Sharing Dissatisfaction Online: Analyzing the Nature and Predictors of Hotel Guests Negative Reviews

ABSTRACT

Social media has expanded word of mouth (WOM) into a massive mean of online communication. Thus, consumers can now impact the reputation of a business by spreading positive or negative WOM worldwide. The hospitality industry is particularly vulnerable since the decision process is increasingly influenced by online reviews, especially about negative guests’ experiences, which are considered highly valuable and helpful. However, only a few articles on online complaining behavior on the hospitality industry have been published. As such, this research aims to characterize complainers’ profile and online complaints, and to determine which factors may impact them. The study analyzed 1,191 guest reviews of hotels located in Oporto, the second largest city in Portugal (a popular Mediterranean tourism destination), listed on TripAdvisor, including 463 complaints regarding 835 incidents. Results identify dominant complaint categories and show that guest’s demographics and hotel class play a critical role. The study adds to the growing body of knowledge on e-Tourism and e-Complaints and draws on relevant conclusions for both researchers and hospitality managers.

社会媒体口碑（WOM）为扩展词在线交流的大规模的意思。因此，消费者现在可以通过传播正面或负面口碑的 (WOM) 全球影响一个企业的声誉。酒店业尤其容易受到影响，因为决策过程越来越受到在线评论的影响，尤其是负面嘉宾的经历，这被认为是非常有价值和有益的。然而，关于酒店业网上抱怨行为的文章却很少。因此，本研究旨在描述人的轮廓和在线投诉，并确定哪些因素可能会影响他们。这项研究分析了位于波尔图的第二大城市葡萄牙（一个受欢迎的地中海旅游目的地）的1191位客座评论，其中包括463起关于835起事件的投诉。结果确定主要投诉类别，并显示客人的人口统计和品位酒店发挥关键作用。这项研究增加了有关电子旅游和电子投诉的知识，并为研究人员和酒店管理者提供了相关结论。

KEYWORDS:

• Hotels
• online complaints
• online reviews
• social media
• tourism
• TripAdvisor