unreliable as an owner-submitted self-review which TA say it does remove.

But the negative reviews and rankings, amusing though they may be to some, in fact do damage to a property since many folks will not take the time to go to the forums and do real research and will just move onto another property that is ';cleaner';. Why take a chance?

I do wish TA was more transparent about the subjective nature of its rankings- it would go a long way in helping the public navigate the process...