On offering travel advice

I think it is reasonable to caution your advice for restaurants and hotels to a time frame since there are a number of variables that can change. My general statement is, "When we were there in 2012 or last month...." and let you draw you own conclusion as to reliability. Don't think there is a magic time frame. And never base my recommendation on something I have read somewhere - that is not uncommon on travel sites.

I would still make recommendations but just add when it was that we were there. I also find that with trip advisor you can see if the places you liked are still highly reviewed or not.

I think it is reasonable to caution your advice for restaurants and
hotels

It seems that restaurants and hotels are mostly what you see featured in guidebooks, which is why I put little stock in guidebooks. I also never recommend restaurants and rarely hotels, and for them I usually qualify my recommendations. I prefer to get up-to-date information from regional and town websites on the Internet.

As for restaurant, I never look for recommendations, preferring to walk around town and look at outside menus, deciding for myself what looks inviting.

I do like to advise about geographical places, which don't tend to change so much, and about traveling with public transportation, good information about which you can get from the Internet.

Of course things I encountered 10 years ago probably have little or no bearing on things someone may encounter today. But if someone asks me about whatever and they know I experienced it, I will tell them about what I experienced with a heavy dose of "but that was then". Restaurants are the most difficult to talk about. Some can change month to month. Credit card usage is another. In Europe over the past 10 years, the places I had visited were cash only on my first visit but now most happily take cards as well and this is changing rapidly so what I experienced last October may not even be relevant.

I am not so sure that all things that were experienced over 5 years ago have no value. You do need to point out when you personally traveled, but if you have done your due diligence--checked to see if the hotel is still there, does it still have the same types of reviews, you are probably fine. Also, a lot of the questions don't revolve around a specific restaurant or hotel. Rather people want to know what part of the city is good to stay in. Again, you need to caution on your time frame, but honestly, the Grass Market in Edinburgh vs New town really has not changed that much. And, the Edinburgh Castle hasn't changed either. So, to tell someone who is visiting Edinburgh for the first time, that you like to go to the Castle first to see the views, get oriented and feel like you are in Scotland is probably good advice whether you traveled to Edinburgh last year or 20 years ago.

Pam

My advice is to post what you know from experience and not what you think you know. A remember a few years ago a poster gave a very detailed response to a question. But there were a few errors in her response. She got very offended when a couple of experienced travelers pointed out her errors. She tried to defend the errors because she was planning to traveled to the same area that original question had asked about and had done considerable research so she stated that she viewed herself as an expert on that area - even through she had never been there. And we have had other posters who have had one or two trips, read three guide books and know everything - sometimes it is obvious.

So I think you always need to put your advice/recommendations in context. I almost never recommend restaurants because everyone's taste is so different. I will recommend hotels especially when we have used the same one more than once. But, again, you have to take the recommendation carefully since what is important to us maybe not be equally critical for you.

I use a sliding scale based on the amount I think something can change, I.e.no restaurant more than a year after we've eaten there, no hotel more then three years, points of interest no more then 5-6 years, unless..I state the year we were there. . I hope I also remember to recommend they check another source for confirmation like TripAdvisor or Booking.com. If I really have spare time, I'll check those sites myself before I make a recommendation.

If I'm planning a trip which involves some serious eating, I visit the usual food-based websites, such as ParisByMouth, ChowHound, Michelin Bib Gourmand, Yelp...
But I take everything with a large grain of salt, because reviews just aren't dependable anymore.
I do go to websites with photos of the food, such as TripAdvisor, but I disregard the reviews. Most often, everyone orders the same item, and rave reviews ensue, which should tell you that the meal has been pre-prepared, even if everyone swears it hasn't been.
And if someone posts only photos of desserts - especially "birthday desserts", where the chef made someone feel special - and plates covered in industrial gravy, I avoid those restaurants.

I only recommend restaurants I have been to more than once, within a year (longer if the chef is the owner). Hotels the a bit longer but I check reviews to see if things seem to be the same. A few grains of salt needed in any case, since tastes and needs vary.

Example of time limits, even when you don't expect it: while my back was turned (two years had passed), the archeological zone at Agrigento went from two zones to one, with improved parking, ramps, and on-site shuttle service.

I have traveled quite a lot in my 69 years visiting more countries than my age.

Also, I lived in the Middle East for five years and Germany for four. I remember when we lived in Germany, back before the internet and when a guidebook was the best reference for picking hotels for a trip. One hotel that we picked from a guidebook was closed due to renovations, which we discovered on arrival. Today, getting an update on a hotel or restaurant is very easy.

I think limiting a recommendation to the last 12 months would almost put most of the posters her out of business. A prudent person relying on a recommendation here would follow up their research double checking recent recommendations and reviews.

Also, while I have been back to some places that I visited in the past, for many places that just doesn't happen. Still, when I have been back and stayed in the same hotel or dined at a favorite restaurant, I have not generally found that things change very much.

For example, here in my home, off coastal Georgia, we have our favorite restaurants. We go back to these half dozen or so restaurants frequently and I cannot say that in the last 10 years since we have lived here that those restaurants have declined in quality. We still undertake to visit new places and enjoy those as well.

I do think that restaurants are more likely to change than hotels.

I tend to reply on the areas I've visited recently, because that's the most current feedback for people asking questions.

I try to avoid itinerary questions. My preferences aren't the same as the next person's and my style of travel is different. If I have something to offer about a specific question, I will.

Generally, my advice is better suited for people who want economy-budget advice. I don't generally stay in upscale hotels, ride first class on trains or planes, or eat at Michelin star restaurants. I'm happy with a hostel/small hotel, 2nd class seats, and street food. Luxury holds next to no value for me.

I also carry on only. My idea of jumping on the metro, boarding a train, or necessary trunk space in a rental isn't the same as someone who has two bags each plus their carry-on items.

Another area I have to be careful of, so far, is that I'm more mobile than most. I can, and will, walk eight miles a day with little more than tired feet and some achy muscles. I can bike five times that, carrying my bag, when I need to. I have to remember that not everyone can, much less want to, share that experience.

Depends on the question. Posts asking for recommendations on hotels and restaurants are best answered with current info, but any experience may be better than none. I'll often wait to see if someone responds with current information, before offering opinions. Does Rick's staff visit every restaurant, attraction and hotel/guest house, every year? Even if they do, the information in the guidebook is old by the time the book is printed, yet still valuable.

I think its a valid question, but in the end, people who ask for opinions in an anonymous public forum like this need to use their judgment on the value of the information. Its not a classroom where there is only one correct answer, its an open conversation.

Wouldn't giving advice on when to give advice be giving travel advice?

It pains me a great deal to read some of the people on these forums give advice when I know it's not correct. It just makes me want to pop a gasket.

If you don't know what you're talking about then please don't give advice...that's the rule I attempt to follow.

In the late 1990s I was given Frommer's Germany, looked through that book diligently even it's out of my price range, some of it by a long shot. There was one restaurant in Berlin I went to listed in Frommer's. It's good regardless of TA reviews.

So often, travel guidebooks are revised not annually but, instead, every few years so, I have found Lonely Planet particularly guilty of this sin. I recall reading in the 2009 edition for the Netherlands that the Rijksmuseum planned to start renovation "sometime in 2007". Did they even bother to proofread the old edition before they slapped on a new cover?

As far as posting outdated, poorly vetted information found on the internet, I think those of us who've been around this site long enough remember the king of that maneuver.

Some time ago there was a tell-all (book? article? I don't remember) by someone who used to write guidebooks. The gist of it, I think, was that you used to be able to make a living doing that but no longer can. Too much time-consuming work for too little compensation (much less than in the past, apparently). It was claimed that a lot of guidebooks were researched by someone sitting at a desk. I don't remember at which particular guidebook series (plural) stones were being tossed.

I must say that I've found the details in Rick's books generally very accurate, and I don't get the idea that they are slapped together.