Thinking of visiting Vienna? If so, you might want to give TripAdvisor a miss – or at least that’s the advice from the city’s official tourist board.
The Vienna Tourist Board is back at it again with another tongue-in-cheek marketing campaign, asking tourists to ignore online reviews that often give a skewed view of top attractions. Unrating Vienna takes a humorous look at the notion that online ratings are not always the right path to take when deciding what to see or where to go.
It follows on from last year’s ‘Unhashtag Vienna’ campaign, which encouraged travellers to take fewer photos and experience more.
Unrating Vienna shows beautiful places in Vienna that have been dragged through the mud by negative ratings
Asking the question, ‘So who decides what you like?’, adverts are on display across London’s underground system, Waterloo train station and digital bus stops throughout the city, as well as a pop-up projection on the Leopold Museum.
We have to admit – this is a genius travel marketing campaign.
“The view is rubbish”
A romantic trip on the Danube is rated “boooring” and given one star. The other ads include the view over Prater Park described as “rubbish,” Schönbrunn Palace’s lawn as “a mess,” a coffee house with “no takeaway coffee” and wine tavern Heuriger Schübel-Auer, with “no backrests.”
According to the Vienna Tourist Board, 95% of holidaymakers read at least seven reviews before they book a holiday. People trust the opinions of total strangers.
Basically, the campaign makes the point that we all experience things differently, with our own unique viewpoint. Case in point? This Google review that says the Great Wall of China is “too big.”
The perfect reminder to make up our own minds.
If you do go to Vienna this summer, be sure to check out the random experience generator at the tourist office on Albertinaplatz. It will suggest different Viennese encounters off the beaten path to visitors.
