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Friends and fellow travelers: comparative influence of review sites and friends on hotel choice

Friends and fellow travelers: comparative influence of review sites and friends on hotel choice Purpose – This paper aims to examine when travelers are more influenced by friends (word-of-mouth (WOM)) with limited knowledge of hotels but an understanding of the traveler, and when by review sites (electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM)) which have immense experience of hotels but cannot know the individual traveler. Sites such as TripAdvisor® offer millions of reviews, and travelers often reduce that to a manageable amount by focusing on reviews by writers who show homophily, i.e. are similar to them in terms of travel interests. These sites represent a form of eWOM recommendation; what is not clear is how much they replace or augment traditional WOM. Design/methodology/approach – Dual-method content analysis of semi-structured interviews with a heterogeneous purposive sample of regular users of TripAdvisor ( N = 30), followed by a survey of TripAdvisor users ( N = 237). Findings – Friends were considered the most credible information source, although friends showing greater homophily were more valued than others. However, in some circumstances, subjects found eWOM more credible: when they wanted greater certainty in their hotel choice, so complete information was important; when the hotel was for a special occasion or special people; and for feelings of empowerment. Most subjects compared all sources rather than relying on one. Originality/value – This study reminds hotel managers that while eWOM is accessible and analyzable, it may not fully represent guests’ opinions; hotels’ marketing strategy should balance it with other recommendation networks. As guests compare sources, consistency in all forms of customer engagement is also essential. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology Emerald Publishing

Friends and fellow travelers: comparative influence of review sites and friends on hotel choice

Duffy, Andrew
Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology , Volume 6 (2): 18 – Aug 17, 2015
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Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © Emerald Group Publishing Limited
ISSN
1757-9880
DOI
10.1108/JHTT-05-2014-0015
Publisher site
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Abstract

Purpose – This paper aims to examine when travelers are more influenced by friends (word-of-mouth (WOM)) with limited knowledge of hotels but an understanding of the traveler, and when by review sites (electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM)) which have immense experience of hotels but cannot know the individual traveler. Sites such as TripAdvisor® offer millions of reviews, and travelers often reduce that to a manageable amount by focusing on reviews by writers who show homophily, i.e. are similar to them in terms of travel interests. These sites represent a form of eWOM recommendation; what is not clear is how much they replace or augment traditional WOM. Design/methodology/approach – Dual-method content analysis of semi-structured interviews with a heterogeneous purposive sample of regular users of TripAdvisor ( N = 30), followed by a survey of TripAdvisor users ( N = 237). Findings – Friends were considered the most credible information source, although friends showing greater homophily were more valued than others. However, in some circumstances, subjects found eWOM more credible: when they wanted greater certainty in their hotel choice, so complete information was important; when the hotel was for a special occasion or special people; and for feelings of empowerment. Most subjects compared all sources rather than relying on one. Originality/value – This study reminds hotel managers that while eWOM is accessible and analyzable, it may not fully represent guests’ opinions; hotels’ marketing strategy should balance it with other recommendation networks. As guests compare sources, consistency in all forms of customer engagement is also essential.

Journal

Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology – Emerald Publishing

Published: Aug 17, 2015

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