When reading hotel reviews, what makes you want to book? Comfy beds? Great location? Free mini bar? According to a survey by reputation management firm TrustYou, people’s priorities depend on their reason for travel – and hotels can leverage this when marketing to specific groups.

Online recommendations appear to be valuable information sources when trying to decide where to go out for dinner; but what if they are being biased by something as irrelevant as the weather? Researchers have uncovered that restaurants receive better reviews on sunnier days.

Who reviews restaurants, and what's behind the bad reviews? A study by Georgia Tech and Yahoo Labs has found that negative restaurant reviews are most likely to be penned on a rainy day, in July or August, from a quiet suburb.

With over 61% of people reading online reviews before making a purchase decision, it’s even more important than ever to separate the good ones from the bad. But with peer reviews and professional write-ups often having contrasting opinions, who should we trust – and why?