The impact of online reviews on hotel booking intentions and perception of trust

Abstract

a b s t r a c tA growing reliance on the Internet as an information source when making choices about tourism products raises the need for more research into electronic word of mouth. Within a hotel context, this study explores the role of four key factors that influence perceptions of trust and consumer choice. An experimental design is used to investigate four independent variables: the target of the review (core or interpersonal); overall valence of a set of reviews (positive or negative); framing of reviews (what comes first: negative or positive information); and whether or not a consumer generated numerical rating is provided together with the written text. Consumers seem to be more influenced by early negative information, especially when the overall set of reviews is negative. However, positively framed information together with numerical rating details increases both booking intentions and consumer trust. The results suggest that consumers tend to rely on easy-to-process information, when evaluating a hotel based upon reviews. Higher levels of trust are also evident when a positively framed set of reviews focused on interpersonal service.

What makes a useful online review? Implication for travel product websites

“…In this vein, many studies have investigated the effect of online reviews on travel behaviours (Vermeulen & Seegers, 2009) and product sales (Duverger, 2013;Racherla, Connolly & Christodoulidou, 2012;Sparks & Browning, 2011). It is important to recognize that while the abundance of online consumer reviews in travel-related social communities makes it easy for travellers to find information, it is difficult for them to process and judge useful information.…”

Advice from creative consumers: a study of online hotel reviews

“…Potential customers value eWOM to augment the information provided by the marketer, or hotel in this study. With consumers seeking reviews provided by their fellow consumers and relying on these reviews more than reviews by experts or marketer-provided information (Gretzel and Yoo, 2008;Sparks and Browning, 2011), businesses have an enormous opportunity to incorporate these reviews, firstly as a key element of their marketing communications initiatives and, secondly through heeding the advice from creative consumers as part of ongoing market research. Those hotels that can act on the advice from creative consumers are accepting a gift of competitive advantage.…”

“…Other consumers value the work of these creative consumers, as the recommendations of other consumers have been found to influence product choice more than reviews from experts (Sparks and Browning, 2011). While consumer-generated reviews are considered more reliable and more likely to provide up-to-date information, fellow consumers also recognize they may not provide the detailed information that may be most relevant to them (Gretzel and Yoo, 2008).…”

“…Mudambi and Schiff (2010) suggest that moderate reviews are more helpful than extremely positive or extremely negative ones. Sparks and Browning (2011) and Vermeulen and Seegers (2009) suggest that positive hotel reviews have a larger impact on consumer behaviour than negative reviews. Whitehead (2011) conducted an extensive literature review, and identified research gaps and propositions for future research for online reviews and TripAdvisor.…”

“…Consequently, not only can consumers easily disseminate their views on a purchase through ratings, reviews, and online feedback, but other consumers are interested in knowing these views. In fact, recommendations from other consumers have more influence on a purchase than reviews from experts or information provided by the marketer (Sparks and Browning, 2011). This sort of communication and feedback is especially valuable to companies operating in industries with challenging velocity regimes, i.e.…”