scholarly journals Management Response to Online Review: The Case of Hong Kong Luxury Hotels

2022 ◽  
pp. 123-133
Author(s):  
Suki Siuki Tam ◽  
Lawrence Hoc Nang Fong ◽  
Rob Law
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Response Style ◽  
Customer Reviews ◽  
Response Characteristics ◽  
Luxury Hotels ◽  
Online Customer Reviews ◽  
Tourism And Hospitality ◽  
Luxury Hotel ◽  
Potential Customers ◽  
Scholarly Attention

AbstractElectronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) is regarded as crucial in business development. Given the intangible nature of tourism and hospitality products, potential customers find it hard to assess them before making purchase. Accordingly, online customer reviews and management responses have influential roles in their decision-making process. While a plethora of previous research focused on customer reviews, scholarly attention on how luxury hotels respond to the reviews was scant. Using content analysis, this study examines the management response characteristics of 35 luxury hotels and response style of 7 luxury chain hotels in Hong Kong. Their response characteristics including response frequency, responder’s job position, and timeliness of response were generally similar. The response style and tone (professional and conversational tones) vary with hotels even they are in the same hotel group. Implications on practice of management responses are offered for luxury hotel operators.

Reacting to negative online customer reviews

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 401-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rico Piehler ◽  
Michael Schade ◽  
Ines Hanisch ◽  
Christoph Burmann
Keyword(s):  
Hospitality Industry ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Purchase Intentions ◽  
Service Industries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Customer Reviews ◽  
Online Customer Reviews ◽  
Reduction Methods ◽  
Hotel Managers ◽  
Potential Customers

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of explanation and compensation, as specific accommodative management responses to negative online customer reviews, on potential customers. Design/methodology/approach The scenario-based online experiment with 306 participants investigates the effects of explanation and compensation on potential customers’ purchase intentions in the hotel segment of the hospitality industry. Findings The results reveal that combining an explanation with compensation is the most effective management response; providing neither an explanation nor compensation is the least effective. The effects of management responses that entail providing only an explanation or compensation do not differ significantly. Research limitations/implications Continued research should investigate the effects of specific accommodative management responses in other service industries and other cultural settings and consider different kinds of explanations and compensation. Practical implications Hotel managers in the hospitality industry should reply to negative online customer reviews by combining an explanation with compensation. Service providers that currently lack structures and procedures to identify service failures and their causes or that cannot take corrective actions should provide compensation. Service providers that currently have limited financial resources should provide explanations. Originality/value This study analyses the effects of explanation and compensation on potential customers’ purchase intentions. In addressing the effects on potential customers, instead of on complainants, the conceptual framework represents a novel combination of management responses from service recovery research with signalling theory, the search-experience-credence framework and risk reduction methods.

Hotels’ self-positioned image versus customers’ perceived image: a case study of a boutique luxury hotel in Hong Kong

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianwei Qian ◽  
Rob Law ◽  
Jiewen Wei ◽  
Huawen Shen ◽  
Yuqin Sun
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Special Function ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Five Dimensions ◽  
Luxury Hotels ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The One ◽  
Luxury Hotel

Purpose This study aims to take boutique luxury hotels as its research subject to enrich the view on the self-positioned image of luxury hotels and simultaneously compare this image with the one perceived by customers. It also investigates whether a gap exists between the two images. Design/methodology/approach The best-rated boutique luxury hotel in Hong Kong is selected as the case hotel. Through the interpretation and discussion of high-frequency wordlists and semantic co-occurrence network charts, major topics in the hotel’s self-presented image and customers’ perceived image are identified accordingly. Findings Five dimensions (event making, exquisite food, excellent amenities and services, special function venue and promotion) used by hotels to form their boutique luxury image are recognised. Between hotels’ self-positioned image and customers’ perceived images, minor similarities such as the recognition of excellent amenities and services were confirmed but considerable differences were identified, indicating the ineffective marketing by the boutique luxury hotel despite its success in terms of ranking. Managerial suggestions on how to address the image discrepancy were proposed. Originality/value This study contributes insights into hotel image discrepancy among social media platforms in luxury hotel segments by adding the category of boutique luxury hotels. It also identifies the implications for enhancing the development of a hotel image to meet customers’ needs and expectations.

Study of E-Commerce Customer Review Capturing Process in the Indian Context

2022 ◽  
pp. 79-93
Author(s):  
Som Sekhar Bhattacharyya ◽  
Asmita Wani
Keyword(s):  
Research Work ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Online Review ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Customer Reviews ◽  
Online Customer Reviews ◽  
Customer Review ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Potential Customers

Online customer reviews provided by customers on e-commerce sites who had bought the products proved to be a key parameter. New and potential customers at the pre-purchase stage to vet the merits and demerits before buying new products listed on e-commerce sites referred to online customer reviews. However, there have been very few studies that focused on online customer review capturing process. Thus, this research work focused on the review capturing process of e-commerce websites from a customer's point of view to understand the online customer review process. A qualitative exploratory research was carried out. An open-ended semi-structured questionnaire was used to understand customer's stand on the e-commerce review capturing process. In-depth interviews were collected from customers. The data was analyzed thematic content. The study findings indicated what motivated customers to write online reviews, what inhibited them from writing reviews and what were their suggestions for the managers of e-commerce organizations towards designing better online review capturing.

Profiling Reviewers’ Social Network Strength and Predicting the “Helpfulness” of Online Customer Reviews

2020 ◽  
pp. 101026
Author(s):  
Muhammad Bilal ◽  
Mohsen Marjani ◽  
Ibrahim Abaker Targio Hashem ◽  
Nadia Malik ◽  
Muhammad Ikram Ullah Lali ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Customer Reviews ◽  
Online Customer Reviews ◽  
Network Strength

Fraud abroad

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-275
Author(s):  
Jake David Hoskins ◽  
Ryan Leick
Keyword(s):  
Sharing Economy ◽  
Gdp Per Capita ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Customer Reviews ◽  
Online Customer Reviews ◽  
Level Of Economic Development ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Developed Nations

Purpose This study aims to investigate a sharing economy context, where vacation rental units that are owned and operated by individuals throughout the world are rented out through a common website: vrbo.com. It is posited that gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, a common indicator of the level of economic development of a nation, will impact the likelihood that prospective travelers will choose to book accommodations in the sharing economy channel (vs traditional hotels). The role of online customer reviews in this process is investigated as well, building upon a significant body of extant research which shows their level of customer decision influence. Design/methodology/approach An empirical analysis is conducted using data from the website Vacation Rentals By Owner on 1,940 rental listings across 97 countries. Findings GDP per capita serves as risk deterrent to prospective travelers, making the sharing economy an acceptable alternative to traditional hotels for the average traveler. It is also found that the total number of online customer reviews (OCR volume) is a signal of popularity to prospective travelers, while the average star rating of those online customer reviews (OCR valence) is instead a signal of accommodation quality. Originality/value This study adds to a growing agenda of research investigating the effect of online customer reviews on consumer decisions, with a particularly focus on the burgeoning sharing economy. The findings help to explain when the sharing economy may serve as a stronger disruptive threat to incumbent offerings. It also provides the following key insights for managers: sharing economy rental units in developed nations are more successful in driving booking activity, managers should look to promote volume of online customer reviews and positive online customer reviews are particularly influential for sharing economy rental booking rates in less developed nations.

EXPRESS: Hype News Diffusion and Risk of Misinformation: The Oz Effect in Healthcare

2021 ◽  
pp. 002224372110444
Author(s):  
Zijun (June) Shi ◽  
Xiao Liu ◽  
Kannan Srinivasan
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Customer Reviews ◽  
Online Customer Reviews ◽  
News Agencies ◽  
Health Products ◽  
Tv Shows ◽  
Medical Recommendations ◽  
Textual Content

Consumers' choices about health products are heavily influenced by public information, such as news articles, research articles, online customer reviews, online product discussion, and TV shows. Dr. Oz, a celebrity doctor, often makes medical recommendations with limited or marginal scientific evidence. Although reputable news agencies have traditionally acted as gatekeepers of reliable information, they face the intense pressure of “the eyeball game.” Customer reviews, despite their authenticity, may come from deceived consumers. Therefore, it remains unclear whether public information sources can correct the misleading health information. In the context of over-the-counter weight loss products, the authors carefully analyze the cascading of information post endorsement. The analysis of extensive textual content with deep-learning methods reveals that legitimate news outlets respond to Dr. Oz's endorsement by generating more news articles about the ingredient; on average, articles after the endorsement contain a higher sentiment, so news agencies seem to amplify rather than rectify the misleading endorsement. The finding highlights a serious concern: the risk of hype news diffusion. Research articles react too slowly to mitigate the problem, and online customer reviews and product discussions provide only marginal corrections. The findings underscore the importance of oversight to mitigate the risk of cascading hype news.

Effectiveness of the consumer protection system upon purchasing goods in online stores

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-146
Author(s):  
Iryna Y. Puchkovska ◽  
Oleksandr O. Biliaiev ◽  
Victor P. Yanyshen ◽  
Hanna O. Urazova
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Protection ◽  
Protection System ◽  
Scientific Methods ◽  
Customer Reviews ◽  
Existing Problems ◽  
Current State ◽  
Foreign Countries ◽  
General Scientific ◽  
Online Stores ◽  
Potential Customers

Every year, the vast majority of countries switch to an online environment. This is especially true for online stores. The subject of this study is the system of consumer protection upon buying goods in online stores and its effectiveness. The purpose is to analyse the state of development of e-commerce in Ukraine and the system of consumer protection upon purchasing goods in online stores. The following general scientific methods were used: classification and theoretical generalisation – to study the theoretical foundations of e-commerce; statistical analysis – to analyse the current state of e-commerce in Ukraine and the consumer protection system. The following results were obtained: based on the analysis of the provisions of current legislation and the experience of foreign countries describing the development of the e-commerce market in Ukraine and the world, the main trends that have developed have been identified, the positive and negative aspects of e-commerce have been identified, as well as the effectiveness of the consumer protection system upon purchasing goods in online stores. It was concluded that the “e-commerce” industry is developing very dynamically. Consumer protection upon purchasing goods through online stores is carried out as with a regular purchase and sale, but it has a number of specific features. To attract potential customers and build their trust, online stores try to post as much information about their products and services as possible on their official websites, including customer reviews. This indicates that the sellers themselves are interested in resolving disputes as soon as possible and preserving their reputation. Taking this into account, it is the improvement of the consumer literacy of citizens, the ability to fully exercise their rights, and to protect their interests in case of certain contradictions that is one of the ways to solve the existing problems

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