(if only they gave me that option)

You will find here below all the (good) reasons why I don't want to have anything to do with TripAdvisor but let it be known, at this stage of our relationship, that I personally ask all my customers to not inscribe me on that platform which is as useful to my business as a hole in the head... So far they have respected my wish and they still have the possibility to leave their comments about the tour they joined on my "Testimonial" page or my professional Facebook page. Even though I don't like the nosiness of Facebook concerning personal data (and the way they apparently share it without our consent), it was impossible not to have a professional Facebook page for this website, particularly that I like the idea of posting pictures of me and my clients in different places.

It therefore gives my clients the opportunity to write a little feedback about how they enjoyed the trip and those commentaries, let me tell you, are much more reliable than the thousands of good reviews that "Vanessa1930" or "Georges&Linda1920" posted since they created an account on Tripadvisor last year. And let it be known that whoever creates an entry for Paris Personal Tours on Tripadvisor in the future inevitably has evil intentions!

Here below is a short list of the main reasons I don't want to be on Tripadvisor:

1) if you look for a driver-guide in France on TripAdvisor, you'll find dozens of entries, and a lot of them only have a driving licence as sole official qualification. And it so happens that, even though some of them seem to have a good know-how (but what do I know?), that's not a good-enough reason for me to want to compete in the same league by going "fishing" for clients with them on the same website.

2) it's a known fact that the majority of reviews on TripAdvisor are positive (the average bubble rating is more than 4 out of 5) so, if they all have good ratings, what's the use? (besides making themselves known to the public and attract more clients?).

3) if, after surfing on my website, you haven’t figured out by yourself that I offer unique experiences, that I'm legit, that I speak good English and that I have a sense of humor (and a big mouth!), then there is nothing I can honestly do for you!

4) I already work quite well with word-of-mouth recommendation from my former clients and I'd rather work with people who heard of me through someone I know and/or my website rather than with people who found me by accident among hundreds of others as they were looking for a last-minute-skip-the-line excursion (not that there's anything wrong with that of course).

5) I totally understand/accept that restaurants/hotels/products get a rating but when it comes to people, I find that ethically questionable...

Otherwise I highly recommend that you click here if you have 28mn to spare to read a very informative review about TripAdvisor written by a competitor of mine, Heather Stimmler-Hall, who's an American author and journalist living in Paris.

Oh, and you'll find another very interesting article about TripAdvisor here.