Determining the Relationships between Price and Online Reputation in Lodgings

Abstract

Currently, lodgings' competitiveness depends on pricing, based on the online reputation measured by quantitative scales of variables. The purpose of this article is to analyze the different prices set by lodgings by season in relation to the variables that measure their online reputation. This is an essential aspect in determining prices competitively in a constantly changing market. The study analyzes the offer of three tourist destinations (Gran Canaria and Tenerife in Spain and Agadir in Morocco) and online customer reviews on the quality of service, value, and added value obtained from Booking.com. Bivariate regressions with different functions were carried out to determine which one best matches these variables to the prices. The results show that added value has the greater relationship with prices. The cubic and quadratic functions have the best fit between quality of service and added value with regard to lodging prices. Based on the results obtained, it is possible to determine the most competitive prices lodgings can set depending on the quality of service and the added value offered to customers. To the extent that destinations from different countries are analyzed, the research reaches an international scope that is in line with the competitive reality of the tourism market.

How to enhance online reputation? An empirical study from a joint customer–firm perspective

“…These sites are platforms on which consumers can post content about tourism services, and they can be community-based (such as TripAdvisor or Yelp) or transactionbased (such as the online travel agencies Expedia.com or Booking.com) (Mirzaalian and Halpenny, 2019). On this kind of site, generally, the evaluation made by consumers after consuming a service is summarized in a numerical value or rating, which can be considered equivalent to the firm's online reputation (e.g., Anderson and Lawrence, 2014;Rodríguez-Díaz et al, 2019;Yang et al, 2018).…”

“…The proliferation of social media, which enable tourists to share their experiences with each other, has rendered the role played by opinions posted online about tourism suppliers increasingly important for the tourism sector (Su et al, 2022). These types of opinions are usually summarized in a numerical value or rating, which constitutes the firm's online reputation (e.g., Anderson and Lawrence, 2014;Rodríguez-Díaz et al, 2019;Yang et al, 2018). Online reputation plays an essential role in consumer decision-making in the tourism sector (Tsao et al, 2019) because it helps consumers to select service providers (Bigné et al, 2020) by taking the effort out of reaching decisions-hence, consumers often place their trust in it (Yang et al, 2018).…”

Analyzing the Online Reputation and Positioning of Airlines

“…Online reputation has been widely studied in the tourism sector, with a great impact on capturing the demand for hotels [37]. From the perspective of quantitative research, online customer ratings have been used preferentially on the specialized websites of TripAdvisor, Booking, and HolidayCheck [25,[38][39][40][41]. However, in the airline sector, research has been limited, especially in the statistical analysis of the scales and competitive positioning studies [42][43][44].…”