When do our recommendations become stale?

It depends on what it is. Scenic areas stay the same. The cruise on the Rhein hasn't changed in 30 years, but cities change a lot. All the big cities I have been to in Germany are nothing like they were 20-30 years ago. Some things are in constant flux. Museums change and upgrade, which is why using websites is important. Train stations and airports change frequently. Restaurants and hotels change constantly, so any kind of advice about those needs to be rather new.

The other day I made a comment on the TA forum about coffee carts on the ICE, but someone quickly told me that they stopped using those years ago. Lets me know that the ICE is a train that I seldom ride and that it had been a while since I had seen one of those carts.

I too try to include what year my experience was. Hotels and restaurants are what immediately comes to mind as those can change so quickly. I do look at current reviews to see how a place is now, and will try to comment something along the line of "we visited X in 2000, but current reviews are still good".

This is a good question, Jean!

To me a lot of travel information from the "pre-Covid" era is not helpful, especially Museum visits and perhaps church visits.

Some places I visited/stayed/ate just as the pandemic was ending, say in 2021 or 2022, are different now as staffing gets back to pre-Covid levels. Although things are not as they were before 2020.

Plus Covid increased the use of contactless pay sources from cards to apps and people who haven't traveled since then are not current with how things work. Trains....SO easy to book on an app now, lol!!

And age is only one point of context. "The best restaurant i at at in Croatia" means something different when the person had spent 3 weeks in Croatia during 3 trips over 5 years than it does if the person were there for 5 days 6 months ago. That's where information in your profile can be helpful (mine could be better too).

If not in the profile, then explain it if you want to be of service. We have a few that write like they are AI and I suspect .... Again, yes I could be better as well. But it's why I trust Ms Jo and Emily and a few others. I may disagree, but I know their context. Even those that live in a country need context. I live in Hungary, but Budapest, so when I write about Pecs, know I am no better than any other 1 or 2 time tourist unless I offer more context.

Then again, tourist vs local is important context. If someone lives in France they can have a different perspective than a tourist. "I'm not worried about missing a train because I live here, speak the language and have ridden the train so mainly times that ..... " is a different context than a tourist that doesn't speak the language, has never been on a train and has a non-refundable reservation on the next stop of their once in a lifetime $8000 10 day holiday.

I think it's important to include the date of your visit/experience when making recommendations for anything. And there is a point when I just stop bringing it up. For example, I loved the Wallace Collection and the Orangery at Kensington Palace, both in London, but I haven't been to either one since 2000. It's not fair to the folks seeking information for an upcoming trip if you don't mention that your personal knowledge is based on a great experience from the last century.

Some advice is timeless like what is that best Beethoven symphony (the 7th, duh) or the best cured deli meat in New York City (Katz’s pastrami) or the best Abba song (there are no good Abba songs. Too cloying [shudders].)

Other advice has limited shelf life like what is that best cathedral in Rome (we all know that St Peter’s is so played now— what are we stuck in the 90s?) or what is optimal number of days to spend in Madrid (used to be 2 but clearly it now deserves 4 ever since I started to move slower.)

This is why I never listen to me.

Happy travels.

Oh, and best Rick Steves tour? Clearly the last one you took!

I do not recommend hotels on this forum. My needs are pretty practical and skew toward a budget price, I get the sense that many on here would find faults with the places I stay, though I consider them great places.

For restaurants, I try to include the type and style of food, and honestly, after a year or so, I mention it only as a place I had a good meal X years ago. Certainly some stalwart places are good for years, but even they change.

Hotel recommendations are suicide. I stop at neighborhoods, and that's risky too.

Other advice has limited shelf life like what is that best cathedral
in Rome (we all know that St Peter’s is so played now— what are we
stuck in the 90s?)

Unless the person asking is a devout Catholic. Context works both ways.

Clearly the context I meant was "never listen to me". But you are correct that I should have said it with extra emphasis.

David, you don't post enough here. I need more of your insights. :thumbsup:

A request for a Paris hotel recommendation a few weeks ago received about a dozen replies with no indication if or when those posters had actually stayed there with the exception of one reply admitting "it's been a few years."

I've only started posting on the forum this year, but I've been using the website to research trips since back in the Graffiti Wall days.

I see some posters giving the same advice/recommendations now that they were giving years ago.

I try pretty hard to give the year and the month (or season) when we ate at a restaurant, and to say that we ate lunch and not dinner. Also try to provide some idea of what type of restaurant my husband and I like. I wouldn't dream of going to a restaurant unless I had looked it up myself, read the menu, examined the photos, and read the reviews, but I know for a darn fact that not everyone is me. So it is good to be careful giving recommendations.

It's happened to us more than once in Italy that we go to the same restaurant many years apart and it is still good --- one in Venice was great in 2001, in 2014, and in 2023 (Osteria La Zucca).

"I see some posters giving the same advice/recommendations now that they were giving years ago."

There are some Paris hotels I've stayed at since 2014 and yes stayed at again last fall, so 2024. One of them I only recommend rarely and with a caveat as it is very tired and in need of reno. They just 2 years ago got rid of the ultra suede bedspreads they had in 2014, hahaha! Thankfully they changed to duvets so you know the covers are at least being washed. The decorative pillows are the same and go under the bedside stands immediately. The prices are usually good there, though, and the some of the staff are still the same as my first visit on a RS tour and are awesome.

When do our recommendations become stale?

I think as long as you disclose when your experience occurred, you are fine. For example, it is fine to say ”we had a great stay at hotel x back in 2010. It was an excellent location.”. The reader now has the context to know the experience wasn’t recent and can do further research to check recent reviews. You’ve given them a lead.

A hotel I would recommend in Berlin is one I stayed for almost a week last summer.

Located on Fasenanstrasse adjacent to Ku'damm, "Hotel Augusta" a 3 star is well worth it; its owner is Polish as is the staff, lovely to talk too other than the perfunctory business.

Decor is old school , a sense of gentility prevails

I actually had this thought 2 days ago. A frequent poster added a comment about a place they don’t like - and I have read the same comment so many times that I know it was not at all a recent experience.

I am guilty myself sometimes, I am sure. But I think a context for our experience is useful and we should make an attempt to include that. Not only may something have changed - but also maybe we went once and the day of the week matters.

Where I have more difficulty is when I have experience with somewhere not many people go. My answers there need to be helpful but also reflect that I have limited experience - just maybe more than those who have never been.

But otherwise, I have quit offering anything except general input on trips that are more than 2 years old. Stuff changes. I do post trip reports and can easily reference those - they clearly outline when the trip was and the circumstances.

And with a few exceptions, I am extremely wary of recommending restaurants and lodging - for tours only people I know.

But some things are just logistics and basically remain the same. I have also been wrong…..

A frequent poster added a comment about a place they don’t like - and
I have read the same comment so many times that I know it was not at
all a recent experience.

It was so bad it transcends time.

*A frequent poster added a comment about a place they don’t like - and
I have read the same comment so many times that I know it was not at
all a recent experience.

It was so bad it transcends time.*

They could be talking about me. My two biggest European travel disappointments are the Cinque Terre and Rue Cler. RS Travel Forum suicide.

Anything pre-Covid gets a specific date and most of the time I don’t even bother with a recommendation. In other situations I waffle about recommending something or someone because the kind of people and places we enjoy aren’t everyone’s style. I remember giving a positive recommendation for Allesandro’s chichetti tour in Venice and he was clearly not everyone’s style and while we got a kick out of Stephen Drake-Jones in Madrid, others did not.

I do feel every time I do post a recommendation, it should come with the disclaimer, “Please Goggle this place and/or check their website for updated info”.

Pam,

I know you do a great job of qualifying all of your posts. I'll admit, I would trust anything you post here.

TexasTravelMom,

That is what prompted this posting. I feel I've become a cheerleader for a certain place because another poster has made it abundantly clear that they hated it without telling why or when they were there.

It's okay to not like a place, a hotel, a restaurant, a tourist sight, a whatever, but we do a disservice to those posting the question if we don't qualify our answer to why we can't recommend it.

Usually if I mention a place it's been less than 2 years since I visited. A lot of the time for places in the EU it's less than one year. I try to put that into the posting.

I think that if you haven't done something that's being asked about in the last 4-5 years your info is out of date.

And then there's the issue of "regionality"; I'm close to the French-German border, and things change depending on what side you're on. Holidays are a good example. The various countries in the EU have, and observe, different holidays, and, even when they are the same day, practices differ.

And then there's the very specific stuff. For example, Ms Jo was corrected on tea trollies on ICE trains. But the ICE i used to Paris and the Stuttgart-Nuremberg one, both within the past 10 months, had trollies. I think it's going to be dependent on which operator has that train/line. Things like that are rather hard to keep up with.

LOL, Estimated Prophet - but it wasn’t you and I haven’t even noticed your lack of love for those two places.

jeanm, I do think we more often err on the side of how things “should” be done and where someone absolutely “should” go than the opposite.

However to play devil’s advocate, I have asked for advice before and somewhat blindly taken it - accepting that for whatever reason I don’t want to do my own further research. I guess there’s an obligation on both sides of the travel fence, in order to have the most successful outcome. But the only part I can do is my own part.

It’s good for me to stop and consider. :)

I will adds this. On objective matters if there is the slightest doubt in my mind, 90% off the time i verify it before I post. 10% of the time i am wrong to have not verified it before posting. I never post "conventional wisdom" which is my way of saying anything that has been said so many times on the internet that we all know it to be true with out verifying it (sarcasim). For instance anything that begins with "in Europe they ...".

And i am still wrong too often. I do appreciate being corrected. It's how I learn.

I agree that when answering a question, saying when you were there is important. If you have been there many times and/or for a long period as opposed to once for a couple of days that makes a difference. It’s also helpful when people say why they do or don’t like something. I don’t like to recommend lodging, but if I did it would only be somewhere I recently stayed and I would say when it was. Restaurants are another slippery slope. I know many here are very helpful, but it’s up to us as travelers to take information from people and do our due diligence to ensure we are making the right decision for ourselves.

Well, I can say for a fact that we were in the Cinque Terre this past October and it was wall to wall people in the towns, packed on the trains and crowded on the trail from Vernazza to Monterosso. It was not a good experience. And after reading the post a few years ago from a woman, very upset because she had recommended a hotel on here and someone sent her a scathing PM blaming her for their choice to book what they considered a terrible room based on the poster’s recommendation, I think twice before recommending a hotel or restaurant because this can be so subjective. I also think many people come on to this forum and think it’s answered by RS staff and expect replies to be from travel professionals. I guess it can’t be said enough that this is a public forum, most people are just trying to help others by relaying their experiences and yes, they’re all just personal opinions and should be treated as such. Even our time in the Cinque Terre was a personal opinion, I’m sure there’s people out there that don’t mind being squashed in small places with lots of others.

margie, exactly there is nothing objective about how good anything is. Its all subjective. Thats why I love the "how do I buy a train ticket?" questions. Much less subjective and less likely to explode in my face, but it has. This is not the most forgiving bunch at times.

Well Mr. E, the one thing on here that is a constant is that if someone posts an inaccuracy, and I’ve done my share, someone else is going to be right there to point it out :-)

I notice this most when it comes to places that are currently under renovation or have revamped ticketing. For example, no point in going on about how wonderful the Bayeux Tapestry is for someone visiting this summer, they won't see it. People (and I am also guilty of this) tend to think that circumstances will remain the same when so often they do not.

Transportation options is another area that is fairly dynamic. The bus that ran last year, may not run this year.

I think that any recommendation or suggestion received on this forum should be followed up with a little current research. If someone tells me of a great hotel, I will look up current reviews. I loved staying at the Acropolis View Hotel in Athens last October and I would never have known about it without this forum.

I trust the people on this forum more than I trust recommendations in RS guidebooks.......

I think that any recommendation or suggestion received on this forum
should be followed up with a little current research. If someone tells
me of a great hotel,

Keep in mind that the best-intentioned advice carries personal biases and often much more limited experience that the indvidual giving the advice wants to admit (which may be why so few have a profile), and they can send you astray. The input here shouldn’t be seen as much more than direction for your own investigations on the subject. it is incumbent on each to do their own research and not "rely" on the recommendations of RS on-line amateur tour guides.

I will look up current reviews. I loved staying at the Acropolis View
Hotel in Athens last October and I would never have known about it
without this forum.

When this forum work, it can work very well. I have found a number of amazing places thanks to the input here.

I trust the people on this forum more than I trust recommendations in
RS guidebooks.......

That’s because the people here have no financial stake in the game.

Couldn't resist but the tapestry in Bayeau is on display this summer until August 31st.

Some posters consistently give good advice— like Carol recently retired. Others, such as myself, not so much. I am basically a stinker so, yeah, I don’t trust me.

As a rule I trust RS guidebooks more. Expertise! A lifetime of travel! A professional staff! Magnificent!

Vs. weirdos like me. Hmm. I trust team rick more.

But as Carol says, recent posters are more up to date on some stuff so…. I agree with her too!

Also, my investigative undercover journalists have uncovered some of the posters on this very site (who may give advice on recovering cryptocurrency or hotels in Florence) are not to be trusted!

I just posted what must be my millionth recommendation for Overlord Tours in Bayeux.

Estimated Prophet, I concur with your recommendation of Overlord.

Maybe we should start an online drinking game - so that whenever someone posts "Overlord", "Man in Seat 61", "Premier Inn", "Hotel Londres Eiffel" or "Rabbies" - the rest of us have to take a drink.

I do try to mention when I was there so the reader gets an idea of how fresh my advice is. I also like to say why I liked something because what's important to me may mean nothing to someone else. However I have no expectations that my advice is being used. Nothing against the rest of you, but I'm not going to blindly accept your advice as gospel either. I'll take it gratefully and then research it to make sure it suits me. The latest example I can give is a post I wrote asking where to stay and what to see in London in November. Claudia and Frank II to name two have been kind with advice and while I'll take there advice seriously it still needs to be researched by me- not for accuracy but for suitability.

Short answer: It depends on what kind of suggestions they're looking for. As others have mentioned, important sights and great views tend to stay pretty similar. Although the amount of other tourists can of course have an effect, my mother visited Santorini in the 70s when the island saw very few tourists and she had a very different experience compared to those going there this year.

But things like hotels and restaurants change more frequently. I was in Albania many years ago and I still feel comfortable giving recommendations about general sights there, but I won't give any restaurant recommendations. Despite the fact that we had a lovely dinner the last night in Tirana, but that restaurant might not be there anymore or might be a lot worse (also, I can't remember neither the name, nor the location).

"Maybe we should start an online drinking game" - I'm up for that, EP. Add "Neuschwanstein" and "Cotswolds" to the mix and we'll all be legless by the end of the day.

Many recommendations become stale as quickly as bread. Just because one person had a good or bad experience is no guarantee that a week from now another person will have the same experience. Hotels, restaurants, guide reviews are subjective anyway. Logistics and travel strategies are generally helpful to people and don't change too often.

Then again, tourist vs local is important context. If someone lives in France they can have a different perspective than a tourist.

That's actually my biggest problem.

I've gotten a certain idea over time of ​​how Americans travel and what interests them. But the more I know, the harder it is for me to give tips. I increasingly feel like I'm giving tips that conform more to stereotypes than to what I like. I've also seen cases here in the forum where the opinion of another traveler carried more weight than that of a local. I can only imagine why that is. I'll put myself in the other person's shoes and perhaps I'd trust a German who had just visited the USA more to know exactly what I, as a German, want to visit in the USA on my next vacation? But maybe not? I don't know.

Maybe I just don't want to be so militant when giving tips. I sometimes find it shocking how persistently a city or region is praised. I think it's good to open travelers' eyes to something new, but sometimes that's too radical for me. That's also why I'm always unsure of the right path to conveying my perspective, in this case, Munich, in an interesting way without seeming militant. I'm also aware that, especially in Munich, it's difficult to experience the spirit of life within two days. This is another reason to limit myself to more and more stereotypes.

Mignon, part of the problem is that there isn’t one stereotype (for Americans or for people from any place). So don’t even try that as a basis. Maybe in 1970 when most US tourists in Europe came from similar backgrounds, but travel is a lot more open now.

I think you are of better service sounding militant than those pretending to be an expert on a place they spent one day in 3 years ago. I get a few comments about my militance so I put this on my profile: “BUDAPEST: I post a lot on Hungary, not because it’s the end all destination, but because I enjoy it and it’s a place about which my responses will be the most accurate and hopefully useful.”

The other thing that I think is useful is making out of the box suggestions. A person says they are going to Croatia for the beaches, I suggest Albania while they ae at it. Maybe one in 50 will look up Albania and maybe one in 10 of those will be adventurous enough to try it. Those few that did, would be happy they did, so I did a good thing.

Another difference is knowledge, opportunity and investment. The questions may be coming from a person who just invested 4 months of their income into a trip that is a once in a lifetime experience in a part of the world they know nothing about where they will have their first and only life time experience riding a train and have to deal with people who don’t speak the same language for the first time in their life. That can be hard for a person that grew up in Europe to wrap their heads around.