Heritage railways on Tripadvisor

One of the most significant develoments in tourism marketting in recent years has been Tripadvisor. No longer are tourist attractions having to base their approval ratings on what is said to someone sporting a clipboard. Most people are too cowardly/nice to say what they really think to someone face to face if they are not really content. Now it is between them and their keyboard!

This impersonal rating does pose the danger of being unduly influenced by the gusher or the curmudgeon. However a study of an individual's posting history will reveal if they fall into either of these categories and IMHO the results are likely to be at least as valuable as a personal survey, without the effort involved. Some will be enthusiasts but most won't be.

Now heritage railways fare reasonably well on Tripadvisor but relatively few get the full five stars. In fact I have only found three, all in Wales. Most do pretty well although a mantra of "Expensive but nice" is a recurring one. Some lines obviously have problems either with what is on offer or their staff.

People take notice of these ratings. I read a "five star" rating by someone who had not actually visited the attraction referred to! He had heard that the coach tour he had booked on had been forced by bad weather to visit a certain railway instead of where they originally intended to. Checking on Tripadvisor he had found the railway highly rated and had endorsed this prior to visiting! Certainly a bit daft but it shows these ratings are important as a source of business and managements should keep an eye on them.

Deliberately I have not mentioned any particular lines and I would hope that those spurred on to post to this thread did the same!

P.H.

 

In my opinion do not read too hard to what is said on Trip Advisor because a visitor can give a very biased adverse report including magnifying the smallest problem. For one railway in the South East a terrible report was given by a visitor but all the reports from the staff on duty gave a completely different story which bore little resemblance to what the complainant said in their report on trip advisor. On another heritage railway in the South East a visitor gave a bad report because after having booked on a wine and dine train but could not travel on it due to car broken down they were subsequently refused a refund.
If a railway or tourist attraction has consistently bad reports then there is a major problem which I am aware of one heritage railway in the north where this has occurred. There is one hotel in Wales which has such a bad reputation that almost every visitor has voted in terrible.

 

Nothing at all I would disagree with. There are two things really. At best it gives an honest unvarnished picture of what your customers really think. At worse it can drip with spite and unreasonable spite at that.

Railway managements need to keep a good eye on Tripadvisor and be prepared to stand their corner if appropriate. On the other hand it provides an ongoing feedback without the trouble of organising surveys etc.

PH

 

I do check out hotels on TA and look at charter reviews too. You have to look objectivly and be able to pull out the important points from the spite and moans. The condition of charter train stock has been identified many times as a problem though and you have to admit - those reviewers have a point!

 

I agree with brasso1. Important also with TA reviews is to look at the date of postings. What was great one year ago can be not so great recently and vice versa. I also agree that a little assiduous investigation of a poster's previous postings, when in doubt can reveal a lot. It's like this site. I was accused of being a troll recently. I leave it to others whether they agree!:second:

 

I actually used Tripadvisor as one source of evidence during research for my dissertation on visitor expectations when visiting a heritage railway.

Whilst there will, inevitably be the curmudgeon who finds fault, we must be careful not to discount their review. Whilst it may indicate no issue with the attraction, it's up there for all to see and may well impact on another potential visitor's decision to visit.

How to counter this? Maintain a positive atmosphere, keep service levels high and see that 5 star reviews outnumber the one stars by 15 to 1 or more! Another danger is the opportunity for an attraction to respond. Used reasonably, this can effectively counter and nullify a negative review. Used badly - and I have seen it used VERY badly, though not by a railway - it can cast an even poorer light on the attraction.

It is a useful tool.

 

Absolutely spot on! The only thing I would add is that remarkably few lines have an overall five star rating but such do exist.

Paul H.

 

Funnily enough I have been looking at railways on Tripadvisor recently (just before this thread was started) and I was surprised at some of the bad comments on there. Some of our railways really do need to do better, and even as Jamie says above, they need to dispel the bad press from poor Tripadvisor reports so that this does not affect future visitors. Railway who are listed on Tripadvisor should really be responding to good reports to says thanks please call again, and to try to rectify problems when they are reported. From personal experience I know that if a railway/hotel/whatever has tried to make amends or explain a situation then I'm much more inclined to use their service as the perception is that the railway is trying to meet customers expectations.

Keith

 

There are several potential issues with Trip Advisor. Some hotels or attractions get poor reviews and then other reviewers pick up the tone of the complaint and also review negatively. In cases like that, people who might review positively don't seem to post at all. The venue is still in business, so it cannot be that bad!
One railway had a 1 * review merely because the reviewer couldn't find their way to the station. They were chastised for this, not by a management response, but unprompted by another reviewer!
There are potential problems with gratuitously vexatious postings, possibly generated by a commercial rival. I'm not aware that's happened in the Heritage Railway sector, by the way.
Trip Advisor also has an inconsistency. A railway, almost by definition goes from A to B. It may call at C or perhaps D or E enroute. Under which town should the listing appear? A, B or C? My own local railway is listed under both A and B. A large railway elsewhere in the country is listed under C as that's where the head office is.

 

It has problems of course and the business featured must keep an eye on it. However it does, for very little effort on the part of the organisation conerned, give a snapshot of what people really think, reasonable or otherwise. No system is perfect, certainly not the time honoured tick box sheet on a clipboard. This is a 21st century version of that with the added advantage, assuming that the "offer" (horribleexpression!) is satisfactory, of giving publicity.

PH

 

My wife and I use Tripadvisor a lot when planning days out. We look at recent reviews and trends - if (for example) lots of people say the food is poor over a period of time, then it probably is, but conversely if 99 people say it's good but one person slates it - we tend to believe the 99. It's just a question of looking at it sensibly.

 

From a Facebook post today by WSR Plc:
West Somerset Railway
We are very chuffed to be Ranked #2 of 192 attractions in Somerset on @TripAdvisor
http://t.co/mYO30WGJV9
Steve

 

Since posting this I have revisited Tripadvisor to see if there are any places I have missed! There are some surprising omissions (e.g. Swindon and Cricklade) but what struck me is that I could not find any apart from the three I knew about already(Corris, Talyllyn and Welshpool and Llanfair) which garnered the full five star rating overall. Have I missed any?

Bearing in mind all the caveats and cautions expressed in this thread, which I concur with, this still strikes me as a low total.

P.H.

 

Tripadvisor can be a load of nonsense. Example- pub in York that only sells pork pies and crisps got to No 2 on Tripadvisor Places to Eat in York.

 

I couldn't find "star" ratings for venues but I did see "bubble" ratings. Is that the same?

Steve

 

Absolutely agree. My first posting referred to someone who gave five "stars" (or "bubbles" if preferred) to somewhere he had not actually visited yet, solely on the basis of previous comments!

This is something which everywhere in the visitor attraction business will have to live with and also take advantage of. Anywhere with noisome or decrepit lavatories will loose rating for example. There are some long established railways where the sanitation is almost medieval!

 

The WSR seems to have 5 bubbles (stars) unless I'm mistaken.

Steve

 

Absolutely right! Any more standard gauge ones? I think I have checked all the n.g. lines.

Paul H

 

How do you find heritage railways as a group, other than searching on a one-by-one name basis?

 

This inconsistancy has now been cured.