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

摘要

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.