This guy posted 2,353 reviews on TripAdvisor in the last year, more than anyone else - Los Angeles Times
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This guy posted 2,353 reviews on TripAdvisor in the last year, more than anyone else

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You would think Bernardo Famorca would be one of those in-your-face guys always pushing their opinions on people. After all, the New York City salesman has written a stunning 2,353 posts in the last year.

But Famorca is anything but opinionated. He strives to be evenhanded and objective in his remarkable number of posts, which Tuesday earned him the title of TripAdvisor’s top review contributor of the year.

“I try to be as objective as possible,” Famorca says by phone while on a business trip to St. Louis. “I don’t want to turn someone off to something unless it’s really disgusting.” If memory serves, his reviews have few “poor” ratings and not one “terrible.”

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TripAdvisor says in a statement that more than 3 million reviews were shared on its website between Nov. 11, 2015, and Oct. 11, 2016.

London received more TripAdvisor reviews last year than any other city.
London received more TripAdvisor reviews last year than any other city.
(Alastair Grant / Associated Press )

London received about a third of them, more than any other city, and the Silver Legacy Resort and Casino in Reno, Nev., was the most reviewed hotel in the world.

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But back to Famorca.

What’s his secret to all those reviews? For starters, the national sales manager for a hardware distribution company and vacation lover estimates he travels about 200 to 250 days a year. (He’s also a million-mile flier on Delta Air Lines.)

Once on location, he uses the Near Me Now tool on TripAdvisor’s mobile app to quickly find review-worthy places. “So here in St. Louis, I hit a casino, hit a couple parks and hit a couple of bars,” he says. He takes lots of photos, and then writes his thoughts at the end of the day.

One of the strangest attractions he reviewed was in Brundidge, Ala.: “It’s a huge rooster made of car bumpers. If you’re driving on 231 it’s kind of hard to miss. If you’re into modern sculpture it will probably be interesting. It’s like 7 or 8 feet tall, maybe more!”

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Famorca, a.k.a. Bernardo F and 811bernardf on TripAdvisor, also received Ollies, as the awards are called, for traveler of the year (given to the reviewer who posts reviews from the most number of destinations in the past year), and “expert of the year” for restaurant and attractions reviews.

“It’s actually very exciting to know I spent the most time of anyone in the world [writing reviews] — and didn’t get paid for it,” Famorca says.

George Capen of Canyon Lake, Calif., in Riverside County won Ollies for hotel expert of the year and explorer of the year.

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