Hotel’s online reviews and ratings: a cross-cultural approach

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the impact of cultural specificity on hotel’s online reviews and ratings.

Design/methodology/approach

Using Hofstede’s scale of cultural differences, it analyzes 1,821 comments about the Catalonia Sagrada Familia Hotel across 77 countries. Logistic regression is used for data analysis.

Findings

It is found that detailed reviews tend to be provided by the guests who belong to a low-power distance culture, are collectivistic, are masculine, have a low uncertainty avoidance, are long-term orientated or are indulgent. On the other hand, the customers who tend to deviate from the prior average ratings come from high-power distance societies, are individualists, are feminists, belong to a high uncertainty avoidance culture, are long-term oriented or are indulgent.

Originality/value

These findings extend the hospitality management literature and potentially help the hotel managers to better understand their customers’ behavior in a web-based environment.

Citation

Leon, R.D. (2019), "Hotel’s online reviews and ratings: a cross-cultural approach", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 31 No. 5, pp. 2054-2073. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-05-2018-0413