What are your thoughts about the credibility or quality of user reviews?
It is desirable to make the right choice of products or services, in order to feel satisfied and to avoid wasting money and time. Travelling can be an expensive enterprise requiring a lot of organisation. Access to free reviews on a site such as Tripadvisor is a good resource, as long as one approaches these reviews with a degree of common sense, and does not rely solely upon user reviews to make a decision.
An important factor relating to credibility and quality of reviews, is identifying the author and their motivation for writing the review. McIntyre, McQuarrie & Shanmugam (2015) suggest that authors of online reviews, particularly regular contributors, are not writing for reward, monetary or otherwise, but are in fact writing out of a desire to have published material in a place where a large audience, not just one’s Facebook friends, are likely to read it (p. 12). Judging by the 65% of travelers researching online before travelling (Collie, as cited in Fang, Ye, Kucukusta, & Law, 2016, p. 498) , the readership is indeed there. If writing for publication, not reward, the majority of reviews are more likely to be honest and aim to be helpful, making them a decent place to find information to influence decision making, as long as the possibility of fake reviews, both positive and negative, is taken into consideration.
Could they be used as good evidence of the quality of services or products?
The helpfulness ratings used by Tripadvisor, allowing the reader to rate the review, is an excellent feature which greatly helps reviews to be used as good evidence for quality of a product or service. Not only does this rating ability help readers choose which reviews to read but also provides product and service managers an opportunity to address issues found in reviews that are affecting customer choices (Fang et al, 2016, p. 499). Fang et al. is of the opinion that reviews could be particularly important for attractions (compared to hotels and restaurants) as a pointless attraction can ruin an entire trip, where a bad meal may not (p. 499). However, I do think that attractions can also be a very subjective thing for each traveler, as different people find enjoyment in different things but no one really likes bad chicken or cockroaches in a hotel room!
Personally, I like to read online reviews in conjunction with speaking to people I know who may have been to the location or used the product or service. Reviews also are better evidence if there is a good number of reviews and reading a selection of them provides a similar picture. I also take into account my own preferences for accommodation requirements, travel experiences and food choices. Some people are pickier than others! In short, you never know until you go!
How do you think about charging customers for leaving bad reviews on Tripadvisor?
This is just terrible business. Far better to fix the problems identified by the reviewer, if the complaints are reasonable. Charging them just makes your product or service look even worse and that information will get out there somehow. There is very little hiding to be done in today’s socially networked environment!
References
Fang, B., Ye, Q., Kucukusta, D., & Law, R. (2016). Analysis of the perceived value of online tourism reviews: Influence of readability and reviewer characteristics. Tourism Management, 52 (February), 498-506. doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2015.07.018
McIntyre, S. H., McQuarrie, E. F., & Shanmugam, R. (2015). How online reviews create social network value: The role of feedback versus individual motivation. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 1-16. doi:10.1080/0965254X.2015.1095218