ABSTRACT:
This study aims to determine definition vao w88 online review in tourism accommodation and elements vao w88 online review affecting booking intention. Based on factors derived from previous studies, description and reliability test were used in this study to examine internal impacts vao w88 online review on the booking intention vao w88 travellers. This study analyzed 248 responses from July to August 2019. The study’s results shows that there are 5 internal elements vao w88 online review, namely review from professionals, timing vao w88 review, volume, content and review form. This study also analyzes some theories.
Keywords:Online review, accommodation, booking intention.
1. Introduction
From 2010 to 2015, Vietnamese investors have affirmed their position in the market, forming international chain hotels with Vietnamese brand name. In addition to the traditional hotel chain hotels such as Saigon Tourist Corporation known as the brand Saigontourist, or Hanoi Tourism Corporation known as the brand Hanoitourist over the years, there has appeared Vinpearl Hotel chain vao w88 Vin Group, hotel chain vao w88 collective Sun Group, Muong Thanh hotel chain and so on..., which are highly appreciated by visitors. Vietnamese investors have replaced foreign ones in some high-end hotel projects.
As the result, this leads to certain competition among resort, hotel or homestay services. They have to find the right strategies to not only attract but also keep the potential customers to choose their services. The aims vao w88 this paper mainly focus on two things: Firstly, it shows the elements vao w88 online review; Secondly, an analysis vao w88 attributes influences booking intention. The relative importance vao w88 these attributes will thus be identified. The research findings will enhance our understanding vao w88 the relationship between hotel reviews and tourists’ booking intention, and help managers to make more accurate decisions when managing reviews.
2. Literature review
Online review: Online reviews are positive and negative reviews vao w88 the products which have been sold on the online shopping mall [9]. Several researchers have investigated the impact vao w88 hotel reviews on accommodation purchase decisions. Vermeulen & Seegers (2009) found that both positive and negative reviews increase customers’ awareness and improve attitude toward hotels, especially for the less-known hotels. Sparks & Browning (2011) and Coker (2012) found that context and "consideration set" has an impact on booking intentions, trust, and evaluations. Yet, the research designs for previous studies only ask subjects to evaluate one hotel at a time and focus only on how the review content impacts on travelers’ attitudes, without considering other variables.
2.1. Reviewer expertise
Another distinctive feature vao w88 online reviews is that they are provided by anonymous individuals [7]. In fact, information sharing is not a genuinely random behavior, as there exists market "mavens" who have a particular propensity to post messages about shopping and the marketplace messages (Feick and Price, 1987). Consumers can identify such market mavens and follow them in the process vao w88 making purchasing decisions. As such, the characteristics vao w88 communicators, both senders and receivers, play a critical role in information persuasiveness (Dholakia and Sternthal, 1977). More importantly, in the online context, people who made postings tend to search for travel information from others who engage in similar activities (Akehurst, 2009).
2.2. Timeliness vao w88 online review
During the information search process, consumers may encounter a large amount vao w88 relevant information which is associated with a particular time stamp, which leads to the research concept vao w88 timeliness. Timeliness refers to "whether the messages are current, timely, and up-to-date" (Cheung et al., 2008, p. 465). Despite its generally agreed importance, timeliness is frequently ignored in online reviews research (Ives et al., 1983). Madu and Madu (2002) pointed out that a Web site needs to be updated consistently to deliver value-added information to users. Its influence may be even stronger if comments are labeled as "spotlight reviews" because these are shown before other reviews on the comments page [2]. From consumers’ perspective, as time elapses, the average helpfulness vao w88 reviews declines (Liu, 2006). In a similar vein, Jindal and Liu (2008) found that in the e-commerce environment, more recent product reviews would get more user attentions.
2.3. Volume vao w88 online review
Volume is another important attribute vao w88 WOM, and it measures the total amount vao w88 interactive messages (Liu, 2006). Variations in the volume vao w88 online customer reviews provide evidence that not all hotels are treated equally, and hence, it’s reasonable that not all reviews are treated equally. It has been regarded as a key antecedent vao w88 the WOM effect (Bone, 1995). In online settings, volume vao w88 reviews is the number vao w88 comments from reviewers about a specific product or service (Davis and Khazanchi, 2008). Several studies demonstrate that volume significantly correlates with consumer behaviors like customer-initiated contacts with manufacturers (Bowman and Narayandas, 2001) and market performance in terms vao w88 sales (Amblee and Bui, 2007; Liu, 2006; Zhu and Zhang, 2010). Higher volumes vao w88 comments, either positive or negative, in online communities are more likely to attract information seekers and then increase product awareness (Davis and Khazanchi, 2008). The number vao w88 online comments also signals the level vao w88 agreement among consumers (Elliott, 2002).
However, Davis and Khazanchi (2008) argued that an increase in volume vao w88 online reviews alone has no significant impact on book sales in e-commerce multiproduct sales. Godes and Mayzlin (2004) reported that the volume vao w88 consumer reviews does not have significant explanatory power in terms vao w88 weekly box office revenues. Nevertheless, considering the information asymmetry present and the unique features vao w88 tourism products such as intangibility and integration vao w88 production and consumption (Litvin and Ng, 2001; Taylor, 1980), this study argued that a high volume vao w88 online reviews may induce a perception vao w88 lowered risk.
2.4. Valence vao w88 online review
Message valence focuses on either the positive (benefits gained) or negative (benefits lost) product attributes (Maheswaran and Meyers-Levy, 1990). Online reviews can be either negative or positive within the same location, and impacts vao w88 each type have been continuously compared for a better marketing mix. Negative messages are more diagnostic, which implies low-quality products, whereas positive information may be connected to high-, average- and even low-quality products (Herr et al., 1991). As a decision-making process focuses on the message content, consumers place more weight on negative information in making product evaluations (Mizerski, 1982; Richins, 1983; Weinberger and Dillon, 1980). In addition, negative information spreads faster than positive, as angry customers are more likely than satisied ones to tell relatives and friends about their experiences (Hart et al., 1990; Richins, 1983). When the proportion vao w88 negative online consumer reviews increases, consumers’ attitudes towards the product would become more unfavorable [7].
The findings vao w88 previous work on the effects vao w88 message valence are inconsistent. In Maheswaran and Meyers-Levy’s (1990) series vao w88 studies, some results indicate that positively framed messages are more persuasive, whereas others suggest the reverse. This lack vao w88 consistency may be attributable to the degree to which consumers are involved in detailed message processing. From the perspective vao w88 information recipients, Westbrook (1987) showed that both positive and negative information can influence consumers’ loyalty, product evaluation and purchase decision. Therefore, it is more logical to examine the impacts vao w88 negative and positive reviews, respectively. Negative comments are mainly generated as a response to dissatisfaction and can be harmful to business retailers and manufacturers by having an adverse effect on business (Charlett et al., 1995). The action vao w88 spreading negative information could be even more harmful than simply complaining, which is mostly invisible (Charlett et al., 1995). In contrast to negative comments, positive reviews mainly focus on extolling a company’s quality orientation, such as making recommendations to others (Brown et al., 2005). Positive online reviews are generally recognized as a valuable vehicle for promoting a irm’s products and services (Gremler et al., 2001).
2.5. Form vao w88 Reviews
Pictures are formed in the consumers’ first review or additional reviews, which is one part vao w88 reviews. The re-views containing pictures reflect the real quality vao w88 the goods, such as color problem, specifications inconsistent problem, or the high quality, good experience. The picture reviews reduce consumer’s risk during buying experience goods. In the consumer learning process, picture reviews indicates the real buying behavior. Consumer can complete the comment within 180 days. After that, the seller will give evaluation to the consumer, too.
Cumulative reviews are reviews posted within a month. The reviews may involve color, quality, specification, logistics, customer service and other factors. The reviews can be done a long tirade; also can be a short word evaluation, such as good or bad. Cumulative review is an important channel for consumer to understand goods information before buying. The high richness information can help consumers understand product information deeply. Some study show that the influence vao w88 positive reviews replaces the influence vao w88 cumulative reviews. But another study found that the quantity vao w88 online reviews affect the willingness vao w88 consumers to buy on the network. (Zan Mo, Yan-Fei Li, Peng Fan, 2015).
3. Methodology
Online survey was used as a data gathering instrument. Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) was used to analyze the collected data. The questionnaire was distributed people online in Facebook. The questionnaire was in three sections. Section A gathered information on the behavior frequency. Section B found out the elements vao w88 online review while Section C contained demographic data vao w88 respondents. The statistical package for social scientists (SPSS 20.0 version) was used in data analysis. The second section vao w88 survey consisted vao w88 21 items whose responses varied from 1 (Strongly disagree) to 5 (Strongly Agree) in form vao w88 a five point Likert type scale. Out vao w88 the total number vao w88 248 copies vao w88 questionnaire distributed 248 were retrieved (from July 15th to August 15th) representing 100% response rate which was very much representative vao w88 the sample. Respondents are consisted vao w88 248 people (from 10/8/2018 - 28/8/2018) who responded to the online survey accurately. The result vao w88 Table 1 has showed that most vao w88 the participants were 18 to 25 ages (58.9%) and students (42.7%) and below 2 million income (27.4%). Male is 82 respondents (33.1%) and female is 166 respondents (66.9%).
4. Findings and discussion
According to Table 1, as a result vao w88 Reliabilities analysis, six factors namely: Usefulness vao w88 online review, reviewer expertise, timeliness vao w88 online review, volume vao w88 online review, valance vao w88 online review, form vao w88 online review, with 18 items have Cronbach's Alpha value 0.718, 0.686, 0.627, 0.742 and 0.765. This scale could be considered as a reliable data collection tool within the context vao w88 the study.
Table 1. The elements vao w88 online review with mean scores
Online reviews are a useful information source for most travelers to generate their intentions and make trip decisions [5]. The present findings demonstrate that impacts vao w88 online reviews on travelers’ actions depend on six characteristics/features, including usefulness, reviewer expertise, timeliness, volume, valence and comprehensiveness. These features play identical roles in manipulating traveler intentions and decisions.
Specifically, as for review valence, the current results are consistent with previous findings that negativity effect is more important than other features in predicting consumers’ booking intentions, as Willemsen et al. (2011, p. 31) said that “negativity effect was present only for experience products”. In their study, experience products “are dominated by intangible attributes that cannot be known until purchase and for which performance evaluations can be verified only by sensory experience or booking consumption” (p. 23). In the hotel industry, Ye et al. (2009) suggested that hotels should allocate more resources in managing the valence vao w88 reviews, which could lead to increases in bookings/sales. As such, hoteliers may benefit from handling customer complaints more strategically and dealing effectively with service recovery, as at least 5 - 10 per cent vao w88 dissatisfied customers choose to complain (Tax and Brown, 2012).
In addition to review valence, comprehensiveness significantly influences people’s online booking intentions. This ending extends previous studies suggesting that people are cognitive misers, as they tend to rely on heuristic cues like easy-to-process graphic information (e.g. numerical or star ratings) to make evaluations or decision (Macrae and Bodenhausen, 2001). Holding a similar stance, Ye et al. (2009) found that hotels with higher star ratings would receive more online bookings. While it is acknowledged that consumers rely on categorical information because it is simple and easy to understand, this study found that comprehensiveness has high predictive power vao w88 their booking intentions. A possible explanation for this is the fact that in virtual communities, the mere presence vao w88 arguments and anonymity on the Internet lead people to require more cues to judge information based on the rigor vao w88 arguments. Also, this study illustrates the positive impacts vao w88 timeliness and volume vao w88 online reviews on booking intentions. Online reviews are a valuable channel vao w88 asynchronous information, which serves as predictive indicators vao w88 consumers’ attitudes. At the same time, consumer awareness has been regarded as a key variable in describing consumer choice, which will finally lead to purchase [10]. With more exposure to a hotel brand, there would be a higher chance for consumers to include a hotel into their awareness set. Therefore, more efforts could be devoted to increasing the quantity vao w88 online reviews about a hotel.
Furthermore, this study found a positive relation between usefulness vao w88 online reviews and online purchase intentions. As mentioned above, consumers are currently in an information overloading situation. This study also found a positive relationship between reviewer expertise and people’s booking intentions. This is consistent with previous studies discussing effects vao w88 source expertise upon respondents’ perceptions (Tan et al., 2008). Biswas et al. (2000) suggested that expertise refers to relevant intelligence to the object vao w88 discussion and a reviewer needs to possess knowledge on a specific topic. In the hotel industry, this expertise includes good reputation, greater hotel knowledge and good credit record, all vao w88 which are typical features vao w88 opinion leadership (Bloch et al., 1989). Opinion leaders are individuals who can influence the opinions and behaviors vao w88 others positively and frequently (Jamrozy et al., 1996). Jamrozy et al. (1996) empirically examined the relationship between involvement and opinion leadership in tourism and suggested that opinion leaders are identifiable. It would, therefore, benefit hotels to seek out and obtain more specific information about opinion leaders, such as how they diffuse their personal experiences vao w88 consuming hotel products and services.
5. Conclusion, research limitations and implications
The research has discovered 5 elements vao w88 the online review that influence the booking intention such as reviewer expertise, timeliness, volume, valance, form vao w88 online review.
This study’s limitations provide directions for future study. One vao w88 the major findings is that the interrelationships among features vao w88 online reviews, which were discussed in other similar studies, were not considered. As such, it would be worthwhile for tourism scholars and practitioners to empirically examine different information channels to optimize their promotional efforts and adjust the resources allocation accordingly. Further, future work could compare the impact vao w88 online reviews across different tourism sectors. While the current study focused on hotels only, the results may be applicable to other market segments. For example, it is reasonable to suggest that online reviews may have a greater influence on products that are more likely to be purchased online (such as light tickets) than on those sold mainly offline (such as entrance tickets for scenic spots). The orientation vao w88 future research is to determine the effect vao w88 these factors on the booking intention through the regression anal and to compare the level vao w88 influence between different tourist groups.
This research is funded by University vao w88 Economics under the University vao w88 Danang
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NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ ĐÁNH GIÁ TRỰC TUYẾN
ĐỐI VỚI DỊCH VỤ LƯU TRÚ DU LỊCH
●ThS.NGUYỄN CAO LIÊN PHƯỚC
Giảng viên Trường Đại học Kinh tế - Đại học Đà Nẵng
TÓM TẮT:
Nghiên cứu nhằm khái niệm cụ thể vềđánh giá trực tuyếntrong lĩnh vựclưu trú du lịchvà các thành tố của đánh giá trực tuyến ảnh hưởng đến ý định đặt phòng. Từ các yếu tố tổng hợp được qua các nghiên cứu trước đây, nghiên cứu này sử dụng kỹ thuật phân tích nhân tố, độ tin cậy (reliability analysis) để xác định các yếu tố nội tại của đánh giá trực tuyến có ảnh hưởng đếný định đặt phòngcủakhách du lịch. Kết quả nghiên cứu được phân tích dựa trên 248 phản hồi từ tháng 7 và tháng 8 năm 2019. Kết quả cho thấy, tồn tại 5 yếu tố nội tại thuộc đánh giá trực tuyến, là: chuyên gia đánh giá, thời gian của đánh giá, khối lượng, nội dung và hình thức đánh giá. Một số lý thuyết khác cũng được thảo luận trong nghiên cứu này.
Từ khóa:Đánh giá trực tuyến, lưu trú, ý định đặt chỗ.