Online hotel reviews: Factors influencing how customers perceive their credibility and the likelihood of customer adoption
Abstract
Customer reviews are an increasingly important part of the travel and tourism industry. It is therefore important to understand how the perceived credibility of online reviews influence the likelihood of customer adoption. This study examines three factors that affect the credibility of online reviews and how those reviews influence customer adoption when booking hotel reservations, namely: argument quality, source credibility, and review consistency and quantity. The results show that these factors have direct and positive effects on review credibility and thus on review adoption. This has implications for both hotel managers and online booking and review websites. Hotel managers should assess all reviews for credibility by looking at the argument and source credibility, and then look for trends or patterns to uncover recurring issues. Most importantly, managers must respond to all reviews in a prompt, helpful and polite manner. This can influence not only the individual who has posted the online review, but also the many readers thereafter. Furthermore, online booking and review sites can do more to ensure fair postings and increase the credibility of online hotel reviews. These sites should not allow anonymous postings but rather require each reviewer to create a profile that includes ID verification.
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Author's Biography
Talal Abuhulaibah is a PhD student in the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Oklahoma State University. He graduated from Widener University with a MS degree in hospitality and tourism management in 2015. He has been a lecturer at King Saud University since 2011. His research interests include customer complaint behaviour, switching behaviour, service recovery, customer satisfaction and online reviews.
Shiang-Lih Chen Mccain is an assistant professor of marketing at Colorado Mesa University. Her research interests include the consumer buying decision process, service quality, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and service recovery. She received her PhD in hotel administration from University of Nevada-Las Vegas.
Jeffrey C. Lolli is an associate professor at Widener University, where he coordinates the Tourism and Hospitality Management programme. He has a doctorate in higher education leadership from Widener University, and specialises in teaching operations management and human capital. His research interests include tourism and hospitality operations management, and customer and organisational behaviour/dynamics. He also has more than 20 years’ experience working in the hospitality industry in various operational management positions.
Citation
Abuhulaibah, Talal, Chen Mccain, Shiang-Lih and Lolli, Jeffrey C. (2021, January 1). Online hotel reviews: Factors influencing how customers perceive their credibility and the likelihood of customer adoption. In the Applied Marketing Analytics: The Peer-Reviewed Journal, Volume 6, Issue 3. https://doi.org/10.69554/NUNH4891.
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