Without Maps

Without Maps

Stop reviewing everything

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Daniel Scheffler
Jul 22, 2023
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Aman Venice perfection above

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So we know about fake news: Facebook (Meta, roll your eyes please) is testifying and enlightening us (or not) as we speak yet again. Instagram lives aren’t real and a pout with a perfect beach background belies something much less perfect.

We also know that Yelp and TripAdvisor reviews can be and very often are phony, and seriously gamed – The Shed in London is the perfect anecdote. And in fact, the number one hotel on Tripadvisor in New York City, at the moment of writing this, is the Motto Hotel. I call foul.

So in the morass of bad grammar, lies and videotapes: Why do we insist on reviews?

We as a society are addicted to reviews. Perhaps life is just so short, that heaven forbid we just go in and book a room at a hotel, or stop for lunch at a restaurant before we read what people we don’t know have said about it. It’s taken s…

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