Tripadvisor - Real property or not?

skir2000

Hi,

Looking for some help on this. I am looking for accommodation for a group in New York City for December. As we are a group, we assume that renting a property for the duration of our stay will work out cheaper than individual hotel rooms. From looking at tripadvisor, I see that there are quite a few properties, in the middle of Manhattan that seem to be really really cheap. As in way too good to be true.

See this as an example: I cannot post links, but do a search for "Great Central Park West Real 4 BR Apartment !!!" in trip advisor. It is only €74 per night in Manhattan!

Has anyone done anything similar on tripadvisor, how do I know the property is real or a scam. I have heard too many stories about people booking a property, heading off on their holiday only to realise when they arrive that the place doesn't exist or some renter who they have already paid didnt even own the premises.

I have tried looking online for information on this but every link i tried directed me to articles and discussions about the tripadvisor review policy - which I am not wholly interested in.

In short, do they verify every property/property owner?

Help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
S

killbillvol2

skir2000 wrote: »

In short, do they verify every property/property owner?

S

They do not. And they leave reviews after they've been informed that they're inaccurate.

The best example I can think of offhand is a place rated as the Number 4 for nightlife in Bangkok. It has a number of fake reviews saying it's a great music venue and one guy trying to point out that is isn't a music bar, it's a brothel. (I stayed in a hotel near it. It's not a music bar). Tripadvisor has done nothing to correct this for months.

skir2000

Hmmm, that is extremely worrying... considering the site is a reviews portal.

What is the point if they dont verify properties and reviews and fix issues. Fair enough if they miss some, I can imagine it is a big job, but not verifying reviews is a joke.

Anyone else got any experiences with this?

killbillvol2

I looked at the property you referred to in your OP.

It has 5 reviews, one of which actually questions if the property exists. Do you need flashing lights to warn you off?

skir2000

That is why I used the phrase "See this as an example"

iusedtoknow

You are better to go through agencies such as VRBO etc

Just remember...property in Manhattan is among the most expensive per square foot in the world, so it will be almost impossible to get an apartment over the size of 3 bedrooms, and that will likely cost up to 1000 a night

athtrasna

iusedtoknow wrote: »

You are better to go through agencies such as VRBO etc

Just remember...property in Manhattan is among the most expensive per square foot in the world, so it will be almost impossible to get an apartment over the size of 3 bedrooms, and that will likely cost up to 1000 a night

Also remember that short term lets of private dwellings are illegal on Manhattan unless the stay is for more than 30 days.

coylemj

All Tripadvisor care about is that they get a large volume of reviews and that they can bully persuade people to buy the TA notices to display on the premises. If you don't buy the sign, you may find that people start writing bad reviews about your business.

skir2000

thanks for the info everyone, i think we are going to go for the hotel option

MeMeJK1

You could try AirBnB instead. Might be another option.