The TripAdvisor Effect: Should we trust all online reviews we read? And are the famous Fairy Pools in Scotland a made up story from tour guides?

TripAdvisor has been in the news this week with breaking story across media sites about how one London man managed to get his garden shed listed on TripAdvisor as a restaurant then through a series of fake photos and reviews earned the coveted #1 ranking for best restaurant in London. If you haven’t heard the story, there are four articles at our website www.amidlifetraveler.com that you can get the details of, and it’s a good story. But what is the after-affect of this? Will it make people question or wonder more about the accuracy of online travel planning websites with ratings and reviews, such as TripAdvisor?

3 TAKEAWAYS

(1)Tourists have Monkey-See / Monkey-Do habits
Tourists tend to follow other tourists. While it can start at vacation planning by choosing destinations, hotels, and activities based on ratings of others, it continues into the vacation often with mindless tourist photo safari mentality that has so many people taking pretty much the exact same photos.


(2) The internet is drastically shaping travel and setting expectations of tourists.  
Travel booking sites with robust ratings and reviews are hugely influential for travelers for travel planning, for better or for worse. 

(3) “The Fairy Pools” on Isle of Skye was a story made up by tour guides
According to this pioneer tour guide who has led tours to the area for more than 10 years, there was not a place in the Isle of Skye named the Fairy Pools, until guides started to call it that. What began years ago as a story to share with groups of backpackers, has today evolved into a place topping many ‘must see’ lists for Scotland.


For show notes and more information please visit www.amidlifetraveler.com

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