How can you stop the travel companies reviewing themselves?
How can you prevent competitors posting bad reviews about travel companies?
How do you know if the reviewer has even had contact with the travel companies?
How do you know it’s not just an automated post?

The truth is that, without breaking privacy laws, it is very difficult to answer these questions with any certainty. But today, beouthere.com hopes to give a few tactics to help the everyday traveller brush these concerns aside and see the real benefit to travel reviews:

1. Strength in numbers – read 100 reviews from 100 different people all saying that a place is bad and, in all honesty, it’s not likely to be great. Equally, reading one review saying that a place is perfect will not necessarily be the whole truth. Use the strength in numbers rule and if you are ever sceptical consult point 3 on this list, Review Content.

2. Reviewer History – some review sites, like TripAdvisor, allow you to see the reviewing history of the reviewer in question. From that, you can often spot trends. Whether it be a string of bad reviews for hotels in one city, with one exceptionally good one that stands out or if only very good reviews are posted, there are trends to be spotted and reviewers to be wary of.

3. Review Content – there are a few things to look out for when considering other travellers’ reviews. Firstly, is it actually about the hotels, tours or companies in question or is it a generic piece of text that could be pasted over and over for different hotels, tours or companies? Secondly, is the review full of directions to the hotel, email addresses for the adventure travel provider or a phone number for the travel agent? Commonly reviews posted by the company being reviewed contain helpful hints as to how a potential customer might reach them, by location, email or telephone. If you’re unsure about the review, copy some of the body text into google and see what comes up, 10 sites with the same text usually means that you’ve got a spammer. Finally, take a broad look at the reviews on the site – if they are all favourable, and not ever negative, then it is likely you’ve found a site where the publisher is being paid to write good reviews.

4. Topic – review sites exist because of choice. More hotels, electronic goods or insurance providers than the world really needs and millions of consumers needing to know which is best for them. Legitimate reviews are far more probable on sites with more traffic, usually in less of a niche, like hotels or electronic goods. Trusting all reviews on a site that considers types of shirt buttons is not advised.

5. People (Honesty) – despite what much of the world’s 21st Century media might tell you, the world’s population is largely honest. That’s right, honest. There are unscrupulous types, but they largely stick to the Internet Marketing scene(!) We are adventure travellers. We are honest and friendly. We are open to new things and new places. We can be trusted.

If you know of a company that deserves some praise, or a slap on the wrists, visit beouthere.com to share your adventure travel experience.

Jenman Safaris offers many different types of safaris, such as: expeditions, camping safaris, lodge safaris, non-participation safaris, semi-participation safaris, 4×4 safaris, fly-in safaris, walking safaris, luxury safaris, upgraded camping safaris, adventure safaris, motorbike safaris, mountain bike safaris, self-drive options, day trips and family safaris!

We are also able to offer tailor-made safaris: Our experienced African safari travel consultants are specialists in putting together African safari tours to suit your personal needs.

At beouthere.com we go one better than telling you our own opinion. We give you the opinions of 1000s of adventure travellers who have experienced these companies before.

User reviews are the most powerful medium when it comes to product recommendations. Take tripadvisor, for example. Thanks to these guys, there are very few hotel users who will book up without checking tripadvisor.

How can the modern adventure traveller find the right adventure amongst ever growing volumes of tour options, trip reports, and environmental incentives?

The adventure travel market is a fast-growing niche within the tourism sector. Adventure travellers can now find almost any adventure in any country of the world. Whether it be Caving in Afghanistan, Surfing in Fiji or Ballooning over the Serengeti, there is an adventure tour operator or adventure company to take you there.

Gone are the days when an adventurer would have to spend weeks planning his or her expedition with swiss-like precision. Modern-day operators will organise every detail of the trip, right down to the level of adrenaline you will experience.

Your choices in adventure travel are literally endless. Unsurprisingly there are hundreds of companies offering Safaris, Skiing Trips, Scuba Diving and much more. They exist in such numbers because each offers a slightly different service and every adventurer wants a different experience.

So what are adventure travellers really looking for? Surly for each individual the ideal experience is different. Some will want greener trips whereas others will yearn for really ‘out-there’ trips were the accommodation is a tent, not a 5-star hotel and the transport is a yak rather than an air-conditioned coach.

So, to uncover global adventure travel and the right experience for you, the answer is simple. Draw out a 3-part check list:

1. Experience,

2. Out-There Factor

3. Environment. For each part work out what you want from a trip.

Then read trip reports, operator reviews and speak to the adventure companies.

Your dream adventure trip is out there. Just make sure you know what you want before you book.