The Choquet integral supported by a hedonic approach for modelling preferences in hotel selection

Abstract

This paper presents a methodology for modelling the hotel selection process by combining the hedonic pricing method and the Choquet integral, a multi-criteria decision-making approach. The hedonic pricing method is a valuable tool in revealed preference theory, enabling the acquisition of preferential information in a straightforward manner. In this study, we use hedonic pricing to identify the significant criteria that influence the tourism selection process and to evaluate their importance. We combine the hedonic methodology with the Choquet integral to consider not only the importance of each criterion but also the importance of each subset of criteria. This proposed hybrid technique – the Choquet integral supported by the hedonic price method – offers an effective methodology for hotel selection by taking into account the market valuation of the criteria. We apply this methodology to a database of Spanish hotels and demonstrate the validity of our proposal in introducing valuable preferential information into the hotel classification process. This approach holds potential benefits for both tourism companies and travellers.