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Table of Contents

• 1) Introduction
  • 1.1 Influence of TripAdvisor
  • 1.2 Influence of TripAdvisor on the hotels
  • 1.3 Perceived hotel attributes and customer satisfaction
• 2) Literature Review
  • 2.1 Consumer decision-making processes
  • 2.2 Consumer decision under the influence of various factors
  • 2.3 Influence of online reviews on hotel selection
• Bibliography

1) Introduction

1.1 Influence of TripAdvisor

According to the study of Lieberman and Esgate (2013), the organisation of TripAdvisor has been noted to have a major influence on the hospitality industry in the UAE. The said online site has been noted to have a minimum of 69 million visitors, who leave their reviews on the site. The photographs and the reviews provided often influence customers to consider among making trips, especially after reading the good reviews posted within a day. Chipkin (2014), the influence of TripAdvisor has been very much growing among the customers in the United Arab Emirates.

As per the said researcher, it has been observed that 55% of the visitors of the site have shown a jump in the level of influence from the said site from 59% to 72% itself. This influence has especially been observed in case of the young age group. It was further observed that customers were influenced by this site in the choice of hotels and resorts by 32 to 40%. This is because, as per one of the reviewers and frequent visitors who used the said site, TripAdvisor was known to provide strengths and weaknesses of the hotels, letting customers make their decisions regarding their choice of hotel.

According to Hensens (2015), online guest reviews are known to influence the ongoing future trends which are in the hospitality industry of the UAE. The conventional rating systems used in the said online site results the customers to be very much influenced by the reviews and the facilities provided by the visitors. This results in the development of platforms, which involve monitoring of services and review provided by the online visitors that influence the travellers and other consumers in the UAE very much. However, recently a drop in the rating has been noted. Despite this, Menon and Somashekharan (2017), has been noted to show a tremendous flocking of tourists in various places in the world, showing that TripAdvisor, being a leading hospitality site has a major influence over the customers.

1.2 Influence of TripAdvisor on the hotels

The influence of online reviews left on TripAdvisor has been observed to have a major impact on the hotels. According to Zhao et al. (2015), TripAdvisor is known to implement the use of eWOM (electronic Word of Mouth) form of communication. Such a communication tactic leads the travellers and customers to learn about the strengths and weaknesses of the hotels, and be majorly influenced by the services of the hotels. These provisions as seen in the case of hotels that often experience an influence in the accommodation levels in the organisation due to the use of TripAdvisor. The analysis was done by the customers often results in the consumers to undertake purchase decision-making services to be mainly influenced by the site of TripAdvisor.

According to Madhu (2018), most of the bookings in the hotels have been done through this site. This results in the profit maximisation via the accommodation levels rising in the industry. Mehta (2013) opined that most of the hotels were noted to derive 41.50% of their returns from the 92% of bookings done from the said site. This provides the hotels with scope for positive performance level in the hospitality industry of the UAE. TripAdvisor was hence noted for the provision of user-generated content. This content influenced customers in the choice of hotels, which introduced them to focal points of hotel’s services resulting in the rise of hotel performance in the UAE (Leonardi et al. 2012).

It was further revealed that TripAdvisor was known to have a major influence on the hotels in the said region. Here, the customers were noted to show an increase in profit levels due to the increase in online sales of the hotels via online booking facilities. The TripAdvisor was known to promote several hotels. This as in the case of Öğüt and Onur Taş (2012), revealed that high stars and high prices did not increase the sales. Rather, this led to reviewers keeping a negative review about the hotel and finally resulted in the increase of profits among the lower cost hotels in the UAE.

According to Casalo et al. (2015), it was revealed that review sites such as TripAdvisor was seen to influence over these hotels by the use of an online travel community. This community was noted to highlight the discounts at these hotels to manipulate the booking intention of the hotels. This influence of the booking intention over the customers led to increasing of accommodation. The increase in the level of accommodation in these hotels was known to lead to the increase in net income and profit level for the hotels in the UAE.

1.3 Perceived hotel attributes and customer satisfaction

According to Rahimi and Kozak (2017), customer relationship management was highlighted to be a major attribute of the hotel perceived by the customers in the UAE.  The manner in which the customers were treated in the budget hotels resulted in the said consumers of the hotels to leave a review at TripAdvisor, for the future hotel customers. It was further supported by Eid (2015) where, it was noted that, use of online reviews including those left in the social media to influence the customer retention level at the hotels. This perceived hotel attribute contributes to the very fact that, customers would form a perception regarding the loyalty and preference for the hotel when it comes to their customer satisfaction value in the hospitality sector of the UAE.

2) Literature Review

Customers of TripAdvisor in the UAE are known to make decisions based on the online reviews along with other factors. These decisions undertaken result from them to make choices regarding which hotel would be chosen by them. Recent trends in the hospitality sector around the world, especially in the UAE have been noted to involve the use of online reviews. These online reviews are searched for by the customers. One such site for online review, which forms a travel community, is the TripAdvisor. The community provides review content that is assessed by the customers, to check for the alternatives when planning a trip.

2.1 Consumer decision-making processes

Customers as per the study of Zhang et al. (2014) are known to undertake a systematic manner of decision making. Here, the customers have been revealed to use the images available in the online site to perceive the attraction of the hotel. It is then decided by the customer that the said destination or hotel is worthy of a visit. However, TripAdvisor is seen to mainly contribute to the consumer decision-making process through two steps. These two steps are the information seeking step followed by generation of alternatives for the decision-making process. Hence, this system of choosing a hotel or destination, followed by gaining information along with the access to available alternatives allow the customers to make a particular decision regarding their trip.

According to the opinion of Mauri and Minazzi (2013), the review left by the hotel guests serve to provide a major amount of inside information regarding the services of the hotel for the tourists in the UAE. This is mainly observed in the case of the young millennial tourists who seek information by searching the websites for reviews about a tour package and the services provided by the hotel, including its ambience. The young tourists have been noted to study and assess the comments left by the previous guests of the hotel. This information and the reviews left are considered by them before consideration of the particular hotel as a suitable alternative in their trip within and outside the UAE.

Liu and Park (2015) have supported this study whereby the online websites including TripAdvisor has been considered to be a popular site for the investigation of information by the tourists in the UAE. This has been seen by the tourists who have used the information for not only booking the hotels but also for understanding choices of attraction sites near the hotel and the distance from the airport for travel. The comments left by the guests and visitors regarding the intangible hospitality products of the hotel, form an attitude in the tourists. Thus, positive comments lead the customers to consider the hotel as a suitable alternative whereas, negative comments form a negative attitude and lack of preference for the said hotel in the decision-making process.

TripAdvisor is known to implement the use of the online marketing approach when it comes to influencing the customers of the hospitality department (Kladou and Mavragani, 2015). Here, the tourists are known to go through the images of the interior and exterior of the hotels available. Further, this lets them analyse the truth behind the rating of the hotel and the pricing for each of the room of choice for accommodation within the said hotel. Hence, it is a form of planned behaviour approach implemented by the customers where, the tourists are known to interpret the attraction of the hotel, as per their criteria and preference.

Torres et al. (2015) have further considered the fact that tourists go through the transaction value of the hotel rooms when considering it as an alternative for the customer decision making process regarding their choice of hotel in the trip. Here, the tourists are known to go through the pricing value attached for deluxe rooms, special rooms and suites for accommodation. Hence, hotels with low transaction value or appropriate transaction value are preferred as the choice of the hotel over another group of hotels in the UAE.

2.2 Consumer decision under the influence of various factors

Filieri and McLeay (2014), have highlighted that online reviews is a major factor which is considered in the making of decisions among the customers. Here, the known to apply the theory of reasoned behaviour approach when making the decisions through the use of technology acceptance model (TAM) and elaborative likelihood model (ELM). This is implemented in the assessment of the product ranking and information quality regarding the content of information regarding the services of the hotels through the use of communication. Therefore, simpler technology in the access to information leads tourists to gain more information regarding the facilities of the intangible hospitality product package available by the hotels. This, in turn, results in the analysis of the alternatives available before making the ultimate decision regarding the choice of hotel by the tourist.

Cantallops and Salvi (2014) have argued that online reviews are not the only factor influencing the customer decision making done. The customers are even seen to consider the factor of communication implemented in these online reviews when interpreting the data information as an alternative. Here, the tourists consider the aspect of image interpretation followed by the WOM communication used in the user-generated content. This acts as a review generating factor which is considered by the tourists when deciding upon a choice of hotel in the UAE. Further, it has even been noted that facilities like speedy free internet facilities catered for the tourists help to attract more customers. This, in turn, increases the chance for accommodation in the choice of hotel among the tourists in the UAE.

This has especially been observed in the case of new tourists who visit the hotels in the United Arab Emirates (Browning et al. 2013). This has especially been noted by the management of the hotel who seek to maintain competent service so that former guests leave a positive comment for the attracting more customers. According to Ayeh et al. (2013), TripAdvisor has hence provided both positive and negative post-reviews by customers. The tourists consider these in the decision making procedure, to rationalise and justify the choice of hotel chosen for their trip to their destination.

2.3 Influence of online reviews on hotel selection

In today’s world internet has become a major role in order to make better understanding among people. The internet usage among consumer has an impact on their decision making. Possibly this is the vital reason why consumer use to approach internet resource to make better and effective decisions (Ayeh et al. 2013). When it comes to choosing a hotel, recent activity comes into mind is to search the reviews on the internet, this is the way where people can access reviews on quality and services provided by any hotel without having actual experience. It has been researched that consumer uses to get proper recommendation whom they trust while making effective decisions. In that context, internet resource acts as words of mouth for the consumer as it facilitates with original review on hotels by the experienced customer.

The online reviews give the chance to the tourists of both national and international countries to select a hotel. The online reviews of a wide range of customers highlight the issues that are present in a few hotels and what are the facilities that are offered in the hotel. Through the help of the online reviews of the previous customers of some hotels, the citizens of other nations would find it easier to find suitable hotels in UAE. The high customer rating of the hotels would enhance the sales target, profit margin, customer base of the hotels of UAE.

On the other hand, the domestic tourists of UAE would be able to know that during the time of vacation, holidays, where they have to book rooms to enjoy their holidays (Schuckert et al. 2015). The people who are thinking of exploring the different parts of UAE would know from the online reviews that in what price they can book rooms in hotels. Moreover, in the online reviews, some of the old customers of the hotels write about the bitter experiences that they had faced. In this way, the tourists would get to know about the legal issues, quarrels and so on when they would visit the hotel.

The research study shows consumer use to believe word of mouth and internet is a way the reviews can be accessed. The consumer has the intention to approach only suitable and reliable places in the context of choosing tourist hotel destination. Through the help of internet resources, it is possible to gather a detailed review regarding hotel accommodation environment, service quality and proper location of the respective destination. There are certain factors that need to be considered before making any decision while choosing a hotel. Online reviews offer ample amount of data required to choose a Hotel in UAE. It’s being very difficult to get fit in an unfamiliar environment, in that respect internet is the only medium that can ease consumer’s issues. Online reviews provide consumer feedback, overall rating, and food and service quality. Thus consumer receives required data as it is trustworthy for most of the consumer in recent days and hence consumer gets influenced by online review on hotel selection.

In this respect attribution theory states that consumer use to make conclusion based on service problems along three issues like causality that is related to consumers trust on the cause that lies within the hotel, stability refers to the views of consumer based on service experiences and control refers to the peak of consumers trust which reflects provision of service quality.

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