Vienna (TAN): If you are planning a trip to Austrian capital Vienna, the city’s tourist board advises you to not read online reviews before making reservations. The board’s new advertising campaign, ‘Unrating Vienna’, is asking visitors to experience and understand the city on their own.
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The campaign used real reviews posted online by tourists to show how misleading reviews can at times be. One of the posters gives Leopold Art Museum, which features paintings by Austrian masters Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele, a one-star review along with the feedback “paintings are disgusting”. Another called the lawn of Schonbrunn Palace “a mess”, and the view over Prater Park “rubbish”.
“We take a humorous look at the notion that online ratings are not always the right path to take when it comes to looking for relaxation and moments of enjoyment. [The campaign] is intended to make people sit up and think and trigger broader public discussion,” Norbert Kettner, the tourist board’s managing director was quoted by Lonely Planet as saying.
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While he conceded that online ratings are helpful, he said the role of digital platforms is only to act as a guide. So, the answer to the board’s “who decides what you like?” should be to explore the city for oneself – and that is what it implies with “discover your own Vienna”.
According to surveys conducted by the board, 95 per cent travellers read at least seven reviews before making reservations, and 47 per cent of all users are ‘skeptical’ if they get only positive feedback of a location or product.
