Thoughts on Reviews

I love looking at maps. Specifically, maps of Hokkaido.

I love driving, and for my summer trip back home, I take my small car on the ferry to Sapporo.
It's interesting to look back at the roads I've traveled.
My favorite is the 'Touring Mapple Hokkaido.' Seeing roads that didn't exist before or railway lines that have disappeared, I feel the passage of time when I look at the maps.

Because of that, I also love 'Google Maps,' and searching for inns and shops I want to visit to read reviews has been a hobby of mine for the past few years. I'm curious about how others felt about places I've actually visited, and what is written about places I want to go to in the future. If I have any free time, I'm often checking them.

But lately, I've had a series of experiences that made me feel that reviews can be like a blade, and it's been weighing on my mind.

This summer vacation, I stayed at an inn near Sapporo for the first time in several years.
The hot spring water has been painstakingly maintained by our predecessors since the pioneering days. Although it is now managed by someone else, that water is still carefully protected. It is a memorable inn where I have stayed many times with my family since I was young. The lobby and gift shop have been renovated, and the food has become even more delicious. And the beautiful view remains unchanged. A quiet inn by the lake.

However, in the reviews in question, while generally favorable, it seems there is some dissatisfaction for those seeking modern hospitality and comfort. Perhaps because they paid high travel costs (like airfare) and a decent room rate, they feel they want to voice their complaints if they have any.
But while I understand writing that in a survey for the inn, I wonder about the act of going out of one's way to write complaints and expose them on a review site that the general public reads.

The people at the inn must be sad, and as someone who has loved that inn for many years along with my family memories—even if I am just a single guest—I feel as though my own memories have been denied.

Also, in the reviews for another small, privately owned inn by the sea, I saw a review that criticized the sense of the interior design. Saying it looked like an old lady's taste or something... In the owner's reply, they explained that they had displayed things that their late mother loved. So they felt their mother had been insulted. Also, though it may have been a different person, someone apparently filmed a video without permission and uploaded it to YouTube, and the comments were full of insults toward the inn. (It seems it has since been deleted.)
The owner seemed hurt, and it pained my heart to read it as well.

A large inn where a friend works, and a small clinic run by another friend, have also had inconsiderate comments posted about them.

Putting on a knowing face, acting like a critic, nitpicking, and then, while remaining anonymous, presenting one's own personal impressions to the whole world. If it's just a personal impression that others cannot verify, why can't you just keep it to yourself... At most, wouldn't it be better to just voice your complaints to your family or close friends?
And, you could just not go there again.

In this day and age, we can easily express our thoughts. That is a wonderful thing, but for some reason, there are people who seem to think nothing of hurting those who operate under their own names while they themselves remain in a safe zone.
The person who wrote it might have meant well, perhaps writing it in the hope that the inn would improve.
Whether or not you can utilize a wonderful tool depends on the user. A fool and a pair of scissors are only as good as how they are used.

By the way, as for what I look for in reviews, since I have an elderly parent, I look for objective information related to safety, such as whether someone with bad legs can move around smoothly, if there are rooms with a short distance to the bath, or if the toilet is easy to use even with bad legs (I once stayed at an inn where the toilet in the room had a 25cm step, which caused my mother great difficulty), and whether meals are served at tables or on tatami mats.

Of course, I could just ask the inn directly, but I read reviews with the feeling that I want to see the perspective of other guests before I decide.

I do believe that even negative information contains some truth. However, since a star rating is attached (and some people might judge by the number of stars if they don't read the reviews carefully), I feel a bit uneasy about people giving low star ratings based on their own subjectivity.