TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin SXM number two country in Caribbean

...according to Trip Advisor

Behind Jamaica! Must be a numbers game.

...and #1 is Jamaica (??????)

..followed by (SXM), Grand Cayman/Puerto Rico/Barbados/Aruba

Who knows how they figure these things?? <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Laugh.gif" alt="" /> I find that most ratings on Trip Advisor are worth what was paid for them! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Stayed at motel in Madeira Beach that had signs saying free night for positive Trip Advisor review!!!!!!!!!!!!
<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Sick.gif" alt="" />
irina

Wow..

And SXM is #2 with the awful, raunchy, smokey fire that burned through the night last night from the Everest sized TRASH dump in the middle of the capital of Philipsburg???

I don't get it either...

I would be curious how the algorithm worked given the article wording

... award is achieved by a combination of popularity, comments by visitors and overall ranking on TripAdvisor. ...

Guessing SXM has lots of positive reviews relative to other destinations - partially a factor of the number of resto's, activities, places to stay, beaches etc??

J&B

Nothing like the mention of TripAdvisor to bring out the negative comments.

Well, SXM isn't "a" country, it is two countries but I'd be interested to see how this rating was formulated, as well. The crime and pollution has gotten so much worse in the past few years that it is surprising that it would rank #2 - even behind Jamaica.

I would imagine that the visitors on the cruise ships added to the counts along with the boats frequenting the protected moorage of Simpson Bay Lagoon.

Is Barbados even in the Caribbean? Looks like it's in the North Atlantic on the chart.

If your asking me, yes it is in the Caribbean.

Personally, I have found MANY reviews, both hotel and restaurant, on TripAdvisor to be way off base versus what I have personally experienced. When Applebee's is one of the top ranked restaurants in a town with many good independent restaurants, something is amiss. You always seem overly sensitive to anything negative about TripAdvisor. Are you a big contributor there?

I've attempted to use Trip Advisor 2 or 3 times and each time we read reviews and found some to be so very over the top that I just gave up completely. I'd rather ask my questions here or on a similar type chat board pertaining to the area I'm interested in if I want better and realistically, probably more up to date info on a place or topic but we all have different approaches. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

Personally, I find many hotels reviews that are negative to not be at all what I find when staying at the property. On the other hand, one of the worst dining experiences we have ever had was at a highly rated steakhouse in the Atlanta area. Way too many of the chain restaurants get outstanding reviews and the push of some merchants for positive reviews is a turn off to me.

When we went to Oahu many years ago, I was surprised that Cheese Cake Factory was the top rated restaurant in Honolulu. I just attributed that to many families going to a familiar place and it was tops based on the sheer number of people--with tastes and needs much different than mine--rating the place. Still, reading the reviews provided a good list of places to try even if some were lower rated. I tend to ignore both glowing and panning reviews when they aren't accompanied by concrete examples. Hey, they can't all be Cheese Cake Factory, thank goodness.

Trip Advisor is merely a tool and I find it very useful, but it's not the final authority. But, when it comes to St. Martin restaurants, especially the French side, I don't think I've found another source that comes as close to matching my dining preferences, especially when you look at the entire island rankings.

As they say in car ads, your mileage may vary.

I've been to Jamaica as probably everyone on here has. It's not a bad place to go (although pretty dang dangerous anymore)but NO where near as nice and good as St. Maarten. I think it is that Jamaica tends to run better deals and gets more of a one and done clientele is just my guess. As you all know, there is no place like St. Maarten. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/circle.gif" alt="" />