TripAdvisor rates Top 10 airport hotels, but Google thinks some are middling

TripAdvisor published a list of its “10 top-flight U.S. airport hotels” based on user reviews, but Google’s own users find some of these properties just ho-hum.

TripAdvisor’s top 10 airport hotels in the U.S. are:

1. Cedarbrook Lodge , Seattle/Tacoma International Airport
2. Four Seasons Hotel Las Vegas , McCarran International Airport
3. Cambria Suites Raleigh-Durham Airport, Raleigh-Durham International Airport
4. Grand Hyatt DFW, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
5. Hampton Inn and Suites Detroit/Airport-Romulus, Detroit Metro Airport
6. Radisson Hotel Phoenix Airport , Sky Harbor International Airport
7. Comfort Suites Miami Airport North, Miami International Airport
8. Residence Inn Arlington Pentagon City, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
9. Hyatt Place Portland Airport /Cascade Station, Portland International Airport
10. Drury Inn & Suites Nashville Airport, Nashville International Airport

If you want to cross-check TripAdvisor’s favorites with Google users’ reviews, which can be found in Google +, you’ll find a somwhat different story about these airport hotels.

Google gives only one of the properties, the Four Seasons Hotel Las Vegas, a top-tier rating of 27, where 26 – 30 in Google’s Zagat scoring system is considered “extraordinary to perfection.”

TripAdvisor’s top-ranked airport hotel, Cedar Brook Lodge near Seattle/Tacoma Airport, gets a second-rung score of 24 in the “very good to excellent” category from Google users, as does the Hyatt Place Portland Airport, with a 23 score.

And Google designates the rest of TripAdvisor’s top 10 as belonging in its third tier, “good to very good” category, with scores of 16 – 20, or doesn’t rate them at all because it doesn’t have enough reviews.

And, that lack of hotel reviews from Google users is one of the problems with the Google rating system for now, making TripAdvisor seemingly more reliable.

For example, Google gives the Cambria Suites Raleigh-Durham Airport a score of just 16 out of a possible 30, but the rating is based on just seven user reviews.

TripAdvisor, on the other hand, rates the Cambria Suites Raleigh-Durham Airport third on its top 10 airport hotels list, but the ranking is based on 234 user reviews, which would seem to be a more reliable foundation.

It’s not a bad idea, though, to check TripAdvisor, Google and other reviews when selecting a hotel that’s convenient to the airport.

Here’s TripAdvisor’s press release on its top 10 airport hotels: