Great article in today's Globe about the success of Trip Advisor.

TRIPADVISOR INC. TAPPED INTO the power of social media right from the company’s start in 2000 by inviting travelers to write online reviews of hotels and attractions — long before the Internet became inundated with opinions from everyday consumers on Yelp, Facebook, and other websites.

The Newton company has since grown into the largest online travel service in the world, with 100 million reviews and 200 million unique monthly visitors to its websites.

TripAdvisor puts power in the hands of consumers, who can easily sort through unvarnished opinions and realistic photographs from fellow travelers. It displays hotels, vacation rentals, museums, and other tourist attractions in cities all over the world in order of their popularity among customers.

The company has had a profound impact on the hospitality industry, giving priceless exposure to tiny restaurants with no advertising budgets while holding hotel managers publicly accountable for lumpy beds and rude front-desk clerks.

Well...except that one of the problems with Trip Advisor is that they have been caught more than once publishing fake reviews. I'm sure it's somewhat difficult to disprove real and fake reviews..but somehow Trip Advisor seems to repeatedly be in the news regarding this.

I post in the Boston and NH forums sporadically..but this is actually another issue I have with TripAdvisor. At least in the Boston forum...their "destination experts" tend to be locals and in some cases travel related business owners. It is clear that almost all of the Boston destination experts have never even stayed in the hotels they recommend to travelers. I disagree with this model. In my opinion..the so called experts should be consist of travelers..who have stayed in the hotels..or visited the restaurants or experience the touristy things such as tours and trolleys. Rather..it seems that the destination experts are people who have racked up thousands of posts and/or who are really adept at using Google maps.

All in all I far prefer Yelp for my recommendations for most things.In fact..I find yelp much more user friendly. For restaurants..I even prefer Yelp to Chowhound. Chowhound is okay..but overall the people who post there are "foodies" who turn their nose up at most casual places. If I want to try a new sub shop..or pizza place..or little hole in the wall place..Yelp is the best place to get info.

Ok, I tried to stir the pot on that one .

I don't post on any of the forums you mentioned... but I do like to read them, especially if I plan on trying some place new. Everyone's tastes are so different, I mostly look for a dire warning on a place.

I agree, if someone is going to be an expert on a hotel or restaurant ....they really need to have stayed or eaten at the places they comment on. Guess that makes me more of an expert than the so called experts.

For hometown reviews, I like the town Facebook pages. We have a great one for our town, although I've noticed it can get very heated from time to time when it comes to reviews.

In response to ms_obstinate's comment:

You are too funny..lol. I do like many of the review sites for recommendations. I am at the point where I will rarely go someplace new unless I've checked out the reviews. I've found that the best way to avoid the "fake"reviews on all those types of review sites is to only read the reviews that are 3 stars. I think those reviews give you the most honest view of a place.

When I do review a place..I rarely give a one star or a 5 star.

It's funny you mention Facebook. I get a lot of recommendations there too.

I think most of us "visitors" to Boston know more about the city than the so-called experts too!