Food Experiences: The Oldest Social Network…

Abstract

Tourists are placing their trust increasingly in users who upload comments on sites such as TripAdvisor, where they are encouraged to evaluate and describe their own vacation experiences. This phenomenon has led to a loss of importance of Opinion Makers, which has, traditionally, rated services and destinations based on tourism experiences. This work represents a more in-depth examination of the content of textual reviews of restaurants, classified by TripAdvisor “Top 10” in two different cities. A qualitative/quantitative analysis of information contained in these reviews was performed to identify references to dimensions of the DINESERV model and its variants. From this process, some traditional factors were identified. Additionally, a new one has been proposed, extending the conceptual model of institutional DINESERV. TripAdvisor profiles are calculated through a system of points that are assigned according to the number of contributions that users make to the system. However, this system does not take advantage of the richness and utility of textual reviews. This study proposes a new profile system, calculated from the DINESERV factors obtained from an analysis of the reviews; this system reflects with more consistency the real characteristics of users, since their feelings and experiences are taken into consideration in the profiles proposed. This new approach is not exclusive to the TripAdvisor system since the core model features online reviews about restaurants; thus, with minor changes, it can be adapted to other user-generated content sites, allowing the creation of a social knowledge management tool to help restaurants develop successful business strategies.