The determinants of managerial responses to hotel guests’ reviews: an exploratory study in the city of Milan

The spread of eWOM and travel review websites has profoundly changed the consumer decision-making process along with firms’ strategies. A key topic of discussion, both for academics and practitioners, is the opportunity to reply to online consumers’ reviews. Although some studies have recently investigated the subject, this topic need to be further explored. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the variables that influence hotels’ propensity to reply to guests’ reviews. The results of the research suggest that hotel managers show more propensity to reply to negative guests’ reviews of their native language. Possible motivations and implications are discussed

Hotel Performance and Research Streams: A Network Cluster Analysis

Purpose: This article provides a review of hotel performance within the hospitality and tourism research domain. We use network analysis to examine two research questions. The first relates to ascertaining general trends within the hotel performance literature, and the second focuses on identifying the salient streams and sub-topics. Methodology: Articles were selected according to three criteria: keywords, journals, and year of publication. The analysis embraces 20 years (1996-2015). These choices assure a wide coverage of the literature. Using these three criteria, the sample includes 1,155 papers. For the analysis, we created a network of papers designated as nodes, and the citations among the papers as links. A network approach recognizes the internal structure of the network by identifying groups of nodes (papers) that are more densely connected between themselves than to other nodes within the network (modules, clusters or communities). Findings: We found 761 papers that were “connected” studies within the network. By contrast, 34% of sample (394 papers) consists of “unconnected” studies. Excluding outliers, the net sample was 734 articles. We identify 14 clusters, which we break down into several sub-topics. We conclude by providing some conclusions regarding trends and future research directions. With regards to salient topics, cross-citation and network analysis provide a detailed picture of where the literature comes from and where it currently stands. Conclusions are articulated at the theoretical and empirical levels. Originality: Compared to previous hotel performance reviews, the approach followed by this study enables the discovery of an analytical research map, which is able to identify both clusters and sub-topics populating each segment. Researchers are able to position their work and identify issues that are in growth and decline

Humanize your business. The role of personal reputation in the sharing economy

Drawing on the services marketing and sharing economy literature, the study identifies the leading reputational attributes that boost popularity in sharing economy platforms. As popularity stands as a purchase decision-making tool, the purpose of this paper is to jointly examine the influence of personal reputation and product description. A sample of Airbnb listings was collected in November 2016 in Italy and UK (n = 502). The database consists of popularity variables along with personal reputational attributes and the description of the product being offered. The findings of the study, based on the Shapley Value Regression, suggest that personal reputation is of paramount importance, explaining alone almost 40% of popularity variation. The paper concludes with theoretical implications on self-branding and, given the importance weights of the different attributes in popularity building, practical implications for sellers operating in sharing economy platforms