The Determinants of Helpful Hotel Reviews: A Social Influence Perspective

Abstract

Online hotel reviews regarding specific experiences and the sensibility of hotel reviewers are important sources of information for consumers who want to book hotels in the future. However, since thousands of reviews are written for one hotel, it is practically impossible for customers to read all the reviews. To alleviate this problem, OTAs (online travel agencies) provide a helpful vote of reviews, helping customers to quickly find helpful reviews without much effort. Therefore, in this study, a ZINB (zero-inflated negative binomial regression) was performed to investigate factors that influence the helpfulness of hotel reviews using the social influence theory. As a result of the analysis, it was found that location, service, and value of the hotel, alongside normative influencing factors and the length of the review (including informational influencing factors), affect the helpfulness of the review regardless of the city. The results of this study are expected to help hotel managers to take remedial action on negative reviews and strengthen the promotion of positive reviews, potentially helping to increase customer satisfaction.