The business value of online consumer reviews has emerged in recent year as one of utmost importance for hotel marketers. This study examines how online consumer reviews affect offline hotel popularity. Using time-series data of 56,284 hotel reviews posted for more than 1000 hotels listed on TripAdvisor, this paper estimates the effect of factors of online consumer review, including quality, quantity, consistency, and recency, on the offline hotel occupancy (i.e. how popular the hotel is among consumers). The empirical evidence shows the relative effect of online consumer review factors on offline hotel popularity when controlling for other hotel characteristics. In particular, the effect of review quality lasts for at least a couple of quarters, whereas that of other online consumer review factors remains short-term. The findings provide a managerial basis to improve the online presence of hotels on social media platforms by strategically utilizing important review factors.

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Price-sensitive travelers often access hotels' and intermediaries' Web sites multiple times before they travel. Due to revenue management practices, these deal-seeking consumers are likely to observe (or be quoted) room rates that change considerably over time. This study's findings indicate that the issue of price changes over time is more complex than the current discussion framework about last-minute deals and price integrity suggests. It demonstrates that the room rate change pattern consumers observe while searching for a deal affects their propensity to book. Exploring decision and pricing theory elements, the study demonstrates empirically that through the internal reference price, the price patterns affect consumers' room rate expectations and consequently affect their propensity to book. These findings underscore the noteworthy impact of the Internet-induced reduction of the providerconsumer information gap on the effectiveness of revenue management policies.

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