I'm reviewing the situation
Time is money.
Money is power.
Sure we've all heard those lots of times. But what is the greatest resource of all? Well, I think it has to be "Information".
Let's face it, those that have got lots of money and power didn't get it by luck. Well apart from footballers, pop stars, lottery winners, film stars...oh actually, that's quite a lot...scrub that argument.
OK, well let's forget about using information to make money (it can be done). I'm more interested in using information to save money or get the best possible value for money.
Whenever one contemplates a purchase of any kind, from the lowest (say a newspaper) to the highest (say a house) our lives are one constant round of decision making processes.
Generally the more expensive the purchase the more important we get it right and the more time one should invest upon it. Generally I would say that it is not worth spending all morning on the internet in order to decide what sandwich you are going to buy for lunch. If you even have time to do that.
Generally in the past there was less information available than there is now. None at all in some cases. Booking a holiday was pretty much a lottery. But for consumer durables, in the pre-internet era, and indeed now, there was the legendary "Which?"
Well, legendary in our household anyway. I am not entirely sure when Which started, but sometime in my formative years, probably back in the late 70s I discovered a large stash of mysterious magazines in the house. No - sadly, not those sort of magazines...but it turned out that my Dad had stacks and stacks of these Which magazines. As time went by I came to realise that this publication was practically Biblical in the way that my Dad would swear by it! No purchase was ever made without consultation of Which. He has every edition since it started I believe and it is now online too. And still going strong it seems, as if I ever consult my Dad on any potential purchase even now, I can guarantee the phrase "Ah, I think Which did a review of those a while back, I shall have to have a look and see which came out best".
I really must take a look through this collection at some point - I think I would find it quite fascinating to see how they rated things in the past e.g. what was the best VCR to buy in 1985?
But anecdotes about Which aside, I am very keen to use reviews on the internet when it comes to making decisions, but you have to beware some of the pitfalls here.
I guess the two main sites I use are Amazon for goods and Trip Advisor for holidays. The first thing to take account of is the number of reviews. From my market research days I know the larger the sample size the better, so you are always going to get a more representative view of something with 500 reviews than something with 10.
I've also come to the conclusion not to read too much into a few terribly negative reviews. You are always going to get the odd Victor Meldrew let's face it, then there can always be the odd dodgy review from the bloke who's got the hotel next door posing as a guest. But generally the more reviews, the more the consensus opinion will give a reliable result. But you still have to adjust what you read for your own personal tastes.
Not that you have to agree with it. Look at these 3 statements.
a) Denis is my favourite restaurant in Bicester
b) Denis is the best restaurant in Bicester
c) Denis is the #1 rated restaurant in Bicester on Trip Advisor.
OK - just to analyse, these are all 3 ways of singing Denis's phrase. The only real difference between the first two is that the first is stating an opinion, whereas the second is trying to force ones own opinion as a statement of fact. Always best to go with a) I think as no-one can dispute you if you say that whereas it is impossible to justify b) unless you use c) as your argument, which still doesn't really wash, as it is only a consensus of opinions. So which/ who is right? Well in my case, not a) because Denis is not my favourite restaurant in Bicester - that is in fact Maba, but can I say Maba is the best? Well it's the best for me, but everyone has got different tastes. Denis is indeed #1 on Trip Advisor and Maba is #6, this is out of 46 in total, so both are well rated, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Why did I choose Denis? Because it is #1 on Trip Advisor, so the best one to illustrate my point.
You can get too hung up on all of this and one of the dangers of relying on reviews is that a lot of people write a lot of crap. However it's not difficult to sort out the wheat from the chaff, and quite honestly the appalling spelling and grammar of some reviewers is enough to make you discount anything they have written from the start, and if that sounds elitist, so be it.
I don't think I have booked a hotel anywhere in the world in the last 12 years at least without consulting Trip Advisor or Holidays Uncovered before that. I'm really glad that I did, because I've rarely gone far wrong. But the next holiday coming up, I've taken a big chance with - although we are staying in one of my favourite places in the whole world, Corralejo, I've booked us into a hotel we haven't been too before, and recent reviews since we booked have been bad. The recent I have booked this hotel is because not all of them do 2 bedroom apartments, which I think is really important. Yes, it's a few hundred quid extra, but the extra space and the children having their own bedroom rather than sleeping on the couch is a godsend.
But even so I am going fore-armed. I have read through these reviews very carefully and identified that it seems as if the complex is in a state of on-going refurbishment and that some of the rooms are modernised and some aren't. Nothing else can explain the polar opinions of the hotel - which has over 700 reviews. NB: I haven't read the older ones, because as far as I am concerned what happened in 2012 is of far more relevance than what happened in 2006.
It does seem that those people that complained as soon as they arrived if dumped in one of the horrible rooms were instantly upgraded to the better ones. Other reviewers who didn't ask to be moved just put up with it. So if there is any issue at all, I will be straight down to reception all guns blazing demanding we be moved - I have done it once before when we went to Ibiza, and the difference was amazing.
That was more to do with the size of the room than anything else but that was a deliberate ploy on my part, not wanting to pay an extra 500 quid with Thomas Cook for a 2 bedroom suite, I booked the smallest room and then upgraded us once we were there for 80 euros a week. Haven't done that this time, but I've got my plan of action all worked out. In fact such has been the extent of my research I already know pretty much the layout and room numbers so will probably know as soon as they hand over my key what the score is before I even see the room.
Claire is a little worried, but then she knows if there's a problem - I'll sort it, having witnessed a number of Jason the consumer champion's rages against the machine in the last couple of years!
I don't expect miracles, just something clean and comfortable. I can live with the odd bit of wear and tear. I think a lot of people go to holiday resorts with unrealistic expectations. It is not going to be like a Marriott or Holiday Inn or a swish city break hotel.
Going into any situation forearmed with better information that your "opposition" is the key to success in all walks of life. Forewarned is forearmed - now there is an expression I can relate to.
If you have enjoyed reading this blog, please take a look at my books on Amazon (Paperback & Kindle), where you can read lots more of the same! Click here.
Jason xx
Money is power.
Sure we've all heard those lots of times. But what is the greatest resource of all? Well, I think it has to be "Information".
Let's face it, those that have got lots of money and power didn't get it by luck. Well apart from footballers, pop stars, lottery winners, film stars...oh actually, that's quite a lot...scrub that argument.
OK, well let's forget about using information to make money (it can be done). I'm more interested in using information to save money or get the best possible value for money.
Whenever one contemplates a purchase of any kind, from the lowest (say a newspaper) to the highest (say a house) our lives are one constant round of decision making processes.
Generally the more expensive the purchase the more important we get it right and the more time one should invest upon it. Generally I would say that it is not worth spending all morning on the internet in order to decide what sandwich you are going to buy for lunch. If you even have time to do that.
Generally in the past there was less information available than there is now. None at all in some cases. Booking a holiday was pretty much a lottery. But for consumer durables, in the pre-internet era, and indeed now, there was the legendary "Which?"
Well, legendary in our household anyway. I am not entirely sure when Which started, but sometime in my formative years, probably back in the late 70s I discovered a large stash of mysterious magazines in the house. No - sadly, not those sort of magazines...but it turned out that my Dad had stacks and stacks of these Which magazines. As time went by I came to realise that this publication was practically Biblical in the way that my Dad would swear by it! No purchase was ever made without consultation of Which. He has every edition since it started I believe and it is now online too. And still going strong it seems, as if I ever consult my Dad on any potential purchase even now, I can guarantee the phrase "Ah, I think Which did a review of those a while back, I shall have to have a look and see which came out best".
I really must take a look through this collection at some point - I think I would find it quite fascinating to see how they rated things in the past e.g. what was the best VCR to buy in 1985?
But anecdotes about Which aside, I am very keen to use reviews on the internet when it comes to making decisions, but you have to beware some of the pitfalls here.
I guess the two main sites I use are Amazon for goods and Trip Advisor for holidays. The first thing to take account of is the number of reviews. From my market research days I know the larger the sample size the better, so you are always going to get a more representative view of something with 500 reviews than something with 10.
I've also come to the conclusion not to read too much into a few terribly negative reviews. You are always going to get the odd Victor Meldrew let's face it, then there can always be the odd dodgy review from the bloke who's got the hotel next door posing as a guest. But generally the more reviews, the more the consensus opinion will give a reliable result. But you still have to adjust what you read for your own personal tastes.
Not that you have to agree with it. Look at these 3 statements.
a) Denis is my favourite restaurant in Bicester
b) Denis is the best restaurant in Bicester
c) Denis is the #1 rated restaurant in Bicester on Trip Advisor.
OK - just to analyse, these are all 3 ways of singing Denis's phrase. The only real difference between the first two is that the first is stating an opinion, whereas the second is trying to force ones own opinion as a statement of fact. Always best to go with a) I think as no-one can dispute you if you say that whereas it is impossible to justify b) unless you use c) as your argument, which still doesn't really wash, as it is only a consensus of opinions. So which/ who is right? Well in my case, not a) because Denis is not my favourite restaurant in Bicester - that is in fact Maba, but can I say Maba is the best? Well it's the best for me, but everyone has got different tastes. Denis is indeed #1 on Trip Advisor and Maba is #6, this is out of 46 in total, so both are well rated, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Why did I choose Denis? Because it is #1 on Trip Advisor, so the best one to illustrate my point.
 |
| #1 on Trip Advisor - and a nice restaurant. Does not automatically mean it's the best though! |
You can get too hung up on all of this and one of the dangers of relying on reviews is that a lot of people write a lot of crap. However it's not difficult to sort out the wheat from the chaff, and quite honestly the appalling spelling and grammar of some reviewers is enough to make you discount anything they have written from the start, and if that sounds elitist, so be it.
I don't think I have booked a hotel anywhere in the world in the last 12 years at least without consulting Trip Advisor or Holidays Uncovered before that. I'm really glad that I did, because I've rarely gone far wrong. But the next holiday coming up, I've taken a big chance with - although we are staying in one of my favourite places in the whole world, Corralejo, I've booked us into a hotel we haven't been too before, and recent reviews since we booked have been bad. The recent I have booked this hotel is because not all of them do 2 bedroom apartments, which I think is really important. Yes, it's a few hundred quid extra, but the extra space and the children having their own bedroom rather than sleeping on the couch is a godsend.
But even so I am going fore-armed. I have read through these reviews very carefully and identified that it seems as if the complex is in a state of on-going refurbishment and that some of the rooms are modernised and some aren't. Nothing else can explain the polar opinions of the hotel - which has over 700 reviews. NB: I haven't read the older ones, because as far as I am concerned what happened in 2012 is of far more relevance than what happened in 2006.
It does seem that those people that complained as soon as they arrived if dumped in one of the horrible rooms were instantly upgraded to the better ones. Other reviewers who didn't ask to be moved just put up with it. So if there is any issue at all, I will be straight down to reception all guns blazing demanding we be moved - I have done it once before when we went to Ibiza, and the difference was amazing.
That was more to do with the size of the room than anything else but that was a deliberate ploy on my part, not wanting to pay an extra 500 quid with Thomas Cook for a 2 bedroom suite, I booked the smallest room and then upgraded us once we were there for 80 euros a week. Haven't done that this time, but I've got my plan of action all worked out. In fact such has been the extent of my research I already know pretty much the layout and room numbers so will probably know as soon as they hand over my key what the score is before I even see the room.
Claire is a little worried, but then she knows if there's a problem - I'll sort it, having witnessed a number of Jason the consumer champion's rages against the machine in the last couple of years!
I don't expect miracles, just something clean and comfortable. I can live with the odd bit of wear and tear. I think a lot of people go to holiday resorts with unrealistic expectations. It is not going to be like a Marriott or Holiday Inn or a swish city break hotel.
 |
| A bedroom at the complex we are staying at. Nothing amazing, but I don't expect that |
Going into any situation forearmed with better information that your "opposition" is the key to success in all walks of life. Forewarned is forearmed - now there is an expression I can relate to.
If you have enjoyed reading this blog, please take a look at my books on Amazon (Paperback & Kindle), where you can read lots more of the same! Click here.
Jason xx
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