The impact of electronic word-of-mouth on hotel booking intentions

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to explore the influence of electronic word-ofmouth on consumers, and its effect on purchase intentions within the hospitality industry. Design/Methodology/Approach – The study looks into existing literature in the field of consumer decision-making and electronic word-of-mouth. The analysis conducted was based on data collected from 439 self-administered online surveys. Recommendations were developed after comparing and contrasting the literature and research findings. Findings – The main findings of this research were that consumers not only prefer to seek information from non-marketer-dominated sources, but are also influenced by such information. Results show that positive electronic word-of-mouth increases hotel booking intentions. However, negatively-valenced reviews and visual content created by consumers themselves, influence the consumer to a greater extent. Research Limitations/Implications – Since convenience sampling was employed, generalisation of results is limited. Given that research participants were ensured confidentiality, feedback for incomplete responses could not be generated. Practical Implications – As research has indicated, consumers are becoming dependent on the Internet when making choices with regards to travel-related purchases. In view of the fact that consumers are highly influenced by such information, hotel administration should prioritise customer experience and encourage all customers to generate content that reflects their experience. It is thus the hotel management’s duty to monitor this content and make right service failures. Hoteliers should also integrate satisfactory information with marketer-dominated content. Originality/Value – In the recent years, the Internet has become a great tool to search for travel-related information, including hospitality-related consumer reviews. Thus, there is an apparent and growing need for further research concerning consumer influence through electronic word-of-mouth.