TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin The "Best" Of St Maarten 2015 results

Interesting results.

I haven't finished reading this yet but my observation of last year stands. Should be called Best of Dutch Side. Wonder when those Grand Case chefs are going to make it down to Simpson Bay and learn proper "French" cooking.

Yes, didn't see much from the French side except the Lotterie Farm. And Dominos for best pizza...

I am not sure but since it is the Dutch side paper, The Daily Herald, that puts the survey out, I think it stands to reason you will see predominately Dutch side voting and places mentioned.

I would be curious to know the percentage of island residents that vote compared to any form of tourist.

Yvettes is on the French side and received a deserved 1st place vote.

Yes. Not worth getting your undies in a bunch. I've given copies to first time travelers and it's quite helpful.

LOL...I don't think anyone here is getting their undies in a bunch. Its just funny...and certainly helpful for those spending time on the Dutch side and for those like myself who aren't familiar with Dutch side establishments.

I live in OC Md, a resort town which also has a similar annual best of publication, though not technically tied to advertising most of the voting in that publication seems to come from tourists who often make their dining selections based on large roadside billboards. Many times places locals would only visit in the offseason.

Kind of like some of the restaurant reviews and rankings on TripAdvisor, some have merit and others don't. When I see a chain (Dominoes/Applebee's, etc.) ranked ahead of what I feel to be very good independent restaurants, it raises a red flag of sorts.

Of the 631 TripAdvisor ranked restaurants near where I live, the top three are a local grocery store chain and a small local pizza chain and the 3rd ranked restaurant is closed. Not sure how a grocery got ranked with restaurants, unless you consider prepared carry-out food to be a restaurant. Three of what are normally considered (by locals) to be the top restaurants in the town barely crack the top 20.

Like any review or "best of", they are a tool but can also be very stacked one way or the other.

Other than the French side almost not being mentioned, most of the ratings I don't necessarily have a big problem with. I don't know how one gets nominated to be on the list, which would be interesting...

Often, Carol advertising with the publication has a lot to do with nominations.

Like most "Best of..." lists here at home and on St. Maarten/Martin, it's done by "popular vote". The advertisers contact the businesses and tell them they have an opportunity to advertise in the Best of Magazine and the businesses ask patrons to vote for them. It's a great advertising piece and sometimes a good source of information for first time visitors, but as a long time visitor, I would not believe that any of the places were actually "Best" (since that's subjective at best). Otherwise, why would Dominoes be voted Best Pizza??!!

I've had a big problem with the 'best pizza' myself for years, as I HATE Pizza Galley, which routinely wins best pizza. Many of the others, like Skipjacks for fish, Bajatzu for steak, Temptation for best upscale restaurant, I really don't have a problem with, as far as best on the DUTCH side, anyway.

Yes, that could well be...

Personally, I feel the results are based on how much advertising revenue the business generated for The Daily Herald.

The RESULTS are based on how many votes the various businesses received, from the online voting, which ANYONE can vote on that. I didn't actually vote this year, but last year, they did prevent the same person from voting more than once somehow, although I can't remember exactly how. How a business gets NOMINATED, I don't know.

hmmmm - Here's a suggestion. Create a forum on TTOL similar to TripAdvisor to rate stuff like restaurants and bars. My suggestion would to keep it simple by giving the poster (only registered posters) the opportunity to rate a place from 1 to 10, but without discussion. Then the results could show the average rating as well as the number of people who have voted.

I have looked at TripAdvisor many, many times on places we go and find this feature to be as helpful as I can find.

Thanks for posting link - it is interesting. The only one that really made me laugh was "best bank" - WIB???

How can I Email Best of 2015 link to someone?

Trying to get someone to discover our Island.

Follow the link, copy the url, and paste it into the email.

Thanks, I'll try.

Check your email and private message.

Click on the link in the first message of this thread. When the survey opens, put your cursor in the address bar to highlight the entire address. CTRL-C to copy the address. CTRL-V in an email to send the link.

i love subway and dominoes getting a best win and burger king placed for best burger. very very funny. On the other hand, many of them makes sense.

My personal guess is probably a lot of local voting for those places. Some island residents like to try what they see on TV and things other than what they grew up with.

Our local friend from the island wanted Red Lobster when he was here in the states 16 year ago. I asked him why since he had all the seafood around him on the island. He said he liked their commercials and it just looked good and like something different he wanted to try. We went to Red Lobster then!

and what did he think of red lobster! thats is very funny, it does make sense but i still find it funny.

My bet is he who pays the most gets the ratings. I stopped reading the list when dominos wins best pizza. WTF? Can anyone agree that dominos makes the best pizza anywhere? Didn't think so.....LOL

Again, this was a POLL that people VOTED in, and YOU could have voted if you had wanted to.

He actually liked Red Lobster. But he also liked any other dish he had here with the exception of wild morel mushrooms, and that shocked me!

Thanks, got it

Remember we TTOLers are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes down to reading the DH, so our effect on the outcome of the survey is most likely very low unless our interest in the poll is way out of proportion to the total readership. I don't know about the French side, but I do know that they have the Pelican a daily summary of island and other news plus other publications which might hold their interest, so readership there might be low. If all of this is true, and I think I am close to being right, TTOLers votes have little effect on the poll outcomes.

And the Pelican is in French, and thus most people here don't read it.

Carol...i did vote....but surely not for Domino's....or some of the other crazy winners.

That's great rural, what didn't he like shout the mushrooms? Where I live the only people that go to red lobster are 80.

Not really sure on the morels, perhaps the texture?? I worked my a$$ off hunting the morels prior to his visit and thought a local delicacy like that would be a hit.

I have not been to Red Lobster in many years but it is probably the same clientele here also.

I would have appreciated them! You could always send me some!

Where I live in CT, the local newspaper has the identical kind of survey. In the places of business as well within the newspaper itself, there are forms that can be filled in or sent back. Then the votes are tallied, and bingo, they have their results!! It's not always very accurate. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />

Interesting. I've stayed at the Flamingo 3 times and don't hang out at Toppers. I must be missing something..