The proliferation of digital platforms has revolutionized how tourism products are distributed, priced, and evaluated. Beyond pricing economics, the post-purchase behavior of tourists—specifically their online reviews—has become a critical determinant of business performance. Understanding what makes a review “helpful” to others, how the timing of a review affects its rating (temporal contiguity), and how different user traits lead to rating variations (scaling heterogeneity) is essential for interpreting consumer feedback. Furthermore, hotel response strategies have emerged as a vital tool for reputation management. How a manager responds—whether through personalized topics, linguistic matching, or emotional positivity—can significantly alter future ratings and consumer trust.

 

In pricing, our team analyzed “opaque” channels and Airbnb’s impact on hotels, finding that higher-class hotels use opaque discounts to protect brand equity. We have significantly expanded this area by examining tourist post-review behavior. We identified “scaling heterogeneity” using a Hierarchical Ordered Probit (HOPIT) model, revealing that different demographic groups (e.g., business travelers vs. couples) use different rating thresholds to express the same level of satisfaction. Our team also explored “temporal contiguity,” finding that reviews posted closer to the travel date tend to be more extreme, particularly for negative experiences. Regarding hotel response strategies, we found that “topic-matched” responses (addressing specific issues raised by guests) effectively increase future ratings, especially for economy hotels. Our team also found that matching the guest’s linguistic style enhances perceived helpfulness. However, on peer-to-peer platforms like Airbnb, we identified a “positivity paradox,” where overly positive responses backfire by reducing perceived authenticity. Additionally, we examined the impact of “review novelty” and “inconsistency,” finding that novel information increases usefulness while inconsistency decreases it. Finally, we analyzed the influence of “expert identity,” showing that while expert reviews boost a hotel’s ratings, the experts themselves tend to become more critical after achieving that status.