Quality certifications in the TripAdvisor era. Are they outdated?

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to analyzes the effects of the consumer-generated media (CGM) boom on hotel managers’ investment behavior concerning quality signals.

Design/methodology/approach

Survival analysis has been conducted, considering the permanence/dropout of the Spanish hotels in a quality certification system during the 1998–2020 period.

Findings

The number of hotels certified since 2010 has been progressively falling, pointing to a decreasing interest of the managers in these certifications. Nevertheless, this is not a generalized phenomenon: the hotel characteristics and the number and nature of reviews about them in CGM significantly affect their permanence decisions in certification systems.

Practical implications

The findings provide several keys to optimizing investment management in quality signals considering hotel characteristics and their positioning in CGM.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that analyses the relationship between the presence of hotels in CGM and their investments in alternative quality signals. The results will allow future investment decisions based on previous real business experiences.

Citation

Castro-Lopez, A., Caso Fernández-Pacheco, L., Iglesias, V. and De la Ballina, J. (2022), "Quality certifications in the TripAdvisor era. Are they outdated?", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 34 No. 6, pp. 2379-2398. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-10-2021-1209