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Many smaller hotels, guesthouses and B&B’s like to place a visitors book out for guests to write brief comments regarding their stay and generally happy guests will write a few complimentary lines praising the service, the establishment, the food…

We have one for our own guests and we like to look over the nice comments from our satisfied customers – only once has a disgruntled guest written something not so complimentary but as guest books are basically for writing pleasantries it takes a certain mentality to do something so pedantic as this.

But it happens as most accommodation providers will agree.

These days go online and you can now spend a few hours of entertaining reading going over those websites which allow travellers to rate and review properties they have encountered. This can be a boon for potential travel arrangements; you get to see which places are recommended and which places you should avoid like the plague. But how accurate are many of these ‘reviews’…?

It has been very easy until recently for unscrupulous hotel owners to post glowing reviews about their own establishment which often read far from the truth. New laws now are making this more difficult and even illegal to do so. More difficult to police are those ‘guests’ who have been paid to write positive reviews by some PR firms who have been doing a brisk trade in this kind of dishonesty in recent times.

Major sites such as Tripadvisor have become almost addictive reading for travellers around the world but unfortunately this site has also featured it’s fair share of fraudulent reviews; the site owners have significantly stepped up their reviewing criteria and hopefully this will give travellers a much more balanced and credible service.

So, how do you spot a fake review…? basically I look for a balanced range of opinions. Properties which feature nothing but positive reviews make me suspicious as no hotel can please everyone all of the time; those which have a string of negative reviews with one extremely gushing review can also come over as a bit sus as well…check out that property on another site and you might see that same review posted elsewhere by the same person – same wording and all.

Also bear in mind that some people will post a negative review to be simply vindictive if they did not like the amount on their bill or they were charged for causing damage to property…it has happened to us and it happens to others as well. A property which has a negative review posted here and there, several months or even years in between each post will most probably be a wonderful place to stay – people tend to take the trouble to write negative things more easily than they will do positive things.

On the whole there really is no way of knowing exactly whether or not you will like the property you have booked despite how well it was rated; many factors determine your outlook and would have determined the outlook of those reviewers.

Popularity: 24% [?]

If you are a Bed and Breakfast, Guest House or Hotel owner it is always nice to have an established clientele base who will choose to use your establishment regularly. One of the more difficult aspects is finding ways to encourage your guests to return to stay with you the next time and one way you could do this is to offer them little freebies during their stay.

I don’t mean free meals or rooms but there is no doubt that guests like to get little things like complimentary toiletries, cosmetics, bottles of water or even those lightweight slippers. Makes them feel special and adds to that welcoming touch.

Have a think about adding some nice and personal promotional products into your budget for next season; there are a whole range now rather than just the old pen and paper on the table. One hotel I stayed in had complimentary perfumes in the room…and very nice one’s at that!

Popularity: 27% [?]

Well there is still plenty of time to bag a bargain break and you don’t need to spend a fortune booking at the last minute. It has been interesting to see many Brit’s now choosing to holiday at home this year and rediscover their own country as a holiday destination.

Remember the old days of the teletext page on the television…? it was incredibly slow but was the newer innovation before the internet became the way to book a holiday – now teletext has gone online and you can get those same great deals a lot faster than when you had to wait for all those pages to load on the TV.

So, no excuse – have a look and then pack your kids, yourselves, the bikini and even the golf bags (if the wife will allow it) and get away for a nice break. Time it well and you will still get the good weather and less crowds when they start to head back.

Popularity: 24% [?]