Content Analysis of Consumer Reviews on Preferred Characteristics of Accommodation Products

Abstract

Online reviews offer customers information on the quality of accommodation products in a business. The sudden shift to online booking caused the surge in keyword analysis in reviews. Descriptions of accommodation products were important to integrate the quality of services, business environment, and conditions of accommodation, especially in post-pandemic set up. This study was a qualitative analysis that assess the reviews from hospitality businesses in Zamboanga City. Collected reviews (n=237) were analyzed through keyword contextualization. Keywords were clustered into characteristics i.e., amenities, customer service, location, cost, and facilities. Content analysis showed that reviewers used words such as ‘friendly,’ ‘courteous,’ ‘welcoming,’ and helpful’ to describe the customer service. While other reviewers described facilities as ‘specious,’ ‘refreshing,’ functional,’ and ‘comfortable.’ Negative reviews shared explicit use of words like ‘terrible,’ ‘not recommended,’ ‘bad,’ and ‘deceiving.’ Results also showed that reviewers who left negative comments often complain more than one issue, particularly on both customer service and facilities. Accommodation in Zamboanga City had positive reviews on customer service, location, and facilities, while some of them had complaints mostly on ‘not ‘functional’ and ‘dirty’ facilities. The results of this study offered narrative data on how reviewers used specific words to describe their experience when staying in.