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Online reviews and travel magazine awards: their influence on willingness-to-pay

Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management volume 20, pages 436–445 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

When guests book a hotel room, user-generated content (UGC) has a significant impact on willingness-to-pay. Prior to advent of the internet, however, guidebooks and travel magazines were resources for guest information. The current study conducted a choice-based conjoint analysis survey of 803 US travelers to examine the current impact of travel magazines on hotel guests’ willingness-to-pay. The participants were given a scenario in which they choose a hotel for beach vacation with the variables of pool, location, star rating, number of online reviews, and inclusion in a “best of” list. This study found that while the number of online reviews and star rating did have a statistically significant impact on willingness-to-pay, inclusion in a “best of” list did not. For researchers, the current study expands the research in UGC, travel magazines, and willingness-to-pay. For hoteliers, this paper quantified the impact of number of reviews and star rating on guest willingness-to-pay.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. William F. Harrah College of Hospitality Management, University of Nevada Las Vegas, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway, Suite 351, Las Vegas, NV, 89154, USA

    Amanda Belarmino

  2. Department of Hotel, Recreation & Tourism Management, East Stroudsburg University, 200 Prospect Street, East Stroudsburg, PA, 18301-2999, USA

    Tevfik Demirciftci

  3. William F. Harrah College of Hospitality Management, University of Nevada Las Vegas, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway, Box 456017, Las Vegas, NV, 89154, USA

    Liheng Zhang

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  1. Amanda Belarmino
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  2. Tevfik Demirciftci
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  3. Liheng Zhang
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Correspondence to Amanda Belarmino.

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Belarmino, A., Demirciftci, T. & Zhang, L. Online reviews and travel magazine awards: their influence on willingness-to-pay. J Revenue Pricing Manag 20, 436–445 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41272-020-00256-0

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Keywords

  • Online reviews
  • Travel magazines
  • Willingness-to-pay
  • Choice-based conjoint analyses

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