Get the latest reviews from TripAdvisor
Last week, a colleague and I were discussing restaurants in our city and there was one that neither of us was really familiar with. He made the comment that he’d have to check TripAdvisor for reviews.
I found that interesting. I use TripAdvisor for hotel recommendations and to check flights. I don’t always check it for restaurant reviews for places just down the street from me.
I do often use it for planning vacations. We used it two summers ago when we went to New York City for a long weekend, and we’re in the throes of planning a family trip to upstate New York. I need the best prices on flights, rental car and hotel for my stay. And I need a couple of places to eat, in case we decide not to eat every meal in our hotel.
Back to my conversation with my colleague, though. I started searching for restaurant reviews in Asheville, NC and I’m excited to see that many of the opinions of my favorite restaurants are similar to my own thoughts. That means I can trust these people to let me know what places to check out, and what to avoid. There are hundreds of restaurants in my city that I haven’t tried – and now I know what to check out next! (That photo? From Biscuit Head. The reviewers are spot on. The lines are long, the biscuits are huge, and you have to try one of every jam they carry. You can spend hours there, if you have that kind of appetite.)
One thing I really didn’t realize TripAdvisor specialized in? Vacation rentals. This would have helped immensely last summer, and don’t think I won’t be taking advantage of this feature this summer. We want to do a few weekend trips, and I hope that the reviewers on TripAdvisor don’t steer me down the wrong road – literally and figuratively.
Tell me…what is your go-to site for travel? And do you think to check restaurant reviews for your own city, or do you get that information word-of-mouth?
**The above links are affiliate links. All opinions are my own – and it’s true. I will be going on vacation this summer, and I do plan on using TripAdvisor.
I did not realize you could look up restaurants in your own immediate area using Trip Adviser. There are many restaurants around here I haven’t tried and neither has anyone I know!!
With an internet savvy boyfriend, I never go eat anywhere without checking either YELP or TripAdvisor for reviews. Generally it works out really well.Even on our recent trip to Hilton Head Island, we tried new places through both apps on the iPhone! As far as vacation rentals go we have always used TripAdvisor, except for the year the house we had chose was double booked and we didn’t find out through the owners until the week before and we resorted to using Craigslist for a vacation rental. Which worked out great and we have visited our Craigslist find through the owner every year!
I’ve had mixed dealings over Craigslist – I would never have thought to try them for vacation rentals!
Finding a reliable review site is so hard these days. I am glad to hear that TripAdvisor is spot on!
I love Trip Advisor, there are a few others as well I’m sure, but Trip Advisor is pretty legit and doesn’t allow paid reviews.
I always check TripAdvosor. I get lots of honest reviews on there.
I often check TripAdvisor when travelling but honestly never even thought to check it out locally! That is so so smart and I definitely will be doing that more often!
I am not sure we’ve used Trip Advisor but we’ve used Hotels.com. I never thought to check restaurant reviews for when out of town. We normally wing it.
I have never heard of trip advisor before. I will have to check it out sounds like a great way to get hotel recommendations. I’ve used hotels.com once but I rarely travel so this is great to know there are more options!
Thanks for ht elite. We will also be going on a vacation and can use all the help possible.
I do like the honest reviews on Trip Advisor. I have the app on my phone.
I didn’t know you can use tripadvisor for places to eat. I’ll have to check it out now!
I tend not to trust certain sites for reviews. TripAdvisor seems to do it with integrity
I use the app and I feel like I can trust it. I like that the reviews are real and I don’t have to worry that they are paid for.
Trip Advisor is always my go to site when we travel. I haven’t found one I like better.
This sounds great, I had no idea that tripadvisor had other things besides hotels. That is great to know for our summer travels.
My go to is a community Facebook group. The locals usually know what is good.
I normally use Hotels.com – but I will try TripAdvisor next time and see what I think!
I did not know TripAdvisor had vacation rentals. It is sometimes to get reviews on those kind of facilities
I usually use YELP I have written reviews on YELP and I often read reviews on YELP. I have used trip adviser for hotels I never thought to use it for restaurants.
I typically use Yelp for my restaurant reviews. When I think of Trip Advisor, I think of touristy places, or places that are more trendy, rather than places that I tend to like to eat.