Amelie Hurst, spokeswoman for holiday information service TripAdvisor, said: "Reviews are incredibly important for holidaymakers, because travel is about time and money - you cant afford for it to go wrong."
Her comments follow news British travellers are increasingly using travel review sites because they offer "transparency" on holiday destinations.
The Thomson and First Choice Trends Report 2009 found 80 per cent of people trust the review they read on holidays online.
One key benefit of review sites, according to Ms Hurst, is that information is constantly updated: "Whilst the average guidebook takes 15 months from manuscript submission to hitting the shelf, TripAdvisor posts 18 new contributions every minute."
"If a company or propertys standards are not up to scratch, there's nowhere to hide," she added.
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