Reviewing When Abroad: Yes or No?

[Aj_Philadephia]

Lately I’ve begun thinking about my two week trip to India, and all of the places I can’t wait to visit. And of course, going so many new places I feel the need to give my honest feedback in reviews. But as a Local Guide, I feel the need to think about how my cultural experiences will impact the reviews I give. I start to think, should I just give positive reviews no matter the experience? Or, should I rely on what I know and be brutally honest per usual? I wish the answer was this cut and dry.

All of us are raised in a particular background, surrounded by a particular group of people, in a particular location, and this makes us culturally aware of the way we are supposed to act and feel in certain situations and spaces. When we exit this comfortable cultural bubble to travel abroad, we judge our new surroundings by what we know, imposing our cultural values on this new space and these new people. For example, in the U.S. it is typical to evaluate the waiter or waitress at a restaurant to determine the amount that will be tipped. So if we don’t get good service, the review for the restaurant would not be good. But in most of Europe waiters and waitresses do not live off of tips and are paid fair wages, so it is not expected that they complete the service impeccably. Therefore, a reviewer in Europe may not give a poor review even if the waiter/waitress did not behave perfectly.

Now apply this to being a reviewer. When we review a restaurant, event, or anything else in a new setting, is it possible to not impose our cultural learning onto that service? I’m not sure. Of course we could know about this new places culture, but do we know enough to judge them and potentially give a poor review based on an experience that may be that norm for that place?

I know that my mind will continue being stuck on this question, but what do you all think? Should we review when traveling abroad based on what we think the service should be, or should give positive reviews because we just don’t know what is expected in that place?

[iyudhi]

@Aj_Philadephia I usually give reviews whenever I’m abroad. My rule of thumb is, I only give reviews/ratings if I’m confident that my experience can only reflect the regular experience that people will be having. So let’s say I go to a place once, and I don’t feel comfortable my experience will reflect the regular experience, I won’t review / rate it.

Of course we shouldn’t be blindly giving 5 stars, as that can be misleading to people that are depending on the information. We need to understand that different countries have different cultures, and we need to adjust our contributions incorporating that fact.

[Ponchy]

I review places abroad." You should speak as you find".

Cultural differences are not too dissimilar to personal tastes in restaurants. My colleague and I are a prime example. We go to the same restaurants, but our review scores are quite different.

I would value your review if you thought, for example, that the staff were rude or the parking was poor, even if that was acceptable and the norm for locals. When enough reviews come in the scores should balance out.

I guess it Boils down to the reader to determine if the review is culturally biased and factor that in.

In the meantime these pig bladders stuffed with half cooked rats entrails and prepared over a used engine oil fired grill by the unwashed hands of a criminally insane warlord are to die for… 5 stars.