Things to dismiss when reading hotel reviews?

It seems to me that some people expect WAAAAAAAAAAY too much when they travel by reading some of these reviews.

Things such as, ';The front deskman stared at me aggresively.'; are things that I quickly dismiss as POV issues and have no bearing on what my hotel experience will be like.

What are some other things that are red flags to look for when reading some of these hotel reviews here?

Things to dismiss when reading hotel reviews?

Here%26#39;s what I look for when reading reviews:

A. Cleanliness. That%26#39;s my huge concern because I think it is totally unnecessary for a hotel to be dirty. When I say cleanliness, I mean both the public areas of the hotel as well as the rooms.

B. Service. Is the staff attentive? If I made a request, did it go ignored or did they follow through? Did the hotel go above and beyond to make me comfortable? The attitude of the staff won%26#39;t necessarily make me change my mind about a hotel but it will make me think twice because that means the hotel doesn%26#39;t have high standards. In the Palazzo, the staff makes a point of saying hello to you or how are you when they pass you in the hall because they want you to feel welcome.

Of course there are many other points to consider, but really it%26#39;s a matter of personal preference. But I feel like these are 2 important points.

Things to dismiss when reading hotel reviews?

I always dismiss things like:-

%26#39;There was no free WiFi!%26#39; or %26#39;The WiFi access was slow!%26#39;

When I%26#39;m holiday I don%26#39;t even think about using the internet - I guess it%26#39;s different for someone there on business.

Also %26#39;The room smelled of smoke!%26#39;. I%26#39;m a smoker so this would not bother me (although I appreciate how it would be unpleasant for a non smoker).

%26#39;The bathroom was small!%26#39; is another one - you should see how small our bathroom at home is, so a small hotel bathroom doesn%26#39;t bother us either.

People who complain about their room assignment, that it wasn%26#39;t what they asked for when they made the reservation, just to find out they checked in at midnight-2am on a weekend.

If a hotel review starts out negative, it often continues that way. The poster will have one negative experience after another. I pretty much dismiss these reviews as unobjective.

IMO, you should take most amateur reviews with a lump of salt. You don%26#39;t have any idea in most cases what the person%26#39;s frame of reference is, what their expectation level is (';There was no mint on my pillow at Circus Circus!';), where they%26#39;ve been before, etc.

It%26#39;s fun for people to state their opinions (just look at all the posts on this forum), but you need to do other research if you%26#39;re really going to use it to make decisions; guide books, professional travel reviewers, etc.

Look at the posts here on restaurants; half the people say a place is great, the other half say the food is average, the place is noisy, the service is spotty.

Look at the hotel-related posts; half say the Bellagio is fabulous, half say it%26#39;s past it%26#39;s prime and run-down.

I had to laugh yesterday when someone asked about a restaurant, someone replied that they didn%26#39;t like it, so the OP said they%26#39;d cross it off their list.

That%26#39;s not to say that the people who report that they had a bad experience at a hotel/restaurant/show didn%26#39;t actually experience those things, but you have no way of knowing how serious they really were, and there%26#39;s not necessarily an indication of whether it%26#39;ll also be that way for you when or if you go.

I take reviews with a grain of salt. To put it bluntly, some peole are jerks. They will write a horrible review, when the average person will find it pleasant.

Reviews are nothing but personal expereinces, one of the major principle of psychology. Your view of the world is highly subjective, how one views the world, may be tottally different from your won view.

Expectations also play a big role

Comfort of beds - without saying why they thought it was or wasn%26#39;t comfortable. Firm? Soft? Comfortable means different things to different people.

Crowds - Um, hello, it%26#39;s Las Vegas (or insert any other major city). There are going to be people and lines everywhere. If you want to do/see/eat something popular, be prepared to wait. I once heard patience is not the ability to wait, but rather your attitude while waiting.

I never pay much attention to descriptions of the staff and their perceived attitudes - unless a very specific incident is recounted. I understand that even the hotel staff are human and can have bad days, but I have never encountered anyone who I thought was blatently rude or disrespectful. Plus, the people who write negative reviews about the staff are often (not always) the rude and negative one(s), and not the staff. A broad generalization... but that%26#39;s my thought.

Sorry, that got long-winded....

People who say....It was THE most comfortable bed I have EVER slept in EVER! The bed was absolutely divine...exquisite....amazing....heaven etc etc.

I swear....if I read this one more time I%26#39;m gonna slap the person who said it.

cheers

shirl%26#39;

Good point shirl!

I swear, the two most overused words today are ';amazing'; and ';awesome.';

Generally I just look at things that are simply statements of fact, rather than opinion:

What%26#39;s in the room, if things are broken/working, what amenities the hotel has, etc.

I generally ignore things that are statements of opinion:

Not worth the money, too snobby, etc.

And that goes even more so for restaurant reviews.

ok first of all I would like to reply to this post, because I LOVE your Richard Simmons avatar! LOL

I rarely read reviews, because I know who here on the forum I can trust so usually just ask questions here.

There are too many upset travelers (remember Vegas is a highly traveled destination) and former employees who think they%26#39;ll create problems for an establishment if they post negative comments.

Well and then there are VERY finicky people in this world, and I just am interested in clean and safe when I travel :)