INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

Determinants of consumers’ choices in hotel online searches: A comparison of consideration and booking stages

Hu, Xingbao (Simon); Yang, Yang

Abstract

Using a stated choice experiment, this study uncovers how hotel review- and price-related attributes affect consumers’ formation of consideration sets and hotel bookings based on online search results alongside a two-stage model of consideration and choice. Empirical findings indicate that consumers’ evaluations of certain attributes vary across these stages. During the consideration stage, the listed hotel price, promotional discount, overall rating, review volume, and booking popularity are significant attributes for prospective guests, whereas price disparities across websites are not. Insignificant interaction effects among these determinants imply that in this stage, consumers employ fast-frugal heuristics and a noncompensatory strategy. During the booking stage, listed price, promotional discount, overall rating, and review volume inform consumers’ booking decisions. Furthermore, the interaction effects point to consumers’ adoption of a compensatory strategy in making a final booking decision. Finally, this study concludes with implications for hotel pricing and system optimization of online platforms.

Keywords

Hotel booking; Price information; Review information; Consideration set; Stated choice experiment

Research topic

AI and Big Data, Digital Platform and Pricing

Research method

Econometrics, Big Data

Geographic area

US

Additional links for this paper

ResearchGate

Publisher Website

Web of Science

HOW TO CITE

Hu, X. and Yang, Y. (2020). Determinants of consumers’ choices in hotel online searches: A comparison of consideration and booking stages. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 86, 102370

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT