Tripadvisor

Did you ever try looking up the reviews on your favourite railway(s)?

Very enlightening. I think a lot of the general public are expecting something different from their visit than you'd expect.

Liked one review giving out that they had to pay extra to be in first class and another complaining about the carriages at the Bluebell! Didcot have a lot of terrible old locos just dumped around the place in a dirty oily old shed and Royal Scots Grey was all streaked in oil. The railway that came off worst seemed to be the Brecon Mountain Railway (with one guy complaining it was neither in Brecon or up a mountain, which is fair comment really!). Nice comments of a family lost in Totnes not being able to find the trains, although they could hear them and a few comments not happy with not being able to use the cafeteria without paying to get in (at several places)

Who'd be a volunteer customer relations officer! (full marks to Didcot for patiently explaining time and again that they don't have a car park, although I don't think it's explainable why the only entrance is through a subway and up some steps...that's just the way it is! )

 

As someone who uses Tripadvisor frequently when booking hotels to stay in for work and also when planning days out I think there is a lot to be said for railways/attractions/hotels etc heeding comments left. All organisations can control their Tripadvisor page so it is worth spending a short time highlighting any issues (car parks, steps, fees etc) at the outset rather than getting people leave negative comments - if they do then it is easy enough for the VCRO to refer back to that. Although it is time consuming for someone, as a Tripadvisor user I would take a better view of an attraction that has responded to criticism rather than just ignoring it as that looks as though they don't care about the customers. I've just looked at the Didcot page and Ann M does a great job replying to all reviews whether good or bad

The other thing to bear in mind I guess is who is likely to be leaving reviews and whether they truly offer a cross-section of the visitors. I would imagine it is easier to write a review to praise when you've had a fantastic day somewhere or to complain if you've had a bad day and want a whinge but what about those in the middle who have found it ok but nothing more - would they both to review.

Interestingly, the issue of Tripadvisor was briefly mentioned in the most recent GWSR Board blog posting.

 

In fairness, most of the railways had most of their comments at the good end of the scale rather than the bad end. I'd agree, some reaction is vital, particularly to the bad reviews, many of which simply aren't justified ( but then I'm saying that as an enthusiast and some people expect a lot more than just a train ride by the looks of it!)

 

The reviews in Tripadvisor give the Paignton steam railway and its boating services a good report. Trip advisor also granted the company their Certificate of Excellence in 2013. That was just one of the number of awards the company received last year.

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attrac...pany-Paignton_English_Riviera_Devon_Engl.html

 

apart from the guy complaining that another boat overtook them and that the Captain joked about hitting the rocks ...I'm not even sure the feller was on the Company's boat!

 

the GWSR's TripAdvisor is rather good, no bottom ratings whatsoever, and only one second bottom rating for the sixties weekend that sort of flopped a little bit (I don't know much about that). As has been pointed out, the boardroom blog has noted we are second top attraction in Cheltenham, the 1st being a cinema (Cineworld I'd guess) and 10th in the whole Cotswolds. It's always nice to peruse through all the ice things people say about the railway, particularly the ones saying how nicely painted the carriages are!