Poster: A snowHead
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I can get very excited about my favourite resorts and runs, and (in my excitement) can go a bit overboard in recommending them (and, one of the beauties of a forum like snowheads is telling people which resorts you love and why).
However, while I was out skiing last week I met a few people who voiced a different opinion - and that was that they didn't generally over recommend their favourite resort as the busier it got then the more expensive the accomodation prices and the busier the slopes got. I couldn't really fault their logic, but just hadn't really thought about it that way.
Using the same premise, every resort has a few great runs that are generally very quiet and undiscovered - do you tell everyone about these hidden gems, risking that they get busier (taking away the thing that made them great in the first place) or keep quiet and keep them to yourself?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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As the assessment is so subjective I think it's unlikely that many people would actually take the trouble to visit the places I like. Even if a few of them did, spread over a season I doubt it would make much difference to the numbers visiting.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I might answer questions about resort X and run Y. I'd never recommend anything. Influencing other people's choices is work-time for me, not play-time. I don't think enough people read SHs to make much different to piste crowding.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I'd share my love for a place with friends and fellow snowheads. Why not? If it's really that good people are going to find out anyway and even if it gets busier would you not want to let some others enjoy it while it's good.
And as Ade57 says, we all have different ideas of what we want from a resort so no-one is going to go there just because 'Handy Turnip says it's good'. At most they'll put in on a list of places to consider.
I guess it all depends on whether you want to help fellow skiers or try and be one-up on them. I'd go for the help route every time.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@Handy Turnip, So continuing with your logic, we should really be recommending resorts we do not like in order direct people from the resorts we really like and keep them to ourselves.
Having realised this reasoning I should now avoid any resort recommended by someone else.
But the original reviewer has also understood how I would react and will now double bluff me.
Ahh! now you have told me this I will never trust a review again.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@johnE, haha.. very true! Maybe that explains why tripadvisor is so full of contradictory reviews!!
Also just to point out, it wasn't really my logic but a group of skiiers that we met in bar.
I think @Ade57 and @olderscot make a good point. Recommendations are so subjective that only your closest friends and family (i.e. those people that know you really well) would take it completely at face value without just adding it to a short list to research. Plus there are so many people recommending so many different resorts that nowhere actually stands out in the end!
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I still recommend my favourite places, but I know that if its on a thread with dozens of others, then I'm probably just adding to general "noise". It's better if people we a bit more specific about what they are looking for. I like to think that I did offer helpful advice views on Hakuba, Japan recently. But that was because not many people have been there!
If I really love somewhere, I can't help tell people, whether online or face to face. (Am just naturally enthusiastic and want to share!) A mate of mine came to St Martin de Belleville about 8 years ago after I said how much I liked it, and she and her family now love it just as much as I do (and are even hoping to buy an apartment in one of the satellite villages). This is great as we have now more friends to share holidays with. Not that we come here exclusively.
The thing about skiing is, it's one of those activities where people are almost universally enthusiastic about it. The only resort I can think gets a regular thumbs down, so much so that I know that it topped the "least favourite resort" thread here on SHs is LDA.
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I'm not so delusional about my own importance and influence that I think my recommendations are going to make a meaningful increase to the popularity of my favourite places!
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