Many travelers use review sites like TripAdvisor and Yelp to find information about hotels, restaurants, etc.
But beware, both as a poster/contributor and as a reader. These sites are no always what they seem or what they purport to be.
Take Yelp for example. Of course, Yelp is in business to make money. So for between $350 and $2200 per month, you can have ads on Yelp that show up above all the other reviews. Okay, they gotta make money. But did you know Yelp has a review purgatory? They have what they call "not recommended reviews" that don't show up in the review list. Somewhere Yelp has an algorithm that somehow decides "this review should not be seen." We have at least two excellent reviews that are in purgatory, no reason, no explanation, no way to get them out.
Until last week, we were very well reviewed on TripAdvisor. In fact we were the number two ranked restaurant in Isabela. Now we don't even exist on TripAdvisor.
For reasons that passeth all understanding, the machines at TripAdvisor shutdown our page and merged all of our reviews with the breakfast club's. In the 1s-and-0s eyes of TripAdvisor, we are now one business. There is no one to email to complain. There are no telephone numbers to call. There are no people. I can't even get in the "management center" to protest without sending them documentation that I am an owner of - the breakfast club! Which of course I cannot do because I am not an owner of the breakfast club.
So, as I said before, beware. You may not be reading all the reviews. You may see something you think is a review but in fact it is a paid-for ad. A fine, well-reviewed restaurant may not exist on a site, despite having hundreds of reviews. A review you post may never show up on a page.
These sites remind me of the credit reporting agencies: lots of power and absolutely no accountability.
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