Do Hotel Responses Matter?

Wenlong Liu, Rongrong Ji

OAI: oai:igi-global.com:225094 • DOI: 10.4018/IRMJ.2019070104

This article aims to examine how hotel responses to online reviews influence how potential consumers perceived the helpfulness of the online reviews. Response length and voice were employed to measure the hotel's response quality. 637 reviews with responses were used for empirical analysis. The study identified three different types of response voices: disputed voice, professional voice, and empathetic voice. The results show that both response length and response voice have significant effects on the helpfulness perceived by potential consumers. Moreover, they also have some interaction effects with star ratings, review length, and review image. This study suggests that hotels should strategically respond to both positive and negative online reviews so as to both create a positive interaction atmosphere and resolve consumer complaints. The findings of this study can, to some extent, help manage word of mouth reputations.

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