Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review the impact electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) has had on the hospitality and tourism industry and to discuss changes that will affect its future. The paper’s touchpoint is our earlier paper (Litvin et al., 2008), which proposed that eWOM was to become a major influence as a conduit of travelers’ views and opinions. Design/methodology/approach The article summarizes arguments in our earlier paper, describing ways in which eWOM has evolved into the influential system it has become, with special emphasis on the growth of mobile media as a platform for eWOM dissemination. Findings We conclude that eWOM has fulfilled its promise to become a major influence on the hospitality and tourism industry and will continue to play an essential role in hospitality marketing for the foreseeable future. Practical implications We provide examples of successful media campaigns and propose strategies for hospitality and tourism businesses. Originality/value eWOM has emerged to becom...

/pdf/a-retrospective-view-of-electronic-word-of-mouth-in-1szv2bqeks.pdf

A retrospective view of electronic word-of-mouth in hospitality and tourism management

Stripping customers' feedback on hotels through data mining: the case of Las Vegas Strip

The main aim of this study was to identify the key indicators related to environmental management and sustainability of hotels as perceived by travelers during their trips. The methodology used was a sentiment analysis with an algorithm developed in Python trained with data mining and machine learning, with the MonkeyLearn library in the hotel industry sector under the eWOM model (e-Word of Mouth). The results with negative, positive and neutral feelings were submitted to a textual analysis with the qualitative analysis software Nvivo Pro 12. The sample consisted of the 25 best hotels in Switzerland according to Traveler’s Choice from TripAdvisor ranking 2018 that draws from more than 500,000 reviews. For data extraction, we connected to the TripAdvisor API, obtaining a sample of n = 8331 reviews of the hotels that made up the ranking. The results of the study highlight the key factors related to environmental management detected by travelers during their stay in hotels and can be meaningfully used by managers or hotel managers to improve their services and enhance the value provided by their policies of sustainability and respect for the environment. The limitations of the present study relate to the size of the sample and the number of hotels included in the present analysis.

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/9/3016/pdf

Do Online Comments Affect Environmental Management? Identifying Factors Related to Environmental Management and Sustainability of Hotels

Purpose




The purpose of this paper is to explore the applicability of technology acceptance model (TAM) to explain the widespread acceptance and usage of social media (SM) for travel purposes by Indian outbound leisure travellers during their travel cycle.




Design/methodology/approach




The study has adopted a qualitative approach involving in-depth interviews of 30 respondents, who had taken at least one international vacation in the last 12 months. Content analysis was used to arrive at the conclusion.




Findings




Findings of the study are used to develop a conceptual model which upholds the validity of the TAM with perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEU) as determinants of SM usage. The model has been extended to include perceived trust (PT) and social capital (SC) as important constructs to explain the travellers’ use of SM. Disposition readiness (DR) of the user towards SM was found to have an effect on all the four constructs.




Originality/value




Theoretically, this study suggests a modification to the existing TAM, which shows a unidirectional effect of PU and PEU on attitude. This study suggests that the effect would be bi-directional where the attitude (DR) of the traveller towards SM usage will affect PU and PEU. Furthermore, this study extends the TAM to include PT and SC as important constructs to explain SM usage by travellers. This study provides valuable insights into the hospitality and tourism sector which might help in further segmentation of travellers leading to more customised service offerings.

/pdf/social-media-for-outbound-leisure-travel-a-framework-based-1o41r684f5.pdf

Social media for outbound leisure travel: a framework based on technology acceptance model (TAM)

Article history: Received: July 5 2019 Received in revised format: July 1

/pdf/social-media-experience-attitude-and-behavioral-intention-1kehfcjumh.pdf

Social media experience, attitude and behavioral intention towards umrah package among generation X and Y

Hotel booking decisions are increasingly influenced by consumers’ feedback available on social media sites. Using data submitted by TripAdvisor users, this study provides four key contributions to knowledge. Firstly, a comparative analysis was carried out of customer ratings received by hotels located on Spain’s coastal areas as well as Portugal’s southern coast. Secondly, significant differences were found in the number of comments as well as the average online review rating score awarded, which were found to be related to the geographical location of each tourism destination. Thirdly, it is found that customers tend to rate their experiences in hotels positively. Fourthly, the level of overall customer satisfaction with a hotel tends to increase proportionately to the number of customer feedback comments posted for that hotel. As a result of this, one of the findings of this study is that hotels should encourage their customers to post comments on online customer review websites to balance out any negative feedback received.

https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/5399159.pdf

Hotel assessment through social media: The case of TripAdvisor

Hotel booking decisions are increasingly influenced by consumer feedback available on social media sites. Using data submitted by customers on TripAdvisor, this study analyzes the customer satisfaction ratings posted for 2,211 hotels. The study provides four key contributions to our knowledge on this subject. Firstly, a comparative analysis was conducted of customer ratings for hotels located on the Spanish coast and Portugal’s southern coast. Secondly, significant differences were found in the number of comments and average online review ratings, which showed a correlation to the tourism destinations’ geographical locations. Thirdly, the study found that customers tend to rate their hotel experiences positively. Fourthly, the customers’ overall level of satisfaction with a hotel tends to increase proportionately based on the number of customer feedback comments posted for that hotel. Consequently, one of this study’s findings is that hotels should encourage their customers to post comments on customer review websites to balance out any negative feedback.

José Luis Ximénez-de-Sandoval

Papers

Hotel assessment through social media: The case of TripAdvisor

Hotel Assessment through Social Media: The case of TripAdvisor La valoración de los hoteles en los medios sociales: El caso de TripAdvisor