Before you book any holiday you should do research on the hotel you plan to stay in. Of course a lot of information exists on the hotel website, but in order to get the most useful information you need to go directly to the customers themselves. The testimonials on the hotel website are not necessarily the most objective sources of customer feedback either, so you should aim to get your information from a third party website.

When looking at previous customer reviews here are a few of the main things to consider.

Read ALL types of customer reviews

Read the good and the bad reviews. Tally up as many good and bad reviews as you can to try and determine the overall sentiment. Take note of the main issues raised in the negative reviews and decide whether or not they are important to you. It might be worth contacting the hotel beforehand as well to follow up on some of these issues if they are important. Do the same for the positive reviews.

Find independent listings

Look for customer reviews on third party websites, not necessarily from the “testimonials” page of the website. This way you can be more confident of the objectivity of the reviews. There is no opportunity for the business owners to edit these customer reviews prior to them being published, so you know that they are the uncensored accounts of previous customers.

Hotel facilities and entertainment

A pool or restaurant can really add to the hotel experience, but they will also add to the cost of your stay. If it is only a short stay you might consider going for a more budget alternative without these extra facilities. The same can be said for room service. This is a very easy way to add considerable cost to your stay so you need to weigh up the convenience versus the expense.

Also, read what people have to say about it! A hotel may claim to have an “Olympic standard swimming pool” but you can’t really be sure about the quality until you have read reviews from people that have experienced it themselves.

Value for money

Is the hotel value for money? Consider what you are asked to pay per night and decide whether the features of the room and the hotel justify this cost. This can include things you may not immediately consider like view from the room and distance to certain landmarks. All of these factors directly or indirectly impact the cost of your hotel stay.

These are factors that can easily be determined by customer reviews, as while the hotel itself may try to oversell certain features in order to secure your booking, previous customers will be able to give you a true indication of the value of these features.

Find out all these details and more on the Food Wine Sleep directory website. You will also find relevant information on restaurants and bars in the local area you are booking your hotel in.