Do Social Media Reviews Diminish Travel Experiences?

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Many people tend to obsess over certain travel destinations, especially when they see them on social media or travel websites. They become so fixated on the idea of visiting these places that they build up unrealistic expectations and can end up feeling disappointed when they finally arrive. I was wondering if this obsession can diminish the enjoyment of traveling to a particular place.

First of all, please keep reading reviews. Particularly ours and the ones from other BoardingArea bloggers.  🙂

But it’s hard to avoid seeing breathtaking photos of amazing places while scrolling through your Instagram feed or browsing travel blogs. You might come across an influencer standing under a tropical waterfall in Laos, like this one, for example. While their pictures may be stunning, the reality of the experience you have when you visit that same place will likely be very different. In fact, the influencer’s experience probably didn’t even look like what they posted on their feed.

This is true for almost any famous place around the world. If you manage to find out about it, no doubt many other people have too, and that means that the place will likely be crowded and not as pristine as it appears in pictures. Here are a bunch of examples of pictures of famous places compared to what you’ll experience if you visit.

I don’t blame content creators for this. Their job is to create videos or write posts that are engaging. People want to hear and see amazing places and not learn how it’s a 2-hour ride plus a hike to get to a waterfall and how it’s hot and there are mosquitoes everywhere.

Using hotel reviews as an example, it’s easy to find online reviews that give you a complete view of the hotel before you even arrive. From the exterior to the lobby and every detail of the room including the bathroom, closet, and coffee maker, you’ll know exactly what you’re getting. But does this take away from the excitement of walking into a hotel and being surprised by what you see?

I’ve personally struggled with this issue after my stay at the St. Pancras Renaissance hotel in London. While I had a great time and enjoyed my stay, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were missing out on something. The hotel has been reviewed extensively online, showing off incredible suites that were obtained through a Marriott Suite Night Upgrade.

For example, here’s a video from Nick on Frequent Miler about his upgrade to the Grand Staircase Suite.

So when we checked in and were brought to our suite, it was a beautiful room but I still wasn’t overwhelmed by it. There was no music playing in the background. No dramatic lighting. It was just a very nice suite. But in my mind, it just wasn’t as nice as the other ones I’ve seen online. Should I have said something like “I know you have nicer suites, could I have one of those instead”?

Asking for a better room is totally not in my DNA. Well, maybe it is because, until this day, my father notoriously never takes the first room he’s offered. Would I be happy with that other room or would I only be satisfied if I asked for the exact suite where Nick stayed? (Wow, the more I typed that last sentence, it just got creepier and creepier, didn’t it?).

I never really experienced FOMO (fear of missing out) when checking into a hotel before. I do research on hotels before we stay anywhere, usually too much (Note from Sharon: Gee, ya THINK? #rolleyes), but that’s to find out if the room layout will work (is there a desk to work at?) or if the hotel is in a suitable location. I don’t obsess over the room once I’m happy about what I booked. This stay was different because I was excited about staying at this hotel, and even more so after our suite nights cleared. We were going to have an amazing stay in one of those rooms I saw online, and then we didn’t get that room.

I set myself up. I know I did. Building expectations to a point where it was impossible to overdeliver. This isn’t the first time I’ve done this. I was over the moon when I snagged a suite at the Park Hyatt Washington D.C. While the room was very large, what I was waiting to see was the bathroom, which looked amazing. It was since the shower was bigger than the bathroom of the apartment where I grew up.

In this case, I got exactly what I was expecting and it was great. So it’s not always a bad thing to hype yourself up, just as long as you don’t set yourself up for a letdown.

The other times I’ve been overly impressed with staying in a hotel, it was because I wasn’t expecting what we received. The surprise increases the value of the experience. I can name so many of these off the top of my head.

• Getting the “brochure room” at the Ryokan in Japan
• Staying at a Bright Angel Cabin at the Grand Canyon
• The upgrade we received at the Goldener Hirsch in Salzburg, Austria

In all of these examples, we either received an upgrade we weren’t expecting or there just aren’t any pictures that can capture the charm of a location.

Final Thoughts

So what did I learn from this experience? If it’s possible to relearn a lesson, it’s remembering not to get too excited over a single part of the vacation. Whether it’s flying on a specific type of plane, like with Singapore Airlines, a specific activity on a group tour like Adventures by Disney or staying at a specific hotel, like the TWA Hotel, it’s OK to get excited but don’t build something up so much that you’re not going to enjoy it, no matter how nice it is.

You need to appreciate what you have in front of you instead of longing for what you don’t have. If you like reading reviews (and I hope you do), there’s nothing wrong with anticipating your trip. Just don’t get so hung up on the specifics. Maybe you won’t have the same experience as the review you read online. That’s OK because that experience was the one the writer had. Live your own adventure and make your own memories instead of spending your time comparing them to someone else.

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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary