Now that the smoke has cleared from the first big blitz of Aloft hotel openings and we had a chance to spend a night in one ourselves, we dropped by our trusty ol' pal TripAdvisor to check out customers' reactions to the brand.
And the reviews were kinda all over the place. Most of them were positive, though, and the words "cool" and "funky" were used a lot. Someone even called it a "hipper Four Points by Sheraton" (really?) but then finished out the review by saying the concept just doesn't quite come together.
Expedia owned hotel booking site TripAdvisor has a cameo on The Office tonight. Apparently, Dwight Schrute has turned his farm into the number one beet-related agrotourism destination in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
Semi-spoiler coming: In tonight's episode Jim and Pam spend the night at Schrute Farms, which offers, Three Themed Rooms: America, Irrigation, and Night-time. Handmade mattresses, beds that do not conform to traditional sizes; closest is twin, and some sort of home made beet demonstration.
To get the gist of TripAdvisor's cameo you will have to watch the show, however, we found a faux hotel page for Schrute Farms -- funny stuff.
Of course, just like most hotel pages on TripAdvisor, there are plenty of suspect hotel reviews here from random online commenters like "sprinklesmom" and "ryanstartedthefire", and you have no idea where the line between fact and fiction is, or if they reviews were planted by Dwight himself -- hint -- these reviews are probably fake.
Then again, there are still plenty of people trying to stay at Tori Spelling's B&B.
We're looking forward to Jim and Pam's review. The Office rocks.
TripAdvisor's latest survey has come to the not-very-surprising conclusion that hotel minibars are too expensive. 94% of hotel guests surveyed say they would use a minibar if it was cheaper. We hope they didn't spend too much time working that one out.
In slightly more interesting results, TripAdvisor found that a quarter of people have had a dispute with a hotel over a minibar charge; people have had charges added to their bill just for moving things around or storing their own things in modern motion/weight sensor minibars.
About a fifth of respondents admitted to doing "the ol' switcheroo", bringing back a much cheaper can of Coke from the supermarket to replace what they drank in desperation the night before.
Finally, survey respondents were asked what snacks they'd prefer to find in the minibar, and lots of people decided they'd like sandwiches, healthy snacks and fruit. But we're not sure if a late-night, drunken binge would really be satisfied by carrot sticks and an apple.
· "While the concierge service Quintessentially puts all of Manhattan at your fingertips." · "the epitome of elegant simplicity" · "attention to detail"
We find the mention of the bath's "wonderful Waterworks features" to be a red flag as well. And when was the last time you reviewed a hotel and said "the suites offer a distinct refinement"?
Another thing we noticed when checking this review out was the "I recommend this hotel for:" category on the right-hand side of the review. And pretty much every possible traveler demographic was selected. Here's the full list: Young singles, An amazing honeymoon, A romantic getaway, Girlfriend getaway, People with disabilities, Older travelers, Pet owners, Families with young children, Families with teenagers, Tourists.
But perhaps the most obvious sign is that the hotel "reviewer"/account executive gave the hotel a 5.0 rating (the best) for everything.
So beware all you hotel PR people, web readers are smarter than you think. Oh, and if you try that over here and we catch you we will execute your member account in a hurry.
Why do sites like HotelChatter or TripAdvisor exist? Perhaps so that potential travelers can read our advice and ignore it, like British blogger missketeers who spent a month in France on a training course recently. From Paris he and his work pals were wizzed 45 minutes out to Fontainebleau to the Hotel Napoleon:
I was ushered into the reception of Hotel Napoleon which looked respectable enough but I knew had troubles lurking ahead (we had read some etripadvisor.com website advising us DO NOT EVER GO TO THE HOTEL NAPOLEON, worst hotel ever, etc.).
Okay, let's give him the benefit of the doubt: it sounds like his company might've booked this accommodation for him. Things progress well at first--he's lucky enough to score a room bigger than the broom closet flat he's using in London, which makes it all seem not so bad. At least for a minute or too.
However I was unpleasantly surprised to find that 1) the walls are padded, and 2) the walls are scratched, like the top layer of the wall was peeling off EVERYWHERE. And this was a flippin' three star hotel!! As one of my colleague put it cleverly " It's the sort of room you rent per hour, not per night".
We hate to say "I told you so", so we won't. And sure, sometimes there are travelers who just get a bad deal at an otherwise good place. But when every bit of feedback includes words like "worst" and "never", you've really gotta start searching for somewhere else to rest your head.
Of course, a hotel's owner and proprietor is not going to admit to some of his or her hotel's faults, especially not on a widely read travel review site like TripAdvisor.
But Scottish hotelier David Bremner, owner of the Drumnadrochit Hotel, took it up a notch--faking glowing reviews for his hotel from "nonexistent guests", otherwise known as himself. Some of the "reviews" include:
"Well done to the staff, who were really charming ... The food is outstanding ... Believe me you'll love it."
Where: United States
0 Comments - Add Yours
by Jenna
Why do sites like HotelChatter or TripAdvisor exist? Perhaps so that potential travelers can read our advice and ignore it, like British blogger 
Of course, a hotel's owner and proprietor is not going to admit to some of his or her hotel's faults, especially not on a widely read travel review site like 
