Expert vs. Amateur Reviews

I’ve been following an ongoing discussion on the WIWIH forums about the effect that expert reviews and amateur reviews have on the reputation of a hotel. I find this discussion particularly interesting because it is directly related to the increasing use of user generated content by travelers in the decision making process. Trip Advisor, among others, have been using amateur user ratings for some time as a way of rating properties in an unbiased manner. The challenge they face now is that property owners have realized that they too can produce their own user generated content in order... Read more »