I'm off on holiday soon and have just been checking up on reviews of the hotel we're staying at , it isn't on the list here so I will do a report when I get back , so I have been checking up on a well known review site and there is a very good sample size to gain a reasonable grading of what to expect , but some of the reviews are not exactly helpful , the latest review ( who's a one hit wonder) has informed the masses that this is not a 5* hotel , and anyone who says it is has not stayed at a 5* hotel .
I think we can all have an opinion on what we think the grade is , but is it really accurate ? I'm certainly no expert in hotel grading , I've never worked in the hotel trade , I have never had paid employment as a hotel inspector , I have no real knowledge of what the criteria is for awarding stars , so my definition of what grade the hotel is fairly worthless it is just merely my opinion , I can only really report on my own experience and how I felt about my stay .
Another review told me that it wasn't really 5* because they didn't have smoked salmon at breakfast , I must admit it did find this very disappointing as I do like 2 pieces of wholemeal toast , scrambled egg and smoked salmon washed down with cava ( sparkling wine is acceptable , champagne preferable ) for my breakfast , I fear I will have to email the manager in advance of my requirements otherwise I will just have to slum it and have coco pops .
I'm still really excited about my holiday but these 2 reviewers have put seeds of doubt in my mind , maybe I should just " believe" the other 100 or so who have something positive to say and enjoyed their holiday there .

Any, generally speaking the star grading of a hotel has nothing to do with food etc, I've always been led to believe that it's the facilities it supplies such as swimming pools, gym etc.

The place we stayed in last year had holes in our sheets but they were clean holey sheets so it certainly didn't detract from our holiday

andy66 wrote:

I'm off on holiday soon and have just been checking up on reviews of the hotel we're staying at , it isn't on the list here so I will do a report when I get back , so I have been checking up on a well known review site and there is a very good sample size to gain a reasonable grading of what to expect , but some of the reviews are not exactly helpful , the latest review ( who's a one hit wonder) has informed the masses that this is not a 5* hotel , and anyone who says it is has not stayed at a 5* hotel .
I think we can all have an opinion on what we think the grade is , but is it really accurate ? I'm certainly no expert in hotel grading , I've never worked in the hotel trade , I have never had paid employment as a hotel inspector , I have no real knowledge of what the criteria is for awarding stars , so my definition of what grade the hotel is fairly worthless it is just merely my opinion , I can only really report on my own experience and how I felt about my stay .
Another review told me that it wasn't really 5* because they didn't have smoked salmon at breakfast , I must admit it did find this very disappointing as I do like 2 pieces of wholemeal toast , scrambled egg and smoked salmon washed down with cava ( sparkling wine is acceptable , champagne preferable ) for my breakfast , I fear I will have to email the manager in advance of my requirements otherwise I will just have to slum it and have coco pops .
I'm still really excited about my holiday but these 2 reviewers have put seeds of doubt in my mind , maybe I should just " believe" the other 100 or so who have something positive to say and enjoyed their holiday there .

Your comment about slumming it and having coco pops made me lol. another comment good for a laugh about breakfasts in when people say things like they weren't real cornflakes - presumably some kind of hologram then?

I think that 'this is not a five star hotel' is another one of those classic statements that people trot out in reviews, when they haven't really thought through what they are going to say.

I would far rather people told me about what a hotel does have than what it doesn't have. I think you have to read a fair few reviews to try and get a balanced picture of a place.

Sometimes you can read a review of a hotel you have stayed in and what the reviewer is moaning about us actually true, but it's the kind of thing that really didn't bother you so you still had a brilliant holiday whereas they put in a mediocre report.

I always do my research but over the years you develop an "eye" for the truth

Probably ignore the worse 10 % and the most gushing 10%

Look at the time lines of reviews - how many times have you read reviews from the same week from 2 different reviews and wondered how someone stayed in a war zone and the other stayed in nirvana!!! Same hotel but wholly different opinions.

My personal favourite is someone complaining about other hotel guests during their stay - the hotel takes the booking but has no control over the calibre and nature of the people. It is not the hotel's fault if their children are unruly;noisy;etc Similarly don't travel to areas were Brits will be in a minority and then complain about "foreigners" - I am thinking here particularly eastern Med/Turkey.

Look at the wide range of review sites - foreign and domestic. I find good reviews from German websites are generally a good guide.

I won't be complaining if my towel is a little frayed, even if it is a 5 star.

I find good reviews from German websites are generally a good guide.

But only if you read German

del949 wrote:

I find good reviews from German websites are generally a good guide.

But only if you read German :)

Google translator does the job

Numbers are universal