Patrick Forsyth
For some it is known as the Mandy Rice- Davis effect, she who famously countered accusations in the Profumo affair with the words: ‘He would [say that] wouldn’t he.’ The comment could well be used to describe some of the reviews put online about, say, a hotel, airline or destination. Many high-rating reviews are suspect, being from friends of the owner, avid fans or even paid for. Most people looking at something like TripAdvisor or the information put on booking sites such as Booking.com have learnt to ignore the best and the worst (a lot of the latter are about some bizarre dislike or one-off event) and take the consensus of the middle ground as a guide.