Choosing hotels - using Tripadvisor

I have found that one of the best sources for info and ratings on hotels from other travelers is www.tripadvisor.com. This is a great resource if you are trying to decide which hotel program points to use on a trip, or if you are heading to a city you've never been to before and need to make a decision on a hotel. It's especially good when you are faced with tough calls. For example - do you stay at the Sheraton Palo Alto (Category 4) or the Westin Palo Alto (Cat 5) which is next door? )In my view, the Sheraton wins out because of the staff friendliness and the club lounge). Do you stay at the Swan or Dolphin at Disneyworld, which are both SPG Cat 4? Tripadvisor's contributors weigh in on these and many other topics. The site also helps you avoid judging a book by its cover. For example, after reading TA posts about the Holiday Inn Express at Pensacola Beach, I realized that despite its name and the fact that it was only 15,000 PC points per night, it was a great beach hotel. I stayed there last month and the TA reviews were dead on.