What travel web review sites do you use ?

There are lots of websites that offer you reviews of hotels, airlines, luggage, restaurants, etc. 

Reviews sites, are fundamentally asking consumers to trust / believe in the information they provide on businesses. They are highly influential in consumer opinion and decision making.

There are numerous sites and off the top of my head, I can think of www.TripAdviser.co.uk, www.thegoodwebguide.co.uk, www.which.co.uk, and www.fodors.com.

Online reviews can make or break a local business, which is why the incentive to cheat with paid-for, malicious or fraudulent reviews is so great. 

So how do you tell what is a real review and what is not? 

Finding the fraudulent postings is an inexact science but sites such as TripAdvisor, Google+ Local and Yelp use a mix of algorithms and human moderators to separate fraudulent reviews from genuine. Apparently Yelp stands out for its aggressiveness in trying to catch fraudsters with 20% of reviews written and submitted are never displayed.

In light of the scandal of false reviews - both positive and negative, etc, etc... a bad review certainly makes me think twice about booking, but then a glowing one now also makes me suspicious, but then I also read a few of the reviews rather than just the one.

Do you use review websites and does a bad review put you off ?