Impact of Online Reviews on Consumer Behavior

Running head: IMPACT OF ONLINE REVIEWS ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
IMPACT OF ONLINE REVIEWS ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

IMPACT OF ONLINE REVIEWS ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
1
Introduction
The application of the Internet in the 21st century can be experienced all across the
world. Every industry is incorporating the Internet for improving their efficiency and market
presence. The tourism and hospitality industry is considered to be earliest in involving
Integrated Marketing Communication for promoting services and products. The core value of
the hotel industry is connectivity, which reflects the need for online presence. The purpose of
the paper is to represent the impact of online reviews on the decision making process of
booking hotels. The paper will discuss the stimulated perception deduced from reading online
reviews for the operation of booking a hotel. The paper tends to argue on the significance of
online reviews on hotel booking decision. The paper will be concluded by presenting the
influence of online reviews on the consumer behaviour of customers in the hotel industry.
Discussion
In the last few years, online reviews have become increasingly popular and significant
in reflecting the consumer preference for a business or brand. Reviews are believed to be
helpful for people in strategizing a buying decision such as decisions regarding “what to eat,
where to travel and where to stay”. Online reviews have become a significant part of today's
business environment. Online reviews may reflect a positive or negative impact on the
consumer decision making process of the customers. In the hotel industry, for sustaining in
the increasingly profitable environment, organizations include a various source of revenue
stream. One of the sources consists of an online reputation and presence (Phillips et al. 2017).
The clear display of a strong online reputation and presence is online reviews. Companies
such as, TripAdvisor is solely based on accumulating or reflecting reviews regarding hotels,
restaurants and tourism business for the convenience of potential customers. Consumers tend
to incline towards the consensus of travellers' experiences. In various research studies, the
projected significance has been reflected in improving online reviews. In accordance with the

IMPACT OF ONLINE REVIEWS ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
2
theories of Collective Consciousness, consumers of a particular region reflect shared belief
and attitude for responding to a product or service offerings (Zhang and Benyoucef 2016).
Hotels reputation and reach are the primary influencers in shaping consumer buying
decision. Establish brands in the hotel industry usually have a well-established website with
SEO application, which will result in the effective placement on the search results (Hu and
Yang 2019). However, while searching for hotels, potential customers will experience or will
look for online reviews from sites such as Online Travel Agencies and TripAdvisor. Online
reviews are considered significant determining factors amongst potential customer groups.
Social media sites of the hotel businesses are also used as a platform for reviewing service
quality. It is believed that around 97.7 percent of travellers read online reviews from Review
sites and Online Travel Agencies before deciding a hotel or place (Gavilan, Avello and
Martinez-Navarro 2018).
Online reviews have become more important than a brand recognition of a hotel in the
form of ‘stars'. Online reviews of a three-star hotel and a five-star hotel portray the
expectation gap that results in a minimum of 0.74 percent gap in rating. The reason for this
minimum gap is that the reviewers or the customers rate a hotel experience by considering a
comparison between expectation and actual experience. Online reviews reflect significant
influence on the consumer decision of booking a hotel (Casalo et al. 2015). In a survey of
TripAdvisor, around 96 percent of the TripAdvisor users believe that online reviews are
crucial for planning a trip with booking hotels. Approximately 83 percent of the TripAdvisors
refers to the online reviews before making a decision about a hotel place (Gavilan, Avello
and Martinez-Navarro 2018). More than half of the users of online review sites are found
restricting themselves while booking a hotel with zero reviews place (Gavilan, Avello and
Martinez-Navarro 2018). However, along with the significant impact of online reviews on the
hotels, responses to the reviews by the organization or a loyal customer also plays a major
role in remoulding the consumer behaviour about a specific hotel. Around 85 percent of the