The Impact of Online Reviews on Hotel Ratings through the Lens of Elaboration Likelihood Model: A Text Mining Approach

Abstract

The hotel industry is an example of experiential services. As consumers cannot fully evaluate the online review content and quality of their services before booking, they must rely on several online reviews to reduce their perceived risks. However, individuals face information overload owing to the explosion of online reviews. Therefore, consumer cognitive fluency is an individual's subjective experience of the difficulty in processing information. Information complexity influences the receiver's attitude, behavior, and purchase decisions. Individuals who cannot process complex information rely on the peripheral route, whereas those who can process more information prefer the central route. This study further discusses the influence of the complexity of review information on hotel ratings using online attraction review data retrieved from TripAdvisor.com. This study conducts a two-level empirical analysis to explore the factors that affect review value. First, in the Peripheral Route model, we introduce a negative binomial regression model to examine the impact of intuitive and straightforward information on hotel ratings. In the Central Route model, we use a Tobit regression model with expert reviews as moderator variables to analyze the impact of complex information on hotel ratings. According to the analysis, five-star and budget hotels have different effects on hotel ratings. These findings have immediate implications for hotel managers in terms of better identifying potentially valuable reviews.