What would get you to write a review of your last Timeshare vacation?

[artringwald]

I'm also a 'no' on guests writing reviews, and the notation that writing them extends that $15 membership period.

The reason I haven't submitted any recently is that our timeshare stays have become fewer, and we just go back to the same locations and resorts. Aging does than to ya.

Jim

We used our timeshare points to do scouting. After years of research, we mostly stay at the places we like best. I'll write a review if something has changed much, but a cut and paste of the last review won't really help anyone.

 

[Panina]

We used our timeshare points to do scouting. After years of research, we mostly stay at the places we like best. I'll write a review if something has changed much, but a cut and paste of the last review won't really help anyone.

How about a line just saying for example “since the last review nothing new to add, all is the same”. This way the review date is current and there is no guessing, are things still the same?

 

[northwoodsgal]

I agree, it's much better to add a short review even if the resort hasn't changed. I also agree that the timeshare review section should be limited to paid members since it's a valuable resource.

 

[TUGBrian]

also reviews dont have to contain new info about the resort itself...so many folks come to TUG to get ideas to do while on vacation but not at the resort.

new resturaunts to try, things off the beaten path to visit or experience, or maybe just a small mom and pop breakfast/food truck that serves the best biscuits and gravy youve ever tasted etc!

even something tiny like that would get me to seek that out if I ever traveled to that resort after reading the review!

anything to enhance a week long Timeshare vacation experience, thats what people come to TUG for!

 

[sdhakala7]

I agree that limiting reviews to members is important in terms of controlling content and part of what we pay for, which is pretty marginal. I often end up staying at or exchanging for weeks at lesser resorts due to the cheaper trading units I own and last minute or short horizon searches. This is helpful for splitting up my unused points about to expire in the next year and to give weeks to family or friends (who are not so picky or demanding, and are quite happy to get something better than a hotel room). Thus, I find that the amount and quality of reviews at many places I am looking at on RCI (especially for last minute or late RCI exchanges) are often quite limited, lack specificity, or are relatively spaced out over time and dated such that I cannot be assured that the review reflects the current state of the resort.

I, therefore, emphasize as well that we, as a community, need to each take the time to write reviews for others and also be objective and fair in our reviews and ratings, not promote the resort we own or pan a resort with a 1 or 2 rating just because one thing did not meet our expectations but that one thing is unlikely to matter to someone else or unlikely to reoccur, a honest mistake.

I often end up going on RCI and reading reviews, which are more plentiful. I find them useful but they often contain misleading or inaccurate reviews based on the peculiarities of the people submitting reviews. Also, people are more likely to submit a review if they are upset about something like, for example, did not deliver the right number of towels midweek or upon entiry, had a noisy neighbor, or something else minor that did not meet their expectations or did not deliver the high end value or luxury they are accustomed to receiving and demanding. Thus, I end up getting more information from the RCI and even sometimes Tripadvisor reviews but have to take them with a large grain of salt and read between the line.

 

[rickandcindy23]

This thread makes me feel pretty guilty because I write reviews for almost every stay (12 weeks/ year), and I forget to post them. I don't write them for anything else besides TUG. I just have this long document with lots of reviews I never have posted. I just forget to post them.

 

[Luanne]

This thread makes me feel pretty guilty because I write reviews for almost every stay (12 weeks/ year), and I forget to post them. I don't write them for anything else besides TUG. I just have this long document with lots of reviews I never have posted. I just forget to post them.

You're doing better than I am. I just plain forget to write them.

 

[WinniWoman]

I do find it helpful to write them very soon after coming back from vacation or maybe towards the end of the vacation because the more time that lapses after check out, the less likely I am to write the review.

 

[TUGBrian]

for me, i type up an email to myself with a summary of the days events while on vacation, gmail and such saves drafts so i can just go back and add to it every day making it super easy.

saves so much time vs having to sit down and type a big long detailed summary of what I did all week while at a resort!

 

[rapmarks]

I am currently reading reviews to choose a resort. I was shocked to read one which was obviously copied from the resort website with no attempt to add any personal content

 

[TUGBrian]

please report those to tug@tug2.net especially if the rating is clearly to either artificially inflate, or deflate the overall rating.

 

[overthehill]

At last count I completed 70+ reviews since joining TUG in 1999. Before writing a review, I read reviews completed by others and try to avoid writing about what others have written about the Resort amenities, etc. There’s no point unless some of the features, activities, unit maintenance or other aspects about the resort have changed for better or worse.
I look for both positive and negative comments and suggestions from fellow Tuggers. As an example, years ago we confirmed a last minute stay at Westgate Villas in Orlando. One reviewer cautioned others about expecting a mid- week phone call inviting the guest(s) to come to a maintenance meeting which was actually a sales pitch. Sure enough we got the call and I responded that I had already informed the front desk of the items needing attention in the unit. The caller told me I couldn’t do that and had to come to the maintenance meeting. I hung up. With advance warning, I avoided the ‘meeting’. Very helpful suggestion.
Reviews don’t have to be long but should reflect the reviewers experience.
In response to a non member comment about being able to submit reviews,
I believe only members should be able to read and/or submit reviews. I see no reason non members should be able to enjoy the benefits of TUG without being a member.
Mark Beales
Lifetime member
Seattle

 

[bankr63]

I actually headed over to the TUG site to see how many I had written; a whopping 2, although it feels like I have written more. We've probably stayed at 10 or so resorts over the years, so I am certainly missing some. We do tend to return regularly to same 3 resorts that we are most comfortable at.

For me it is probably an issue of timeliness. We only timeshare a couple of weeks a year, and I will hit the reviews when researching where to stay, but don't venture over there for quite some time once I return. By the time I am back there researching our next stay, I've forgotten about writing a review of my last stay.

What would work for me is some sort of trigger to actually go over and get it done. Easy for RCI to get my feedback because they know when I was travelling, and send me the comment card at just the right time. Perhaps there is an opportunity to use the advertising features of the BBS software to run "internal" ads reminding people to write a review? And yes, the carrot of a reward would probably help.

One more vote to keep the reviews member only however. IMO a public forum for reviews would become a lot like TripAdvisor (hopefully without the censoring), and most non-owners (non-members) will base their overall experience on the timeshare sales pressure; at least that's been my experience on TA. I find that owners understand that the sales desk is not really a part of the resort experience, and give a much more honest review of the experience as a timeshare resort. The resort reviews on TA seem very biased, and not rooted in what makes timesharing so special.

I guess one other thought; is there a statute of limitations on submitting a review? I think that submitting a review 10-12 months after the visit would make it look out of place in the flow. How far back could one go in submitting a review before it becomes out of step?

 

[TUGBrian]

all reviews have both a submitted date, and a "date of visit" field so folks can see when reading it.

 

[tomt73]

I try to review each resort we visit, especially if it's our first time there, and I see it as s TUG duty to review a resort if it doesn't have a recent (within a year) review posted. I use TUG's text outline format for consistency and completeness, and save the initial draft in MSWord for ease of editing. I like the drop-down boxes since they cover the basics in a consistent fashion. If we re-visit a resort I will update an earlier review only if something has changed that merits comment. I think that as members we have a duty that goes beyond our annual dues to help support the good work TUG does.

I would offer one suggestion: If a review writer wins an award like a membership time extension, sending the member a quick congratulatory email and listing their name next to the "Latest Resort Reviews" section of the Newsletter might spur the team on. I rarely see the resorts I review listed in "Latest Reviews..." and that sort of recognition would be appreciated.

 

[TUGBrian]

sadly the newsletter only picks a random 5 reviews from those submitted within the last week. we always have far more than that submitted in the course of a week so it would be difficult to include them all

 

[JudiZ]

+1 on members only.

I, too have spent much more time at my home resorts than anywhere else these past few years. I just went in and checked and both resorts have recent reviews. Since we only just bought into the Wyndham system and won't make our first trip until February, I still can't help with reviews. But, all is not lost. We are staying at South Mountain in November and there hasn't been a review since 2016. I got it on the summer sale from RCI and was thrilled because we can never seem to get in there on exchange when we want one.

Brian, I think you do a fabulous job keeping track of this all and appreciate your commitment to all timeshare owners.

 

[somewhereoutthere]

This thread inspired me to finally write reviews of our three different timeshare stays this past summer. We really appreciate reading the TUG reviews, but I don't always sit down to write one myself. I'll try to do better in the future!

 

[Jason245]

Personally, I write my review the day of check out. I like the map feature where I can track my travels (when it is working... which it isn't at least for me now but I find it a nice add on). I do it for every resort I stay at if for no other reason that to have a vacation history log with dates etc . It is something to look back on fondly. I also feel that it is the most important benefit of TUG. The downside is that your competition is free and has outpaced you and outspent you from a platform and usability perspective . When TUG started there was no YELP, TripAdvisor, google reviews etc.

In my experience, the 20/80 rule usually applies to services like this where 80 percent of reviews are written by 20 percent of users.

That being said, one of the first questions I have on your 50% no review statistic, is how many TUG members who have no reviews have active listings on the marketplace?

e.g. could it be that a large chunk of your membership are people who are paying just to be able to advertise their listings on the site?

If you take all your paying members and divide them into few buckets:

1. Those who have no listings or reviews - (people who paid but are "inactive")
2. Those who have no listings but make reviews - Active members
3. Those who have or have had less than 2 listings in a year and have a review - Active member (I chose 2 or less to try to identify non-commercial you may have a better stat)
4. Those who have less than 2 listings a year and no review - Active member, non commercial
5. Those who have more than 2 listings a year and reviews
6 those who have more than 2 listings and no reviews

Maybe you will get a better perspective on the population because Those in bucket 1 are not using the service for anything other than the forum (if that) and somehow need to be engaged to go to the main website (maybe check their traffic patterns). I would guess that they will be very difficult to get to, especially if like me they generally use their cell phone (and as of now there is no TUG App for the main site that I am aware of).

Bucket 4 is probably the only audience you can actively target with benefit.

Bucket 6 will never be got as they are only using your service to gain access to potential buyers.