How to Read Travel Reviews Before Booking

Did You Know That You Can Find Reviews For Just About Every Hotel on Earth?

As you explore your options for stays in your destination country, you’ll probably look at things like amenities, price, and location.

These facets can mean the difference between an excellent stay and an experience you’d rather forget. However, the information you find on the hotel’s website tells only part of the story when it comes to whether the hotel, motel, B&B, or any other sort of stay is worth it.

The size and scope of the information available on the internet really come into focus when you consider that virtually every place to stay that you can book online has a review somewhere, whether it’s on a website like Expedia or a travel blog that reviews just a few places to stay.

If you’re traveling to another country that you’ve never visited or you’re planning on staying in a new city, finding a great hotel is incredibly important, especially when you’re facing jet lag or you’re pursuing an active vacation.

What if your hotel doesn’t have comfortable beds? What if the noise from the street is unbearable, and you’re particularly vulnerable to noise? What if the establishment promises a huge breakfast, but all you see in the morning is a plate of bagels and some oatmeal?

Conducting a deep dive into different places to stay on your international vacation is time well spent, especially when your activities may have you waking up at the crack of dawn in a time zone that’s totally opposite from your own.

In the following sections, you’ll learn what to look at and what to ignore when it comes to online hotel reviews.

(note: some of the links here are to websites with which I am an affiliate, and your purchases help fund my website!)

This was the sixth-floor view from my hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Why It’s Essential To Read Reviews, Not Just Consider Ratings

Attention spans these days are quite brief, and you’ll be forgiven if you make split-second decisions on your international itinerary based on just a few pieces of information.

When conducting a search for your hotel online, you might just look at the rating and pass over places that don’t meet a certain threshold. While this method can help you narrow down your search when you’re faced with a giant list, you may accidentally pass over an excellent place to stay.

I’ve found that the best way to go about finding an excellent place to stay is to set a generous threshold for the rating and assume that places that have a lower rating require a more in-depth look at the reviews.

One thing I’ve noticed is that the reasons people give a place one star (for example) aren’t at all clear if you’re just relying on the rating. However, if that rating has a review attached, it can offer great clarity on why the hotel was rated poorly.

It’s quite difficult to say that a hotel is terrible if it has one five-star rating with a glowing review and five one-star ratings that don’t have reviews. What made those guests rate the hotel so poorly? Was it noise? The price? The quality of the pillows?

Not only will reading the reviews give you a clearer picture of why a hotel is rated the way it is, but those reviews may also bring to light some issues that make you think twice about staying. Reviews are an essential resource for getting the details about a particular property.

A hotel in Hoi An, Vietnam. — A hotel I stayed in while visiting Vietnam.

Considering the Number of Reviews Given

When you read through the reviews for a hotel or other place to stay, you’ll want to consider a few different facets of the reviews that go beyond their content.

First, pay attention to how many reviews are posted for a particular property. If you see a hotel that’s got a five-star rating, but there are only three reviews for it, you might consider that rating less accurate than a hotel with a four-star rating that has 1,000 reviews.

Similarly, if a hotel, or any other listing, has just a few terrible ratings, but there aren’t any accompanying reviews (sometimes people just rate a property and don’t take the time to write a note about why they gave the place that rating), you might not want to base your opinion of the place on just those ratings.

If you’re quite interested in a property where there just aren’t enough actual reviews, try looking at a different source. It’s possible that the hotel was only recently listed on a particular booking website, but a source like the hotel’s Google listing might have more ratings or typed reviews. Finding some reviews can definitely help you decide whether to splurge on a place to stay or choose a more affordable option.

Over time, just about any place will eventually get a few bad reviews, but statistically, you can trust a hotel with 1,000 reviews and a 4.5 rating a little more than a hotel with six or seven ratings and a 5.0 rating. There’s just not enough data to really measure that second establishment’s overall rating.

That doesn’t mean that you should ignore the ratings for a place that only has a few reviews or ratings, but it’s important to consider the rating separately from the reviews in such cases. And that brings us to our next consideration: reviews.

A street in York, England. — A street in York, England with a view of the York Minster Cathedral at the end.

Considering the Content of Reviews for Hotels

The rating of a hotel is important, sure, but so is the content of the reviews. In fact, the written reviews for an establishment may actually be more important than whether the rating is a 4.6 or a 4.4 or some close variation.

When a place only has a few dozen ratings, each review for that establishment becomes quite important. The reviews may clarify important aspects of your potential stay. You might learn that the “basic” breakfast, which is included with your room fee, is actually quite a nice spread, which means you can save money on food during your trip.

Or, the review might offer an opposite view of the cost of the breakfast. Maybe it’s very small and not worth the cost when included with the room. In such cases, you can often get a less expensive rate that doesn’t include breakfast since you won’t be taking advantage of it anyway and maybe eating somewhere else.

You may have a list of “must haves” and “must avoids” for the places you stay, and the reviews are a great option for figuring out whether a hotel is worth staying at or must be avoided. You can’t always assume something is good or bad through a rating alone. The accompanying reviews are often one of the most important factors in completing the opinion you have about a place.

Maybe a hotel is rated poorly because the inhabitants are up at all hours, regularly stumbling into their rooms after a night of fun and revelry. If you’re likely to behave in the same manner, that “drawback” isn’t really a negative feature, is it?

The view of the Pacific Ocean from a hotel near the beach in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico. — This was the view from my hotel in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico.

Leaving Your Own Review After Your Stay

Sometimes, it’s actually kind of difficult when writing a review to list anything negative about your stay because you were so impressed with the overall experience. However, I feel that it’s important to note anything odd or strange you encountered during your time at the establishment.

Sometimes, an element that wasn’t that noticeable to you and only gave you a moment’s pause will actually be something another traveler would rather avoid. There’s no need to endlessly rag on the hotel for this negative aspect; a simple mention of it as one of the less enjoyable aspects of your stay is usually enough.

In some places, you’ll also receive some pressure to leave a stellar review of your stay, even if you weren’t bowled over by everything. Don’t give in! This is important for guided tours, also. Don’t let the tour guide make you think they’ll get fired if you don’t leave a five-star review.

Leaving honest reviews of everything about your stay, activity, or experience will help the people who come along after you make an informed decision about where to stay. Just offer an honest assessment of the places you stay without any flamboyant language or crazy stories. If the toilet didn’t flush well, briefly mention it. If the blinds let in too much light, give that a mention, too.

If you absolutely can’t stand to leave anything negative about your experience, try phrasing your review like this (we’ll take the example of breakfast):

“The breakfast was great, but it would have been nice if it was served a little earlier.”

With that quick sentence, you indicate that the breakfast was worth eating but that it could have been even better if the establishment had served it a little earlier in the day. It’s not an overly negative comment, just something that accurately describes your experience.