How engaged are you with your hotel room? A qualitative analysis of electronic word-of-mouth on the hospitality industry

As internet technologies and social media grow continuously, our lives become more dependent and integrated on them. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the online behavior of hospitality guests, before, during and after their stay at an accommodation property. Through a mixed qualitative approach, user generated content available on the online travel agency Booking.com, and on Instagram’s platform, is analyzed. Then, the findings are compared with the discussions from the two focus groups held by the researcher. The main research methods that were combined were: frequency analysis, sentiment analysis, visual and thematic analysis. Previous research on the field of hospitality and tourism industry show that both traditional and electronic word of mouth can be proved very helpful for service providers and for prospective customers. Results of the current study reveal that indeed, when it comes to hospitality industry and short-stay accommodation services, reviews from previous customers found on specialized websites, are of significant importance. Due to uncertainty of unknown service and quality prior to consumption, and the high risk that is involved in the reservation process, negative comments are much more taken into consideration than the positive ones. Moreover, although social media might be a source of inspiration, the information that is provided is not as trustworthy, while pictures on the platform might be misleading. In any case, as it was discussed on the focus groups, whether the information is negative or positive, or derived from a personal social media account or a specialized online review website, it should be evaluated taking into consideration differences on demographics and cultures.