Does verifying users influence rankings? Analyzing TripAdvisor and Booking.com

Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) is of recent and considerable importance in tourism, particularly because of the intangible nature of this industry. Users' online reviews are a source of information for other consumers, who take them into account before making a reservation at a lodging propert...

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Authors: Martín Fuentes, Eva, Mateu Piñol, Carles, Fernàndez Camon, César
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2018
Country:España
Institution:Universitat de Lleida (UdL)
Repository:Repositori Obert UdL
OAI Identifier:oai:repositori.udl.cat:10459.1/65390
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3727/108354218X15143857349459
http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/65390
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:eWOM
TripAdvisor
Booking.com
Ranking
Big Data
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spelling Does verifying users influence rankings? Analyzing TripAdvisor and Booking.comMartín Fuentes, EvaMateu Piñol, CarlesFernàndez Camon, CésareWOMTripAdvisorBooking.comRankingBig DataElectronic word of mouth (eWOM) is of recent and considerable importance in tourism, particularly because of the intangible nature of this industry. Users' online reviews are a source of information for other consumers, who take them into account before making a reservation at a lodging property. The aim of this study is to establish whether or not the anonymity of the reviews on TripAdvisor alters hotel rankings by comparing them with verified users' reviews on Booking.com. Moreover, the study analyzes whether or not the differences in the rating scales of both websites favor some hotels over others. Big data is used in this study, with more than 40,000 hotels on Booking.com and 70,000 on TripAdvisor in 447 cities around the world, and compares the rankings of about 20,000 hotels matched on both websites. Our findings suggest that the behavior of both rankings is similar and the lack of veracity on TripAdvisor due to the anonymity in the user's verification system is baseless. In addition, some differences are found depending on the hotel category and region, due mainly to the unique rating scale on Booking.com (from 2.5 to 10), as compared to the rating scale on TripAdvisor (from 1 to 5).This work was partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of the Economy and Competitiveness: research project TIN2015-71799-C2-2-P and ENE2015-64117-C5-1-R. This research article has received a grant for its linguistic revision from the Language Institute of the University of Lleida (2016 call).Cognizant Communication Corporation2018info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfhttps://doi.org/10.3727/108354218X15143857349459http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/65390reponame:Repositori Obert UdL instname:Universitat de Lleida (UdL)Inglésinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MINECO//TIN2015-71799-C2-2-Pinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MINECO//ENE2015-64117-C5-1-RReproducció del document publicat a https://doi.org/10.3727/108354218X15143857349459Tourism Analysis, 2018, vol. 23, núm. 1, p. 1-15(c) Cognizant Communication Corporation, 2018info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:repositori.udl.cat:10459.1/653902026-06-24T12:42:17Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Does verifying users influence rankings? Analyzing TripAdvisor and Booking.com
title Does verifying users influence rankings? Analyzing TripAdvisor and Booking.com
spellingShingle Does verifying users influence rankings? Analyzing TripAdvisor and Booking.com
Martín Fuentes, Eva
eWOM
TripAdvisor
Booking.com
Ranking
Big Data
title_short Does verifying users influence rankings? Analyzing TripAdvisor and Booking.com
title_full Does verifying users influence rankings? Analyzing TripAdvisor and Booking.com
title_fullStr Does verifying users influence rankings? Analyzing TripAdvisor and Booking.com
title_full_unstemmed Does verifying users influence rankings? Analyzing TripAdvisor and Booking.com
title_sort Does verifying users influence rankings? Analyzing TripAdvisor and Booking.com
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Martín Fuentes, Eva
Mateu Piñol, Carles
Fernàndez Camon, César
author Martín Fuentes, Eva
author_facet Martín Fuentes, Eva
Mateu Piñol, Carles
Fernàndez Camon, César
author_role author
author2 Mateu Piñol, Carles
Fernàndez Camon, César
author2_role author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv eWOM
TripAdvisor
Booking.com
Ranking
Big Data
topic eWOM
TripAdvisor
Booking.com
Ranking
Big Data
description Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) is of recent and considerable importance in tourism, particularly because of the intangible nature of this industry. Users' online reviews are a source of information for other consumers, who take them into account before making a reservation at a lodging property. The aim of this study is to establish whether or not the anonymity of the reviews on TripAdvisor alters hotel rankings by comparing them with verified users' reviews on Booking.com. Moreover, the study analyzes whether or not the differences in the rating scales of both websites favor some hotels over others. Big data is used in this study, with more than 40,000 hotels on Booking.com and 70,000 on TripAdvisor in 447 cities around the world, and compares the rankings of about 20,000 hotels matched on both websites. Our findings suggest that the behavior of both rankings is similar and the lack of veracity on TripAdvisor due to the anonymity in the user's verification system is baseless. In addition, some differences are found depending on the hotel category and region, due mainly to the unique rating scale on Booking.com (from 2.5 to 10), as compared to the rating scale on TripAdvisor (from 1 to 5).
publishDate 2018
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2018
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://doi.org/10.3727/108354218X15143857349459
http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/65390
url https://doi.org/10.3727/108354218X15143857349459
http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/65390
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MINECO//TIN2015-71799-C2-2-P
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MINECO//ENE2015-64117-C5-1-R
Reproducció del document publicat a https://doi.org/10.3727/108354218X15143857349459
Tourism Analysis, 2018, vol. 23, núm. 1, p. 1-15
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv (c) Cognizant Communication Corporation, 2018
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv (c) Cognizant Communication Corporation, 2018
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Cognizant Communication Corporation
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Cognizant Communication Corporation
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Repositori Obert UdL
instname:Universitat de Lleida (UdL)
instname_str Universitat de Lleida (UdL)
reponame_str Repositori Obert UdL
collection Repositori Obert UdL
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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