I love Trip Advisor, it’s perfect for wasting a few minutes daydreaming about my next adventure and the info available has always served me well on my travels.
But, a few minutes checking out my hometown and I start to get a feel for how wrong it can be.
Actually, let me clarify that. Trip Advisor is not wrong but the travelers leaving reviews are. In my opinion anyway. There are factual errors, massive omissions and glowing recommendations for places that don’t exist anymore (and weren’t that good to begin with).
But there it is, it’s all online for the world to see so it must be true – and it is, opinions always are.
If history is written by the victors then online history is written by the involved.
In other words, whether you’re prepared to be a part of it or not, online reputations (good or bad) are being made every day. For even the smallest of businesses, engaging is the difference between a simple recommendation that will drive people to your door and one unhappy customer ruining your reputation with tourists before they even arrive.
Your business may have nothing to do with the Internet but your customers certainly do.
