Monday, May 12, 2008

A bad review.

Kenny and I have a fondness for Mexico. Mostly because travelling there from Houston is cheap enough that we can swing a few trips a year. And? The Caribbean side is full of gorgeous beaches. We have stayed in boutique hotels. We have taken a cruise. We have gone to a big resort. We have rented a car and driven along the coast, stopping along beaches with sand so undisturbed that you sink at least a foot deep with each step. This summer, we are going back to a resort. Honestly, the all-inclusives are the cheaper way to go, once you factor in food and drinks. We choose where to stay, depending on what we plan to do when we get there. This trip will be filled with more excursions. So cheaper flights and hotel, more money to spend once we get there. All-inclusive it will be! We have been researching trips for months. We watch the hot deals. When one grabs our attention, we switch to tripadvisor for the reviews. And some of the reviews? They kill me. Seriously.

It's the bad reviews I look for. I want to find the negative points. Then, I decide which negative is worse. Food, beach conditions, cleanliness. Today, after reading two full pages of good reviews on the resort that is currently number one on my list, I finally found a negative review. They gave 1 star across the board for all categories. Hmmm? I clicked to read the full review. I must know. Why had their stay been so bad? Everyone else had rave reviews. It is a five star resort. Most people felt it lived up to that reputation. Obviously this person didn't. And? The reason why? Well, for starters not all of the staff spoke "clear and understandable English," almost all the maids spoke "mostly Spanish." Oh no! You mean, you went to MEXICO and they dared to speak Spanish and not English. Really. The nerve! I am can't believe that they did not learn English just for you. You most certainly learned Spanish to converse with them when they come to the US, right? And if that wasn't enough? The wary travellers who could not get enough of their native tongue in a foreign land, got....are you ready for this.....SUNBURNED. That's right. They. Went. To. Mexico. And. Got. SUNBURNED! Nobody told them that they would get sunburned on a beach. In the Mexican sun. Very near the equator.

Or maybe someone did tell them. But it was in Spanish. And they no comprende.

9 comments:

J said...

I love bad reviews!! They are the best. People can be so dumb when it comes to some things, anything really, and then blame it on others.

When are you going? I am so jealous! Let me know how you like it, we need to plan a fmaily vacation eventually, but I have no idea where to!

Tricia said...

We are going at the end of July.

We are taking Jill (not Emmi yet. There are lots of complications with taking her out of the country) to Mexico for a long weekend in September.

Anonymous said...

Any places you recommend? I want to go, but can never figure what places to trust, and I don't want to spend the money to go through a travel agency, they aren't a guarantee it will be nice either!

K and T said...

I'm going to mexico with my BBFF Todd at the end of the summer in August!! I have family there and then we're going to rent a hotel by a beach and lounge our asses off in the sun and go snorkeling and get TRASHED!!! and, of course, HAGGLE!! I love haggling, it's a freaking sport! once, I broke a penis flute (that I was buying for my father, I'm a brat like that, with a twisted sense of humor) But it fell when someone bumped me.. and I knew I would have to pay for it unless I wanted to cause a scene... so I haggled them down to less than half the price... HELL YEAH!!

sorry for the randomness,
Lee

Bimbo Baggins said...

Yeah, I love reading reviews in general for things. My ex fiance was in a movie that was being sold on amazon and there were a few reviews on it and they were TERRIBLE but we were laughing so hard at them...it's great. People get really creative with what they say!

Tricia said...

We like Playa del Carmen. Still commercial (ie cheap). But not like Cancun.

David said...

I write the nasty reviews to see if I can get the hotels to lower their rates so we all can get cheaper holidays.
No really, it works.

Tricia said...

David...you are sneaky!

Sheri said...

I LOVE Playa. Which resort were you looking at...the Royal Hideaway? We usually stay at Allegro next to it.

LMAO at that review. Have you seen the SNL sketch with the yuppie douche bags that have stupid expectations of everything like that?