In early 2008, we were planning a European holiday, and I was trying to work out the best way to do it. We had a travel agent, but I wanted to do some research of my own. High on my list of priorities was my desire to follow a few stages of the Tour de France. Bluntly, I wanted to ‘Yell for Cadel’! We’d never had an Aussie winner, and I thought this was his year. It wasn’t, but he came close.

I was discussing our plans with friends, my bike riding buddy and his wife,  over dinner. They were much better travelled than we were, and I knew that my bike-riding buddy’s wife did all their travel planning and bookings herself. She pointed me towards TripAdvisor, which at the time I had never heard of.

That conversation changed my whole approach to travel.

For that trip, my favourite person and I worked out the itinerary with our travel agent. These days, however, I largely handle planning our holidays. That is partly because I enjoy doing it. In fact, the planning is half the fun.

Since that first trip, we have generally used a travel agent only to book our flights and arranged everything else ourselves. The process has involved reading books, listening to podcasts (one I’ve used a lot in the past is  Amateur Traveller, reading blogs and spending many hours trawling through reviews, often on TripAdvisor, but these days I also use others

Of course, ratings matter, but I often find the commentary provides the real insight.

For example, a few years ago, we were planning a visit to Barcelona and looking at hotels. One reviewer was quite negative about a hotel, largely because it did not have a restaurant.

It was Barcelona! There must have been a million restaurants and tapas bars within easy reach. Did it really matter that the hotel itself did not have a restaurant?

We stayed there and loved it.

The reviewer gave the hotel a lower rating than it might otherwise have received, but the detail in the review told me a story. It let me judge for myself what mattered to us, rather than simply accepting someone else’s rating.

That is what I value most about reading travel reviews. They provide information, but the trick is to understand what matters to the person writing them and decide whether it matters to you.

Writing reviews – looking for the positive

As well as reading reviews, I have written them. In fact, I have written hundreds over the years.

I tend to look for the positive, taking the view my favourite person often expresses so well: “It’s nice to be nice.”

That doesn’t mean ignoring shortcomings or pretending every experience has been wonderful. I have always tried to be objective, but I prefer to focus on the positives where I can. If I have had a bad experience, I have generally raised it at the time with the waiter or written directly to the venue rather than simply using a public review to vent my frustration.

A good example is from a couple of years ago.

We had a very disappointing meal at a highly acclaimed restaurant. I was pretty disappointed and let our waiter know.

A day or so later, we received a feedback request. I completed it and explained my concerns about the meal and our experience.

The response was excellent. The restaurant acknowledged the issues, apologised and offered us a complimentary three-course meal.

We accepted the offer, and our second visit was delightful.

I could have simply written a scathing review and left it at that. Instead, we gave the restaurant an opportunity to respond, and it turned a disappointing experience into a very positive one.

As I said, it’s nice to be nice.

Reviews are a record of our travels

Another benefit of writing travel reviews is something I didn’t fully appreciate when I started. They provide a record of the places we have visited, which we can revisit ourselves or use when friends ask for recommendations.

Some years ago, I couldn’t remember the name of a delightful bed and breakfast we stayed at in Rome. I eventually found it by going back through my TripAdvisor reviews.

When we planned another trip that included a stay in Rome, I checked the B&B’s more recent reviews. I discovered that it was still under the same ownership, with the same front-of-house staff.

We booked again, and it was just as good as we remembered.

Then, only last week, a friend asked me about Portugal. I recommended a delightful hotel in Lisbon, but only after checking my old TripAdvisor reviews to remember its name.

Without those reviews, both places might have been lost somewhere in the recesses of my memory.

It’s nice to be nice

I think there is a lesson in all of this.

Reviews are useful to travellers because they offer insights glossy brochures and hotel websites cannot always provide.  The reviews are written by people independent of the site; they reflect their own views, rather than a marketing department’s. I suspect they are also useful to the businesses being reviewed, particularly when feedback is fair, constructive, and gives them a chance to put things right.

For those of us who write reviews, they become a personal record of our travels, the places we enjoyed, and the experiences we want to remember.

I will continue to read reviews when planning our holidays, and I will continue to write them when I think I have something useful to share. In fact, I did so on the weekend when we had a quick trip for a family wedding in central Victoria.

I will also try to remember that a review is not just about awarding stars or pointing out what went wrong. It is about sharing an experience that might help somebody else make a decision.

And, as my favourite person keeps reminding me, it’s nice to be

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