I got a call late yesterday afternoon from my friend Kenny over at BlackHillsVacations.com. They’ve just launched a new feature that allows visitors to the site to write reviews of hotels, attractions, special events – even entire vacation packages. Just click on the tabs for packages, lodging or activities, and you’ll see reviews start to pop up for the site’s listings.

All the reviews are done on the standard 5-star scale, with the option to leave specific comments. If you’re feeling a little cloak-and-dagger, you can choose to leave your real name and e-mail address off the public side; just be prepared to fork it over to the site administrators, who need to know you’re not a mindless spam-bot out to take over the world.

One feature I really dig: when people submit reviews, the dates of their vacation also get posted. That really helps you put what you’re reading into context. For instance, if you’re looking at two very different reviews of the same property – say, one recently-posted positive article and an older, negative one -you can reasonably assume that the property owners have done a shakedown and improved things since the first reviewer added his comments.

At the moment, the reviews are a little sparse (it just launched yesterday, for cryin’ out loud!), but that should change pretty quickly. Anyone can leave a review, even if you didn’t book your trip through the site, so there isn’t anything in the way of restrictions. In fact, Kenny told me that review editing will be kept to minimum. I’m sure they’ll filter for the profanities to keep things family-friendly and all, but other than that, what you say is what they’ll post.

So, if you’ve got a great hotel experience or some fun hints about your last family vacation to the Black Hills, feel free to share. There are a ton of travelers who could use your help planning their next trip.