Every all linclusive has negative reviews on trip advisor

For every two or three positive reviews, I am finding trip advisor has one negative one that make me want to pass that resort by.
For instance smoking is allowed everywhere, or the food is bad, or service is bad and you can't get towels no matter how many times you request them, or they try to upgrade you at check in for extra money and I do not like that. I am just looking for a sunny hot climate with smooth beaches (no seaweed or shells), really good food, and if not adult all inclusive, than pools for just adults. I don't want indifferent staff, bad smells,mold or hard mattresses and bad pillows. Any suggestions?

Re: Every all linclusive has negative reviews on trip advisor

I've found that there are always going to be people who aren't happy no matter how nice the hotel is. Some people just aren't easy to please!

We stayed at the RIU in Aruba for our honeymoon and loved it! There were plenty of bad reviews: hard beds, impossible to get reservations for dinner, pool is too crowded, walls are thin etc. We're pretty easy going people so we went with an open mind and had the most amazing time!

The RIU isn't child-free but we also stayed at The Renaissance in Aruba which was really nice!

Re: Every all linclusive has negative reviews on trip advisor

Re: Every all linclusive has negative reviews on trip advisor

I try look at overall rating when looking on tripadvisor. Not sure of your budget but we stayed at Le Blanc in Cancun and it was amazing!

Re: Every all linclusive has negative reviews on trip advisor

You need to look at a bunch of each type of review and balance you decision based on that. I tend to disregard people who only have one review on the site or reviews that seem over the top and dramatic.

Re: Every all linclusive has negative reviews on trip advisor

I don't review on TA but I am not a fan of all inclusives. If I did review, I would probably give a negative review of the AI places I have been including Beaches T&C, which is normally highly regarded.

I often find the drinks are not good and the food is meh.

I give glowing reviews to many non-AI resorts. Some people, like myself, are simply not fans of AI resorts.

DH, on the other hand, LOVES AI resorts. He doesn't seem to mind bad beer and crappy frozen drinks. He loves all you can eat buffets. We are very different when it comes to hospitality. If you talked to the 2 of us, you'd probably think we went on different vacations.

Message edited 8/8/2014 2:35:42 PM.

Re: Every all linclusive has negative reviews on trip advisor

Re: Every all linclusive has negative reviews on trip advisor

Every all linclusive has negative reviews on trip advisor

Most places will have bad reviews on trip advisor. And you will see glowing reviews for bad places written by people with very low expectations. I usually just read through the more recent reviews and then check the worst reviews. I only worry about things like bugs, disrepair, or cleanliness in the bad reviews.

Re: Every all linclusive has negative reviews on trip advisor

Posted by NervousNell

Posted by Bridex100

I don't review on TA but I am not a fan of all inclusives. If I did review, I would probably give a negative review of the AI places I have been including Beaches T&C, which is normally highly regarded.

I often find the drinks are not good and the food is meh.

I give glowing reviews to many non-AI resorts. Some people, like myself, are simply not fans of AI resorts.

DH, on the other hand, LOVES AI resorts. He doesn't seem to mind bad beer and crappy frozen drinks. He loves all you can eat buffets. We are very different when it comes to hospitality. If you talked to the 2 of us, you'd probably think we went on different vacations.

This is me. I hated Beaches Turks and Caicos. Everyone else loves it.
Also, I find that some people will only write a review if they have a bad experience because they are angry and want to vent. So that could skew it too.
There are also people who would complain in heaven.
Look at the overall rating and go by what the MAJORITY of reviewers say to get a more unbiased idea.

Every all linclusive has negative reviews on trip advisor

Like everyone said, take them with a grain of salt.
Serious issue: the room had a leak or there was a problem and management did not do anything to rectify the situation or comp us money.
Bull$h!t complaint: the food was gross, the service was slow, the ice cubes weren't cold enough

Not everyone has the same taste, no one is in a rush on vacation, some things aren't fixable.

Every all linclusive has negative reviews on trip advisor

I find when it comes to all inclusives people either love them or hate them.

Re: Every all linclusive has negative reviews on trip advisor

I have been looking at Coconut Bay in St Lucia and the reviews are pretty good on TA

Re: Every all linclusive has negative reviews on trip advisor

Every hotel on trip advisor is going to have some negative reviews. We stayed at Sandals Grande Antigua for our HM and it had negative reviews as well, however we LOVED it and had not even 1 complaint about the place. There are always going to be people who complain about things. As long as it's nothing major like bedbugs, I would take it all with a grain of salt.

Every all linclusive has negative reviews on trip advisor

I agree with everyone else...as long as the majority of people give positive reviews I'm usually ok with the place...People will complain about anything...if they waited for than 30 seconds to check in, if the parking lot is too far from the hotel, etc...

Re: Every all linclusive has negative reviews on trip advisor

I have done 2 all inclusive vacations..one at Sandals St Lucia which was utterly disappointing (and yes I griped on Trip Advisor about the poor state of our room and lousy activities) and at Club Med (which I enjoyed more and glowed about on TripAdvisor). My thoughts are that you have to adjust your expectations with vacations, if you have low expectations, your vacation will be awesome..if you expect 5 + star service and food from a resort where you only paid $1700 including airfare- then you deserve to get what you get!

Re: Every all linclusive has negative reviews on trip advisor

Sort the hotels based on ranking and stars. I usually start at the highest ranking in the area and work my way down. So I would not stay at a hotel ranked #100 on my own dime.

If you want to go to a specific place like Beaches or Sandals I read the reviews thoroughly. Sometimes I go to 10 pages plus to get a good sense of the place. That's not true that people only review when bad. There are a lot of people that love to travel and love writing reviews. If the place is good it gets mostly good reviews simple as that.

I also look through all the pictures and I know what I like out of a room (and what I want my room to look like) and experience. If there are pics of ripped bed sheets and mold i'm done looking and its next! No matter how popular it is. I am heavy into the pictures on TA because I know what I like and I will click on the pic reviews first bc they took time to take a pic. HTH!

Message edited 8/14/2014 4:08:04 PM.

Re: Every all linclusive has negative reviews on trip advisor

Even for the most amazing resort you will find someone who says something bad. You just can't please everyone. Especially with food. For all inclusives I say just go realizing the food isn't going to be awesome. It will probably be fine, but it wont be NYC high end dining. It just wont. But you will be able to find something you will enjoy at each meal.

Maybe try looking into the Grand Velas resorts, or Zoetry resorts.

or look through this for help:

http://www.travelchannel.com/interests/travels-best/photos/travels-best-all-inclusive-resorts-2014

Re: Every all linclusive has negative reviews on trip advisor

Trip Advisor is tough. We booked our honeymoon in St. Lucia at Sandals La Toc and there were A LOT of negative reviews. I even heard from one of my old co-workers that it was terrible.

DH and I decided that we were going to take the chance and make that decision for ourselves and it was the best! It was incredibly expensive and definitely not something we could afford again, but every single second of our honeymoon exceeded our expectations. I feel like a lot of vacations are all about your company and if you're with people that you have fun with, you'll have a great time regardless of little things that can go wrong here or there.

Re: Every all linclusive has negative reviews on trip advisor

Re: Every all linclusive has negative reviews on trip advisor

What I have found with Trip Advisor is that you need to weed out those who never had a vacation in their life. So going somewhere, anywhere is going to be the best vacation ever. The place we stayed at in Aruba was like that in the reviews. After the fact, I gathered they were all non adventurous types who were glad they had their chicken fingers and burgers available at the AI.

The only AI we have been super pleased with and are going back to is Couples Swept Away in Jamaica. When we went last time, there were a three other couples on the shuttle that were all return trips. One couple had been going for 15 years. We have high standards, fresh and local flavors, a decent room (not dank, broken down), clean beaches and great customer service.

Every all linclusive has negative reviews on trip advisor

I had a travel agent give me good advice about trip advisor. Be wary of 5 star reviews and 1 star reviews, any of the extremes. I would pay attention to more of the middle of the road reviews. Ones with criticism because nothing is perfect but not so extreme that everything is wrong. People have different expectations from vacations and you have to take reviews with a grain of salt.