Plan your travels with Trip Advisor (tripadvisor.co.uk)

Member Name: RamblinMan

Product:	tripadvisor.co.uk
Date:	04/11/09 (41 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Helpful forum, hotel reviews and your own travel map.

Disadvantages: none

I've been using Trip Advisor for the last 3 to 4 years to plan my travels and I have to say it has become one of my favourite sites to visit.

Pretty much anything you need to know about any destination will be here, and if you can't find it, you can post a question on the forum and usually one of the local experts will give you an answer. This feature has helped me a number of times when google couldn't! I try and return the favour when I have time, by answering questions about places I've been to.

One other very useful feature are the hotel reviews. I usually look at the top 20 hotels and book one of them as long as they are in my price range. So far I have not been disappointed with my choices.

There have been a few cases of fake reviews (hotels reviewing themselves and of course giving themselves 5 stars for everything), but this is pretty easy to suss out. You only need to look at the user's profile and if they have only ever reviewed one thing and never bothered to log back in, it's a little suspicious, specially if all the other reviews are bad!

The website has the occasioonal competition and you can sign up for a newsletter too. On your profile you can post pictures, connect with other travellers and create your own travel map by sticking "pins" on the map to show places you've been and places you plan to go. I find myself staring at the map and making lists of future travel destinations! I also get the urge to grab the passport and head straight for the airport!

Overall very easy to use site with lots of information, if you haven't used it before have a look.

Summary: Great place to plan your trip wherever you're going!