Revisão do Trip Advisor

Is TripAdvisor safe to book hotels?

Just how safe is TripAdvisor to book hotels?

We usually encourage our members to book their flight and accommodation separately, so it’s a question we get quite often here at The Getaway Lounge.

TripAdvisor is a very safe platform for you to book your next trip. In fact, they’re one of the biggest and most active price comparison sites in the world, meaning they are well equipped to safely manage a range of enquiries and potential problems.

But we can totally understand why you might be suspicious.

Besides, if you haven’t booked with them before it’s only natural to be cautious.

And they have racked up some negativity in recent years.

So, in this post we’re going to explain exactly why you don’t need to worry about that, whilst covering some frequently asked questions so you can better decide for yourself.

Is TripAdvisor reliable?

TripAdvisor have been established for many years now, and they are just as reliable as many of the other top sites when it comes to accommodation and price comparisons.

In fact, they’re one of the largest travel e-commerce companies in the world.

Yes, they’ve been accused of being too loose allowing fake reviews on their website sometimes, but this is common with many travel companies across the globe!

How does TripAdvisor manage hotel reviews?

According to TripAdvisor, they have an industry-leading team of fraud investigators who work tirelessly to protect the site from fake reviews.

They are confident that their approach works and is one of the reasons they are trusted by many millions of consumers worldwide.

With that said, they have come under scrutiny over recent years about how they manage reviews.

In fact, Which.co.uk recently underwent an investigation about this, and found that fake reviews were pushing hotels up the rankings.

Despite this however, TripAdvisor still remains a highly reputable resource for travel planning, and they will now be monitoring this situation very closely.

Besides, there are ways you can better gauge the reliability of these reviews.

How to read TripAdvisor hotel reviews

Like all big platforms that heavily rely on reviews from the public, it’s no secret that a significant proportion of them will be biased or fake.

So, when reading or scanning through TripAdvisor hotel reviews, we recommend looking out for posts from frequent users in order to get a more accurate picture.

Most people who leave a review on TripAdvisor regularly do so or have done in the past, so you would expect that in a very good hotel a significant number of positive opinions would be left by top contributors.

A “top contributor” would be someone who has posted many reviews in the past, and you can see this detail just underneath their name on the review itself.

The more suspicious hotels may have a number of positive reviews left by people who have never left a review anywhere before, which could be a sign that they are indeed fake, and this may ring alarm bells.

Are TripAdvisor ATOL protected?

The law states that your holiday must be protected if it is a package holiday.

And so if you decide to arrange a trip yourself and book your flights and accommodation separately, you won’t be ATOL protected with TripAdvisor.

Are TripAdvisor covered by ABTA?

ABTA is designed to cover holidays bought in the UK that don’t include flights.

TripAdvisor do not generally sell “holidays” and therefore they are not a member of this scheme.

Is my money safe with TripAdvisor?

Absolutely – your credit card information and personal data is secure in the system.

They usually redirect you to one of their booking partners, but if you are making a reservation on their platform – you can be safe in the knowledge that your money will be safe with TripAdvisor.

How does TripAdvisor work for booking hotels?

Today, they are predominantly a hotel comparison site, partnering with companies such as booking.com and Expedia in order to help you find the best rates for a particular place.

For example, you might find that the same hotel on the same dates etc. is £30 cheaper by booking with Expedia rather than booking.com, so it’s a great tool to use.

What’s more, you can also book certain hotels directly through their website, although they do have very limited availability when it comes to the type of accommodation on offer. 

How can I mitigate the risk of there being any problems?

Assuming you’ve done a little research before booking your accommodation, 99% of the time you shouldn’t have to worry about anything.

That said, there would be no harm in taking some precautions to mitigate any miscommunications between the booking site and the hotel.

For example, you could confirm directly with the hotel that they have received your reservation.

If you have any further requirements such as the balcony view, or breakfast included – you could even go as far as double checking this with the accommodation provider.

This way you can be even more certain that they’re expecting you, and everything should be in order.

You shouldn’t have to do any of the above, but I guess you might find it necessary.

Conclusion

TripAdvisor is an incredibly safe platform for you to compare prices and book your next trip with.

They might not come with ATOL or ABTA protection, but this is true for all “non package” holidays!

If you don’t like the idea of not being covered however, then a travel agent may be your best bet.

Similarly, if you don’t like the idea of having to browse through the platform, we would recommend a travel agent.

Otherwise, TripAdvisor is a great option.

It will take a bit of time getting used to, but you’ll soon pick it up.

And you’ll start to enjoy the control you have when booking your own accommodation!