The impact of reviews and average rating on hotel-booking-intention: A qualitative study

Abstract

User-generated information types (ratings and reviews) are highly used when booking hotel rooms on Online Travel Agency (OTA) websites. The impact of user-generated information on decision-making is often investigated through quantitative research, thereby not examining in depth how and why travelers use this information. This paper therefore presents a qualitative study conducted to achieve a deeper understanding. We investigated the use of reviews and average rating in a hotel-booking-context through a laboratory experiment, which involved a task of examining a hotel on a pre-designed OTA website followed by an interview. We processed the data from the interview, and the analysis resulted in a model generalizing the use of reviews and average rating in the deliberation phase of a hotel-booking. The findings are overall consistent with related research. Yet, beyond this, the qualitative approach has given some deep insights that expand the knowledge in the field.