The Influence of TripAdvisor Consumer-Generated Travel Reviews on Hotel Performance Pasi Tuominen University of Hertfordshire Business School Working Paper (2011) University of Hertfordshire Business School Working Papers are available for download from https://uhra.herts.ac.uk/dspace/handle/2299/5549 and also from the British Library: www.mbsportal.bl.uk The Working Paper Series is intended for rapid dissemination of research results, work-inprogress, and innovative teaching methods, at the pre-publication stage. Comments are welcomed and should be addressed to the individual author(s). It should be noted that papers in this series are often provisional and comments and/or citations should take account of this. Copyright and …show more content…
In an example, Tripadvisor has an estimated effect worth 500m£ per annum on corporate travel spend (Caterer, 2009). Several studies explore the issue of online reviews, or electronic word-of-mouth, focusing mainly on matters such as motivations of, and social dynamics between, users and contributors of review sites. Previous studies, however, do not investigate online reviews’ impact on consumer decision making, i.e., to what extent exposure to online reviews affects consumers’ attitudes and purchase decisions (Chevalier & Mayzlin, 2006; Sen & Lerman, 2007). This study will broaden the exploration on the effects of online hotel reviews on consumer choice hence the profitability of the hotels, keeping the consideration set model of consumer choice (Roberts & Lattin, 1991) as a theoretical point of departure. According to Compete inc. (2009) the share of referrals from social networks to hotel websites is growing rapidly (up 151% since February 2008). A similar trend (with respect to social networks’ share of referrals) exists for many other segments within and outside of the online travel industry. The more interesting finding is that the conversion rate of the referrals from social networks to hotel websites exhibits a similar growth trend, growing 98% year over year. Taken together, these findings indicate that social networks are increasingly a source of in-market traffic for hoteliers. (Compete Inc. 2009) The information society
How will a consumer decide whether to purchase a good? When a consumer purchases a good, what does this reveal?
Anderson, C. (2012). The impact of social media on lodging performance. Cornell Hospitality Reports, 12(15).
Not only are reviews being used to damage a reputation but also used as black mail. An investigation by the Times had implied that 80% of hoteliers and bed and breakfast owners had complained to TripAdvisor that guests had been using the online review system in an intimidating and black mail way. Guests would demand upgrades or discounts if the business in question did not comply then a bad review would be posted on TripAdvisor. Bha.org.uk,(2011)
Initial market testing indicates a gap in the travel and leisure review market. Though many online review sites exist, very few can be considered a source of honest and unbiased reviews. Of those that claim independent assessments, virtually none are facing a demographic of customers that frequent high end and exclusive restaurants,
There are several desirable alternatives. Today‟s car buyer, for example, has an abundance of choices among similar attractive models. In fact, research indicates that those consumers who experience greater difficulty in making purchase decisions, or who consider a wider range of store and brand options, are more likely to experience greater magnitudes of postpurchase dissonance.
Cornell Hospitality Report, a well-respected publication in the hotel industry wrote the following in a 2010 report; We wanted to explore the impact of customer reviews on hotel bookings. To explore this question, we asked our respondents to rate their likelihood of choosing a hotel if they see either a negative or a positive comment about the hotel within their category of interest. We found a surprisingly similar trend for all categories of hotels and for both male and female respondents. In short, men and women are equally likely to stay away from a hotel with negative comments and equally likely to choose a hotel if they see positive comments (McCarthy, 2010). There is a strong indication that hoteliers who want to be successful in the new competitive landscape can disregard online reviews at their own peril. According to the paper, a 2010 study by Mckinsey and Co. claimed that “word of mouth is the primary factor behind twenty to fifty percent of all purchasing decisions” and that “marketing-induced consumer-to-consumer word of mouth generates more than twice the sales of paid advertising in categories as diverse as skincare and mobile phones.” Considering the previously presented evidence, I believe any hotel that plans to be successful should be actively engaged in managing online reviews. In addition to this, they should focus strongly on top review websites such as TripAdvisor and Google to ensure they are involved in actively managing their online reputation.
Primarily the company’s strengths include an overall positive brand image within their target market, user-friendly content and believable online reviews. Their strengths have brought many opportunities to the table for the company included a growth in demand as well as a growth in equity and an expanded target market via mergers. However, the main weakness of TripAdvisor who faces threats due to increased competition is the decision of company to not utilize a third party to verify the identity of its users means that the risk or fake
As I just started as a General Manager at the hotel “Pelusos”, I reviewed the reports of our recent customers and found out that we do have millennial clients as well as a business market. However, they are not becoming returning clients because they do not feel we meet their technological needs. As we are aware thanks to social media, there is a tremendous necessity for guests to be connected all the time. This is clearly understood by majority of hotels because as the American Hotel and Lodging Associations reported, 87 percent of hotels are using social media in their marketing effort. Hence, if the hotel social media and advertisement are not been updated constantly, we are wasting a good resource for marketing and selling. Also, as Elizabeth Smith mentioned on his article, the guests experience starts long before a traveler arrives. It begins when
This report was requested by Ms. Sophie Kinloch, the lecturer of Rooms Division Service Standards. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the values of Social Medias and national rating organisations by a hotel and consumer point of views.
The growth of technology has overhauled the tourism and hospitality industry. Over the past 5 years, the hospitality industry has drastically taken a technology-driven transformation (Bickerton 2015). The transformation has seen changes in the way consumers obtain information and mainly how they book for services. As a result, there has been a growth and importance of Word of Mouth and electronic word of mouth. For an industry that relies on image and positive perception, WoM and Ewom are something that must be considered and taken very seriously. Club Med is in the business of selling intangible services to consumers, however, tangible services such as the appearance of their hotel have an impact on whether a customer would choose to book with them or not. These variables are all focus around Word of Mouth and Electronic word of mouth (Racherla 2008).
The marketer can communicate mostly information that they need customer know including their promotion, their event or their advertising by integrate these marketing activities through social media in many channels. Social media are divided into 3 types which are blogs, social network sites and content communities. (Smith, 2012) This essay focus on 3 top users of social networking site that are Facebook (900,000,000 visitors), Twitter (310,000,000 visitors) and LinkedIn (255,000,000 visitors) which have many visitors in one month. (Ebizmba, 2014) From statistics, Facebook is the most popular website which in June 2014 has about 829 million users a day. (Newsroom, 2014) Starbuck who has a big fan pages on
Interactivity and creativity is a must for creating positive word of mouth. More effort should be put on the ideas of marketing activities to create consumer-to-consumer word of mouth.
The instrument consisted of 20 questions with three constructs related to the satisfaction of the customers with internet travel services, travel agent services, and cost comparison between the two. The construct of internet satisfaction related to how satisfied the customers were with their previous booking experiences on the internet. The construct of travel agent satisfaction related to how satisfied the customers were with their previous booking experiences with an agent. Cost comparison related to how the customers’ previous experiences compared to each other in terms of cost. The participants rated each question as 6 = strongly agree, 5 = agree, 4 = slightly agree (all some form of agreement), 3 = slightly disagree, 2 = disagree, and 1 = strongly
While negative comments can decrease the number of guests visiting an establishment, they can indirectly help in improving hotel’s services and even reputation. This depends on the hotel’s management attitude and approach towards negative comments. Min et al (2014) note that hotels that insert empathy and concern in response to negative comments improved their ratings among existing and potential customer. Concern by a hotel’s management is shown by the time frame used to respond to a negative comment and this can build or break its reputation. The authors further note that the difference between an online complaint and an in-person complaint is the timing, while an in-person is likely to get an immediate response as standard procedure in most hotels, an online review may take a while, hence, making prompt response valuable in improving a guest’s perception of the hotel (Min et al, 2014).
The prominence of user-generated online reviews signifies the significance of the interaction between hotels and their guests in terms of meeting guest expectations and experience. Blal and Sturman (2014) note that reviews have a clear correlation with demand for hotel services and it mostly has to do with reputation. A positive review is one that provides a high rating – usually 4 to 5 star rating – of a hotel’s services based on criteria such as cleanliness, staff attitude, hotel condition, and comfort. A negative review is one that provides a poor rating usually 1 to 2 star rating based on the same criteria. Consequently, Hotels with a positive reputation are likely to retain their guests and attract prospective guest, while hotels with a a negative reputation are likely to dissuade guests from visiting the establishment (Melián-González et al, 2013).