Croatia Travel Blog

Archive for February, 2010

It’s been a long time since visitors to Dubrovnik could take a cable car to the top of Srd Hill. The highly popular cable car was destroyed in the 1991 bombardment of Dubrovnik leaving no access but a winding road to the top of the hill overlooking Dubrovnik. During the 1980s there was a popular disco  at the top of the 405m-high hill, lodged in the “Imperial Fortress” built by Napoleon in 1808. Since then, the area has fallen into neglect.

In less than five months though, the cable car will again be in operation as part of a plan to turn the top of  Srd Hill into a conference and entertainment complex. There will be two terraces with panoramic views and an outdoor amphitheater seating 250 people. There may eventually be a golf course but one thing is sure: with visibility up to 60km, the view on a clear day will be staggering.

See more about what to see in Dubrovnik.

This is important news for anyone planning to take the Jadrolinija coastal ferry this winter. The company has just announced that this route, which goes from Rijeka to Split, Hvar, Korcula, Dubrovnik and on to Bari has been suspended through February. Although the company has characterized the suspension as “temporary”, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that the line will not start again until June. Remember that the Jadrolinija company is state-owned and Croatia is mired in an economic crisis. Since the opening of the Rijeka-Split highway, the coastal ferry line has seen a steep drop in passengers. Most likely, the government simply cannot afford to subsidize this line when passengers are so scarce.

The problem that has bedeviled Tripadvisor for years has recently come to a head with a report that hotels are regularly approached by companies offering to plant positive reviews for a monthly fee.

Planted Reviews

The travel industry site, Travolution, reported that one hotel received paid positive reviews before it was even open. The allegations were picked up by the Telegraph (Can We Trust Hotel Reviews on Tripadvisor?) who noted that “if it was possible to unearth all the fake reviews, there might not be enough red pen to go around. Like drug users in sport, the people committing the offences are nearly always one step ahead of those trying to catch them”.

Tripadvisor Response

Tripadvisor claims that it devotes considerable time, energy and money to weeding out fake reviews but is it enough? A combination of human screening and automated tools is supposed to identify fraudulent posters but reviewers and hoteliers have complained that the system is still manipulated. Responses to an article in Budget Travel on the subject included users disappointed with supposedly wonderful hotels and  hoteliers bludgeoned into upgrading guests brandishing a potentially negative TA review.

A Network of Shills?

Some users claim that they can spot a planted review because the reviewer has a meager profile with few other reviews. Not so fast. Edward Hasbrouk of The  Practical Nomad attended an industry conference in which “Elias Plishner, V.P. of the interactive division of the McCann-Erickson advertising agency, boasted that, “We have an entire division in Singapore [where labor is cheaper than in the USA] devoted to seeding online forums and bulletin boards with targetted content” for our advertising clients. Worse, these people are paid to spend months, in between assignments, creating profiles and posting “neutral” messages to establish a credible online persona and background from which to post their secretly-paid advertising messages. . .” (see blog post)

The Solution

So how to get credible hotel reviews? Frankly, I don’t use Tripadvisor. I have better things to do than wading through dozens of reviews trying to figure out which ones (if any) were planted.

There are a number of hotel booking sites that post reviews by guests that have actually stayed there. I use either booking.com or hostelbookers.com. Here’s how it works: after your stay the agency sends you an email with very detailed questions about the establishment. The review is then posted, anonymously if you wish. ALL of the guest reviews on these sites are necessarily made by REAL guests. Sure, there are fewer reviews but the ones that are there are more reliable. It’s your choice.

Today’s Timesonline has a useful article about cruising the Croatian coast with kids in tow. Writer Mark Solomans cruised the coast in a gulet last summer and made some interesting points even if you don’t have kids. Here are the main points:

• There’s a mixture of nationalities on these small boats which adds an international flavour
• Cruising is informal; “there’s no need to pack socks or long trousers let alone a dinner jacket”
• Vegetarians can be accommodated but the main diet is seafood “including fish caught that morning yards from the boat, swimming in the sea,”
• It’s safe for kids with a “boat/ship (who cares?) small enough for the children to be able to jump off the sides into the sea”
• Costs are reasonable; “It’s still outside the Eurozone so you can still get a main course for under a tenner in the restaurants though the local wine tends to be pricey for anything decent”
• Tipping is practised; “allow for around 20 euros a head for the week”
• Watch out for nudity! “we had a yacht of naked men moor up alongside us near Bol beach”
• Croatia Airlines is better and cheaper than Ryanair

See more about travelling Croatia with kids.

If you happen to be in  Dubrovnik today, lucky you. If not, try again next year.

Dubrovnik celebrates its patron saint today, St Blaise (Sv Vlaho) in a series of processions, prayers and festivities that combine the solemnity of a religious occasion with the exuberance of a local blow-out. It’s an occasion to recall that Dubrovnik is not just a tourist attraction but the culmination of a remarkable cultural efflorescence.

The feast of St Blaise starts on February 2 and ends on February 3. Traditional costumes, music and dance are interspersed with processsions down Stradun, special blessings and of course, a wonderful lunch.

Read more about the Feast of St Blaise.