How much value do you put on review sites for vacation planning?

I’ve booked a Parisian hotel (that I will not name) for my vacation. It seems absolutely beautiful on its website and wasn’t cheap. Woo hoo! Then I did some searching for reviews on sites like trip adviser and expedia… uh oh. Not so good.

My question to you is- How much value do you put on those types of sites? Have you found that the reviews tend to be true, or have you been surprised?

Ease my mind, please (or encourage me to keep looking!)