Lonely planet travel book advice

One general principle with guidebooks is that vast numbers of people buy them and of course they tend to stay at the accommodation places listed as good value. As they are often a year out of date by the time they are published, the places may well have changed hands. It is also worthwhile checking out nearby establishments of a similar nature who *haven't* had the bonanza of guests enjoyed by those places getting a mention and are hoping to get a listing in the next edition.

Very true. Have experienced that when travelling to other destinations using these books as a guide. Any tips on how one could do that with respect to Europe, since I don't have a whole lot of experience with the continent? Is it something I could figure out once I actually