Customer Ratings as a Tool for the Information Asymmetry Reduction in the Hospitality Market

Abstract

One of the important stages of the buying process is seeking the information which should be valid, reliable and consistent with the current demand. Nowadays, in the information society, the source of this information is no longer primarily a service provider (eg. the hotel), but other consumers who have benefited from these services.The aim of this study is to make a comparative analysis of the methods for generating customer ratings of the hotels in the available online resources (online travel agencies and hotel e-intermediaries, hotel search engines, providers of travel reviews and social media). As a research tool, a critical review of the literature is used and exploration of online resources has been made. The study clearly shows that the customer rating systems are highly heterogeneous. Both the number and type of evaluation criteria, rating scale and definitions of reviewers are the factors which have significantly differentiated the analyzed systems. However, this heterogeneity and many other disadvantages such as the subjectivism of advisers, significant discrepancies between reviews et al., do not undermine these systems' usefulness in reducing information asymmetry in the hospitality market and in the decision-making process by the client.