this is my cayman review

After many trips to Walt Disney World in Florida, my family and I decided to venture out to the west coast and see what Disneyland was all about. When we planned vacations to Florida, my wife and I were already pretty familiar with the accommodations that were available in our price range in Central Florida. We had gotten information from travel agents or friends who had taken similar trips or just from scouting around the area on trips that we had previously taken. We were familiar with the tourist-y areas and with various hotel chains. Of course, we had our share of bad experiences (referenced in this post), but they only served to narrow our list of possible choices on subsequent visits.

When we began making plans for our California vacation, we had a new resource available to us — the internet. Yessir! The good old Information Superhighway, chockful of all sorts of information to make planning a trip a veritable breeze. No longer were the services of a travel agent required. Just log on to a hotel chain website and booking a room could be accomplished from the convenience of your home while wearing pajamas. Then, click on over to Disney's website and purchase admission tickets. Other amenities, like a rental car or admission to side trips, could be secured in much the same manner. As time went on and technology advanced at lightning speed, websites like Expedia and Travelocity and dozens more were popping up, consolidating all of these actions and all making vacation plans so simple that anyone could serve as their own travel agent.

Along with ease and convenience, another aspect of vacation planning became available — reviews and recommendations. Websites like Yelp and Trip Advisor offered potential travelers honest reviews from fellow travelers — people just like you. Folks who visited particular hotels were encouraged to leave a review of their experience, whether good or bad. These reviews were meant to be helpful to other people in choosing accommodations based on the experiences of Mr. and Mrs. Average American Vacationer. So, when I was deciding which Anaheim California hotel would be our home for the five days and four nights we would spend at Disneyland, I read reviews for many hotels in the area.

Oh  boy!

First, I read just the positive reviews of a number of chain hotels (Best Western, Comfort Inn, Holiday Inn), all within walking distance of the theme park. "Wonderful," "Clean," "Warm and welcoming" was the general consensus for these establishments. Then I started to read the negative reviews for the same time period. "Horrible!," "Staff is rude," "Filthy!" read a few. How could some people have had good experiences and others hellish experiences within the same week of stay? The more I read, the more entertained I was by these reviews. I had forgotten that I set out to book a hotel room for a family trip to Disneyland. Instead, I became focused on these harrowing tales of horrendous experiences that these poor families were subjected to. In a flurry of colorful language, one poor reviewer told of giant insects, brown water from the faucets, burns on the carpet, leaking ceilings, unidentified stains on the bed sheets and a staff that chose to ignore their complaints. Another spoke of "unpleasant smells" and "loud noises outside the room." However, a subsequent post, time-stamped just a few days after two I just read, spoke glowingly about the sparkling cleanliness of the room, the bountiful free breakfast, the big bowl of fresh fruit at the front desk and the lovely, friendly, professional employees. Could all these reviews be about the same place? Did they clean up their act and ditch their entire workforce in the time between when these comments were written? How could that possibly be?

I read on. Things got more interesting.

One reviewer of the independent Candy Cane Inn, a longtime and popular neighbor of Disneyland right there on Harbor Boulevard, complained about his room being haunted. "As I lay in my bed," he wrote, "I saw cabinets open and close. I heard strange noises and saw furniture move. I packed my stuff up and immediately demanded a refund. Will never stay again." Another recent visitor to the same hotel gushed about the stellar accommodations and the attentive staff, noting that the Candy Cane Inn is her "go-to" place when in the Anaheim area. We actually ended up staying in a Best Western across the street from Disneyland. A review I read, while offering glowing praise, pointed out that the lines delineating parking spaces in the lot were particularly narrow. Well, indeed they were. It was very difficult to open the doors and exit our rental car if there was another car parked on either side. Otherwise, the place was very nice.

Over the years, I have used Yelp and Trip Advisor as a guide in choosing accommodations for vacation destinations other that a Disney resort. Recently, Mrs. Pincus and I went to Jamestown, New York and stayed at a very nice La Quinta Hotel that was in a pretty shitty neighborhood. The hotel itself was brightly lit when we pulled into the parking lot at nearly one in the morning. We were greeted by a number is unsavory looking folks just sort-of hanging around the otherwise deserted lot. But, once we checked in, the room was nice and clean. The following morning, the lobby was bustling with guests enjoying the free breakfast, as advertised on the La Quinta website. In the daylight hours, the shady element had retreated, only to return once evening arrived. I covered all of this in the review I wrote when we got home. No other review had mentioned anything similar to our experience. 

A few weeks later, Mrs. P and I headed to New Haven, Connecticut. I booked a room at another La Quinta, having been satisfied by the one in Jamestown (well, the hotel anyway) and expecting a chainwide consistency. I briefly read some online reviews, but could not come to any solid conclusion. Some were good. Some were bad. Well, when we arrived, the area looked to be very unappealing. This La Quinta had seen better days. The building was sun-bleached and old. It was surrounded by several fenced-in yards filled with rusty industrial equipment and machinery. There was a seemingly-closed restaurant attached to the main building that lit up with life at nightfall. The nearly-empty parking lot became packed with cars, bringing folks — dressed to the nines — who filed in and out the restaurant. The staff inside the La Quinta were uninformed when asked about check-out times and travel distances to nearby attractions. And their advertised free breakfast (a staple of the La Quinta chain) was a paper bag with an apple, a granola bar and a room temperature yogurt. None of this was in any review I read.... but it probably should have been. That would have been helpful.

I decided that reviews on Yelp and Trip Advisor for hotels (and I suppose restaurants, bars and anything else) are just there as a writing exercise for people hoping to be considered for an college scholarship. Or perhaps they are all budding horror novelists.

Or maybe they are just doing this to entertain me.

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