Poll: does Tripadvisor help museums?
Kelvingrove scoops award but others express misgivings
Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow was given an Experts’ Choice Award last week by TripAdvisor’s TripExpert service, which rates venues based on reviews by journalists and travel writers.
The award puts the museum among the top-rated attractions in the world on the site. The chair of Glasgow Life, Archie Graham, described it as a “huge honour and high praise indeed”, according to a report by Glasgow Evening Times.
Kelvingrove's success demonstrates how TripAdvisor can benefit museums, but elsewhere people have expressed serious misgivings about the website.
In an article in the Guardian last month, the restaurant critic Marina O’Loughlin slammed Tripadvisor as “useless”, saying it was “riddled with fakes and idiots” and lamenting the fact that people give “credence to the aggregated opinion of, at best, unqualified strangers”.
O’Loughlin said there was a “whole industry dedicated to churning out fake, by-the-yard ‘reviews’”, meaning that ratings on the site were misleading and couldn’t be trusted.
The site has also attracted controversy for refusing to allow reviews to be published in Welsh.
In a letter responding to O’Loughlin’s piece, TripAdvisor’s CEO Stephen Kaufer said that while the site didn’t claim to be perfect, most of its reviews were “useful and accurate”.
“Our community of reviewers has done more to improve service standards and help small hospitality businesses grow than professional reviews ever could,” he said.
O’Loughlin’s criticism may be directed mainly at restaurant reviews, but does it hold true for museums too? Is TripAdvisor helpful to the sector or are cultural heritage venues being let down by misleading ratings and inaccurate reviews? Vote in our poll and have your say.
Kelvingrove (pictured above) will host an evening drinks reception for delegates at this year's Museums Association Annual Conference and Exhibition in Glasgow, which runs from 7-9 November.
The award puts the museum among the top-rated attractions in the world on the site. The chair of Glasgow Life, Archie Graham, described it as a “huge honour and high praise indeed”, according to a report by Glasgow Evening Times.
Kelvingrove's success demonstrates how TripAdvisor can benefit museums, but elsewhere people have expressed serious misgivings about the website.
In an article in the Guardian last month, the restaurant critic Marina O’Loughlin slammed Tripadvisor as “useless”, saying it was “riddled with fakes and idiots” and lamenting the fact that people give “credence to the aggregated opinion of, at best, unqualified strangers”.
O’Loughlin said there was a “whole industry dedicated to churning out fake, by-the-yard ‘reviews’”, meaning that ratings on the site were misleading and couldn’t be trusted.
The site has also attracted controversy for refusing to allow reviews to be published in Welsh.
In a letter responding to O’Loughlin’s piece, TripAdvisor’s CEO Stephen Kaufer said that while the site didn’t claim to be perfect, most of its reviews were “useful and accurate”.
“Our community of reviewers has done more to improve service standards and help small hospitality businesses grow than professional reviews ever could,” he said.
O’Loughlin’s criticism may be directed mainly at restaurant reviews, but does it hold true for museums too? Is TripAdvisor helpful to the sector or are cultural heritage venues being let down by misleading ratings and inaccurate reviews? Vote in our poll and have your say.
Poll: does TripAdvisor help museums?
— Museums Association (@MuseumsAssoc) August 15, 2016
Kelvingrove (pictured above) will host an evening drinks reception for delegates at this year's Museums Association Annual Conference and Exhibition in Glasgow, which runs from 7-9 November.