Review how much to believe
Comments
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Yes, seems quite commonplace on Club review pages. I can only speak for U.K. Based sites, but it's not uncommon to get the odd review that stands out from others, usually a negative one. We search reviews on other websites as well, and try to use things like Google Earth to see as much as we can. But it can be a bit of a lottery.
Disappointing for you to travel so far, but good that an alternative worked out well. We tend to read reviews from other members who share our likes and dislikes, and sometimes PM them to ask a bit more. Mind you, I think you tend to get further than most Members do, more likely they will be asking you!
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I often read reviews after I have been somewhere. Sometimes I wonder if it was the same place I went to.
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We went several times to a small, family owned hotel in Jaipur, India. One day the lady owner sent a message to us here at home, "Have you seen the review someone has posted? Will you write one of your own please" . She must have written to all her regular customers because the offending review was quickly driven well down on to page two and beyond.
But why was one family critical? They were Americans on their first foray outside the USA, with different life experience and different expectations of what India would be like. It was all very different for them and they were insecure, and critical.
And doesn't the same happen with first timers writing reviews on campsites in Europe? "There was no toilet paper, the shower block was unisex, the WCs had no seats, I could see men pissing" It's all very different for them too. So they are critical too.
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We always look at the reviews before visiting a site.People's preferences are different, so we take that into account. When people complain that there's no restaurant, for instance, we ignore that as we don't want one. Overall we find the reviews very useful. If there's a poor review, but all the rest are fine, we take the view of the majority.
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We often find the site reviews very useful but as has been said on here before one persons opinion can differ from another persons. We normally read the reviews to get a feel of what the site is like and can normally see the difference between a genuine complaint and someone just moaning about something trivial. I always leave an honest review for the sites we visit and hope that others find them useful.
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I just see them as snap shots but I like honest reviews, I'm generally more interested if there are details about what's available to do locally. Some reviews are genuine grievances others are due to the participants not having read the small print. The ones I tend to ignore are about queues for the showers etc, it's of no personal interest to me but might be to some. I take an overall view, mostly good reviews, probably a reasonable site.
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I think if there are several reviews of the same site you can generally sort out the wheat from the chaff. If there is only one review I will look else where for reviews of the same site. The date of the reviews is also important to note, a lot can change in a couple of years.
peedee
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It happens on all reviews, we had a great time at our over there hotel and resort in the summer and most reviews argreed with ours, but some reviews written about the same time we were there were totally the opposite and we thought must have been about a totally different place!
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I do what most do when reading reviews, ie go with the majority as it were. I think that sometimes reviews can be adversely affected by circumstances at the time, such as a lot of rain can make a site look, and feel, rather unappealing in some ways; similarly, negative experiences with noisy neighbours can influence reviews. Those are things outside the control of any site of course (although arguably in the case of persistent noisy neighbours, it would give an idea of how a site dealt with that).
But as has been said already, bad reviews can do much damage.
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We read reviews and take half of them with a pinch of salt. We tend to look for common denominators. As we’re in a motorhome, local transport information is useful but rarely forthcoming.
We were on a site during the summer holiday where we have been several times before and really like. The showers were left in a filthy state with grass and mud everywhere. We wouldn’t blame the site, the toilets and showers are regularly cleaned. It won’t stop us going back, but only in term time. And don’t get me started on unflushed toilets. Bet they flush at home.
Nora
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Most Club Sites contrast greatly between conditions during school holidays and conditions during term time. The reviews posted bear this out as well.
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I have to say, I don't very often use the reviews on here, as by and large, I have always found CAMC sites fairly consistent. I do use the reviews more on UKCampsite.co.uk though, if I'm using a non-Club site, but you have to be careful.
What I sometimes do is to look particularly for the reviews that are over critical or over generous. I then trace back other reviews left by the same poster. You can then get a flavour as to how critical or generous they are with their remarks. It also gives you a flavour of what they consider to be a good or bad site. Especially good if you find they have left a review of a site you have visited. Then, after doing this, I make my judgement.
David
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Like you David, I read reviews and glean as much information as I can before making my (hopefully) informed decision. I have contacted members on CT regarding sites in Cornwall and am appreciative of their thoughts and knowledge.
The information available to us nowadays through social media and the web is massive and most of which, I still err on the side of caution - after all, it's only one person's personal opinion. However, a damaging review can really get alarm bells ringing. Are we brave enough to go somewhere which has consistantly bad reviews? Me, I always have a plan B - just in case.
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It is useful when you spot a review written by someone you know from a forum because you probably already have an idea of their likes and dislikes.
This paid off for me when I was researching Hebridean sites on UK Campsite and I spotted reviews written by a CT member. He subsequently gave me all sorts of tips and sent pics. Another member here wrote stories about Orkney & Shetland which proved useful. That's where being part of a community comes into its own. 👍🏻👍🏻
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Whilst away recently on a CL another guy on site was telling me that he went to one of the nearby club sites just to have a look and was amazed that the pitches were "big enough to get car, caravan and awning side by side on the pitch". He also said that he thought the CL that we were on, at half an acre, was a bit small for five caravans (which it undoubtedly wasn't). A bit of a contradiction in standards I think. He claimed to have been caravanning for "quite some time" and didn't always go on CLs but where had he actually been if he was amazed by the club site ?. If he wrote a review of a site would it actually be meaningful? Who knows..
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I have seen a number of critical reviews on club sites and when we have used them the criticism has generally not been fair in our opinion. Every review forum has unjustified bad reviews and probably some over the top good ones. You just have to look at the majority and go along with that.
Frankly all club sites are well run and maintained to a very high standard, so an odd complaint that this is not the case is almost certainly false. The odd member will fall out withe a warden sometimes and this can skew the report, although on a couple of occasions we have seen wardens who have been wrong.
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There are a few Club Sites that still break the mould, but in general they are all very similar. The Racecourse type sites tend to be different, and some of the no facility ones are again different. But agree, outside of these aspects, its more about location, what to see and do, transport links.
CLs are different. A good CL review can be very worthwhile to anyone wavering about visiting. I expect overseas sites and private site reviews to be similar, all very different.
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I think quite a few club sites break the mould really. Marazion, Yellowcraigs, Godrevy, Kendal, Plymouth Sound, Black Knowl (as it was) and that’s just off the top of my head.
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Certainly agree with Marazion and Yellowcraig, both are great Club Sites outside school holidays. Possibly the most different site we have used is Nunnykirk. It has remained almost totally unchanged in the thirty years we have been members. We love it, but quite sure a lot of others would loathe it. It's as close to being on a CL as a Club Site can be. CL prices as well!
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Which just proves there’s room for all sorts of sites and the reviews can highlight those differences.👍🏻
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Equally with CLs.
Am currently staying on one that has 5-6 reviews published on face-book and one by a Dutch person who denigrated the site as against the others praising it to the heavens. I have not reviewed it yet but will do so along the lines of the majority as I feel that their comments are more accurate.
I suppose that at the end of the day it is all down to personal choice and maybe the foreigners had higher expectations. .
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And don't some CL owners wish "Content (could) be removed!"
Thats on topic by the way!
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so do CL's get reviews on trip advisor? (don't know why that question was removed?)
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