Hotel reviews can be extremely helpful when you're deciding where to stay. Instead of just the hotel's glowing report of their facilities and service, you get to read about what their guests thought—warts and all.  But how can you interpret all those reviews, and sift out what people are really saying about their stay?

The hotel rating

Review sites allow users to rate the hotel they have stayed at; the higher the rating, the better the hotel. You can choose to view hotels in order of their rating. This means that you don't have to spend ages wading through the poorer ones, and can concentrate instead on those that have received positive reviews from previous guests. If you stick to these hotels, you have a good chance of enjoying your stay too.

Look for hotels that have a high number of reviews. The more reviews there are the more accurate the picture you get will be. For example, if only five people have reviewed a hotel and all have given it a rave review this might not be as meaningful or accurate as a hotel with 65 positive reviews.

Previous guests' comments

Everyone has their own idea of what equates to good accommodation and service.  Read through the negative remarks as well as the positive, and look for feedback on aspects of the hotel that might concern you. For example, if you're a light sleeper, you might want to avoid a hotel with lots of complaints about loud street noise right outside. However, if there are complaints that the Wi-Fi connection in the room wasn't very reliable, and you never use the internet while you're on holiday anyway, that won't be a problem for you.

You always get one or two people who hate the hotel—if fifty others rave about it, go with the majority.

Expectations

It's important to think about where you're going in order to manage your expectations. For example, if you're visiting a very old city and staying in a 1920s hotel, don't expect modern lifts and huge air-conditioned rooms. Bad reviews can sometimes result simply because the reviewer was unrealistic in their expectations of a particular country or resort.

Make sure you can 'see the wood for the trees'

To avoid being swamped by reviews and ending up confused open a new tab in your browser for each hotel you're considering. If you read too many poor reviews on a hotel, close the tab and move on the next one. In this way you'll be left with a short-list of the best to choose from.

Hotel reviews can be extremely helpful when deciding where to stay for your holiday or business trip. Read people's comments objectively, have realistic expectations and don't become overwhelmed by 'review-blindness'.

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