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Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2014 pp 381–393Cite as

Online Review Contents and Their Impact on Three and Four-Star Hotel Reservations: Some Evidence in Italy

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Abstract

Scholars and practitioners in the tourism sector seem to agree that web reputation affects hotel operational performance. This study addresses this issue by analysing the online review contents of 40 (20 four-star and 20 three-star) hotels in the Province of Rimini (Italy). In particular, it questions if and to what extent the positive/negative sense of TripAdvisor reviews influences the online reservations of the hotels considered. The content analysis performed on hotels suggests that traditional core services (like room and interaction with staff) represent key factors in determining customer appreciations and criticism. Panel data analysis, of the same hotels, seems to suggest the presence, to some extent, of a linear relationship between operational hotel performance and online reputation.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Data was provided anonymously by Teamwork, a private company established in Rimini which has been operating for over 15 years supporting more than 1,000 Italian hotels.

  2. 2.

    Grouping codes into families is useful for potential comparisons with previous studies which usually categorise reviews into two main dimensions: ‘core hotel features’ and ‘service staff’, or distinguish between tangible features and interactions with personnel (Sparks and Browning 2010).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management, The University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Selena Aureli, Renato Medei, Enrico Supino & Claudio Travaglini

Authors
  1. Selena Aureli
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  2. Renato Medei
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  3. Enrico Supino
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  4. Claudio Travaglini
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Correspondence to Selena Aureli .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA

    Zheng Xiang

  2. Washington State University, Vancouver, Washington, USA

    Iis Tussyadiah

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Aureli, S., Medei, R., Supino, E., Travaglini, C. (2013). Online Review Contents and Their Impact on Three and Four-Star Hotel Reservations: Some Evidence in Italy. In: Xiang, Z., Tussyadiah, I. (eds) Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2014. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-03973-2_28

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