TripAdvisor.com gets 1 star...

While I'm all about gathering information about the places I'm planning on visiting, I, for one, cannot stand TripAdvisor.com.

For those of you unfamiliar with the user-reviewed website that invariably pops up as the first Google search result whenever you search for "hotels in Boston," "resorts in San Maartin" or "escorts in Abu Dhabi," TripAdvisor.com is an all-things-travel website. Users can join for free and then add reviews for hotels, restaurants, etc.

My problem, other than the whole cracking-Google's algorithm-for-hits (unless they own TripAdvisor, do they?) and spoiling my searches, is that the reviewers of the website often don't have a clue what they're talking about.

For example, take my absolutely all-time favorite restaurant in New Hampshire (my home state). The Friendly Toast, a mainstay in Portsmouth's Market Square for decades, is a treasure. A 24-hour joint on the weekends (and open late the rest of the week, unlike, say, the rest of the Granite State), the Toast is an eclectic diner. Kitschy "art" from the 50s, 60s and 70s adorn the walls, no doubt purchased from flea market remainder sales. Indy rock blasts through fuzzy speakers, vinyl booths stick to bare legs and coffee is served in chipped mugs slammed down on cracked Formica.

The food is the winner here. It's basically a breakfast plate/sandwich restaurant (ie: diner), but the Toast offers its own interpretations of the traditional menu offerings. For example: their fresh-cut, sweet potato fries are smothered in sour cream, brown sugar and Tabasco, the ham sandwich comes grilled with two kinds of cheese and asparagus and the pancakes are organic and the size of UFOs. Nothing tastes any less than spectacular, the ingredients are fresh and local and the prices are reasonable.

And yet, on TripAdvisor, you get the bourgeois bistro lovers whining about their old plates and the CD selections! PEOPLE! I love fine dining as much as the next guy, but I'll also alter my expectations of a good meal when I'm in a freakin' diner. *sigh* Some people just don't get it...

That's my problem with TripAdvisor... too many of the reviews are written by people who don't travel, like to whine and go into the whole experience all wrong.

Another example? NYC's Wolcott hotel... It costs under $100 a night to stay there (which, for Manhattan, is ridiculously cheap), yet people who stay there complain about the size of the rooms (hellloooo... it's NYC), out-moded color schemes (well, how much did you pay for room and you were expecting Egyptian Cotton?) and quality of the free breakfast (hey, it's free!). A budget hotel is a budget hotel, not the Four Seasons - but, if taken with a grain of salt, it can be just as much fun to visit.

So, my fellow travelers, my advice would be to do the same with TripAdisor. Take all that the people there have to say with a grain of salt. And if you find that the general impressions given on the site are wrong, correct them!