TravelPost.com - Help Section

Hotel Reviews

Why should I use TravelPost? What makes TravelPost great?

When it comes time to plan a trip or book a hotel, millions of users choose TravelPost because we offer unbiased reviews written by travelers like you. TravelPost is both a search engine, offering reviews from across the web, and a community, where users help each other by reviewing hotels.

Where do your hotel reviews come from?

TravelPost includes millions of traveler reviews. Many come from TravelPost users, while others are aggregated from other user review sites, including Yahoo Travel, IgoUgo.com, MyTravelGuide, Perfect Escapes, BedandBreakfast.com, and Epinions.com.

Can I reserve a hotel on TravelPost?

Here at TravelPost, we are devoted to providing unbiased hotel information, so we don't book rooms. However, when you click "get rates" we take you to our sister site Kayak.com to search for the best rates available, or to Priceline or Travelocity to book the room.

Why is TravelPost a truly unbiased source for hotel reviews?

TravelPost is owned by the travel search engine Kayak.com, and like Kayak, TravelPost makes money from advertising, rather than bookings. We don't book hotel rooms, so we aren't trying to sell you anything.

Why should I write hotel reviews?

If you've planned trips with TravelPost, writing a review is a great way to "give back" to the TravelPost community by adding your own reviews. Your hotel recommendations will help millions of other travelers have a great trip by recommending a great place to stay or telling them where to avoid. Writing a review on TravelPost is also an excellent way to tell a hotel that it's doing a great job, or to let them know where improvements need to be made.

Who posts reviews?

TravelPost is a community supported site that relies on user generated content. Reviews come from travelers like you, who've visited the hotel in the past.

My Account

How do I become a member?

Simply go to the homepage and select register from the top right hand corner. Enter your email, selected screen name, and password.

Why should I become a member?

As a member you can review hotels, upload photos, and enter profile information about yourself so you can find reviews from other travelers like you. Once you're a member, all your reviews and photos will be stored in one place–keeping your travel memories at your finger tips.

Why should I create a profile?

By showing each user's reviews on one page along with profile information, TravelPost allows readers to get a better sense of the reviewer's expectations and approach to reviewing hotels. Adding more profile information gives your reviews credibility and helps readers evaluate and get the most from your reviews.

I forgot my password/screen name. What should I do?

Go to the sign in screen and click the "forgot screen name or password?" link. We'll send you an email that allows you to reset them.

How can I change my account password/screen name/email?

Click on your user name at the top of the screen to reach the profile page. On the left side, click edit account settings.

How do I do confirm my email address?

When you register as a TravelPost user, you should get an email with a confirmation link. If you don't have the email, you can resend it by going to your profile page and clicking the "resend confirmation" link at the top of the page.

Reviews and Photos

How do you calculate the score of a review?

Each hotel review has a score based on reviewers' responses to our survey. The score measures the reviewer's satisfaction with the hotel based on this scale:

5	"Excellent"
4	"Good"
3	"Okay"
2	"Mediocre"
1	"Horrible"

The overall score for a hotel is an average of all the user scores for that hotel.

What determines the popularity of a hotel, and how is it used?

The popularity is the default hotel sort criteria on a city page. Popularity is calculated solely from TravelPost scores, never by advertising relationships. Specifically, it is calculated using the average score weighted by the number of reviews for the hotel. For this reason, the #1 hotel for a city may have a lower average score than the #2 hotel, because the #1 hotel has more positive reviews than the #2 hotel, and is therefore more popular.

How do you determine a hotel's class (the star rating), and what does it indicate?

On TravelPost, the star rating is used to indicate the amenities level and price point of a hotel. In most cases, the star rating is a proxy for the price of a room at the hotel. Note that a 1-Star rating does not mean that this is a bad hotel, or an indication of service levels, location or cleanliness, for example. In fact, a 1-star hotel could have a "perfect 10.0" TravelPost score if it exceeds the expectations of the reviewer.

	5-Star - Highest level of service and amenities. Highest prices.
	4-Star - Excellent service and a complete set of high-quality amenities which may include a spa, turn down service and a concierge.
	3-Star - Good service and wide range of amenities which may include a restaurant, exercise room and pool. Moderate prices.
	2-Star - Moderate level of service and basic amenities, such as a small pool or workout room.
	1-Star - Limited service and few, if any, amenities. Lowest prices.

We determine the star rating for a hotel by looking at a number of factors, including average price, brand, amenities and the star rating assigned by online travel agencies and the hotel itself. Please let us know if we should change a hotel's star rating.

Do you screen or edit hotel reviews or photos?

TravelPost reviews are posted immediately. This means they are not screened before posting; however, the TravelPost team regularly screens newly posted reviews. When users find offensive reviews, they can report them to TravelPost for immediate screening by sending us feedback. Reviews that don't meet our terms of service or follow our review guidelines will be removed.

How do I upload a hotel photo?

Posting hotels photos is a great way to share your experiences at a hotel, as well as remember your stay. You can post a hotel photo by clicking the Upload Photos link at the bottom of your reviews (if you're logged in) or on the top of the hotel's photo page. Please see our Hotel Photo Guidelines page for advice.

I wrote a review, but why is it not showing up on the hotel's main page on TravelPost?

The best way to submit a review is to go to the hotel you want to review (if the hotel is in our hotel directory) and click the "Write a Review" link. When you've finished your review, it will be immediately visible on the hotel page. If you manually enter the name of a hotel and its location, the review is not yet linked to that hotel's main page. TravelPost staff will match the review to a hotel in our lodging directory. Once the review is matched you'll see it on the main hotel page.

Why can't I write another review for the same hotel?

To help prevent fake reviews, users must wait 30 days before posting an additional review on a hotel they've already reviewed. You're welcome to edit the older review. Just click the edit link below your review on the account page.

Can I edit my reviews?

You can edit your reviews as much as you'd like. Just click the edit link below your review on the account page.

Can I edit my reviews?

You can edit your reviews as much as you'd like. Click the edit link below your review (if you don't see the edit link, you'll need to sign into your TravelPost.com account first.) Note that if your review is a Top Review, it will lose that status once edited (this step prevents abuse).

Can I delete a review?

If you would like your review to be removed, send us feedback. (And be sure to let us know which hotel you would like the review removed from.)

Travel Blogs and Itineraries

Why can't I add a blog/itinerary?

While you can still see blogs and itineraries that have already been posted, TravelPost does not currently offer the ability to add or edit travel blogs and itineraries. We plan on offering both features again in the future.

Maps

Can I use TravelPost maps to plan my route?

TravelPost has two types of maps, our own regional maps and Google maps. Neither is meant for street level navigation. They are helpful for finding areas and landmarks in order to plan your trip.

Places

What type of information does TravelPost have about each place?

You can find reference information including topographical maps, nearby cities and towns, time zone and (for many cities) population.

How can I report an error in one of the places or cities on TravelPost?

It's important to us to have an accurate catalog of places, but with over 4 million of them, we're bound to have some errors. You can report errors through feedback.

How did you determine that there are 263 countries in the world?

TravelPost's list of 263 countries is derived from the CIA World Factbook. We're not making any statements about the CIA, but we found this list of countries to be the most accurate and complete.

Hotel Owners and Managers

How can I use TravelPost to grow my business?

Ensure your hotel is listed on TravelPost and the information in the listing is up to date.
Upload photos of your property.
Encourage your customers to write a review of their stay.
Link from your site to your reviews on TravelPost.
Track reviews posted on TravelPost (optionally using our RSS feeds) and respond to negative reviews.

How do I add my hotel to TravelPost? How much will it cost?

Just visit our hotel owner page to add your hotel for free. Once you add your hotel to our sister site Kayak, it automatically appears on TravelPost and our other site SideStep.

How do I change or add information about my hotel listing?

TravelPost strives to keep our hotel listings accurate and complete. To report an error or add information, visit our hotel owner page.

What can I do if I get a bad review?

We're an impartial site for all types of opinions about a hotel, both good and bad, but we have the following recommendations if you receive a negative review:

If the review contains a factual error that can be independently corroborated (ex. if the review complains about the freeway noise, but your hotel is located in the country), then contact us with that information. We'll investigate and remove the review accordingly.
Recent compete.com research indicates that responding to a negative review improves a hotel's image in over 58% of the population. If you'd like to respond to a review, you can do so by using the Comment feature. (Be sure to check the "I represent the hotel" box.)
The best defense is a good offense, and we encourage you to ask your customers who have had positive, unique experiences to post a review on TravelPost. Several good reviews can almost completely counter a negative review.

Can employees of a hotel write reviews for that hotel?

Sure, as long as the employee discloses their relationship with the hotel in the review.

Can I encourage my guests to post reviews on TravelPost? Can I offer an incentive?

The more reviews you have on TravelPost, the more likely people will be to find your property. So, it's absolutely fine to encourage your guests to write reviews on TravelPost. However, you cannot give someone instructions on what to say in their reviews.
Similarly, it is fine to offer an incentive (like a coupon for a future stay) to your customers if they write a review, but you cannot tell them what to say in the review, and the reviewer must disclose that they were given an incentive by the hotel to write the review.

Can I link to TravelPost from my hotel's website?

Yes, and we encourage you to link to TravelPost so prospective customers can read reviews about your property in an unbiased, impartial environment, which contains a link back to your site.

Partner Sites

Do the reviews from other sites follow TravelPost guidelines? Are they written by travelers like me?

All the reviews listed on TravelPost come from real travelers. The sites we search for reviews have their own guidelines and policies. Please visit each site directly for information on the guidelines their reviews follow. TravelPost aggregates reviews from Yahoo Travel, IgoUgo.com, MyTravelGuide, Perfect Escapes, BedandBreakfast.com, and Epinions.com.

Ownership & Privacy

Who owns the Travel Blogs and Blog Photos I post on TravelPost?

We feel that your travel blogs are your property exclusively. For this reason, unlike other travel blog sites, you retain full, exclusive ownership of your travel blogs and photos. We will never sell your blog entries or photos to anyone.

How does TravelPost protect my privacy?

TravelPost will never send spam or share any of your personal information without your consent. For details, please see the TravelPost Privacy Policy.

How long will TravelPost store my travel experiences and photos?

TravelPost will safely and securely store your travel memories indefinitely.

How much does TravelPost cost?

TravelPost is completely free!

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