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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

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