The objective of this paper is to study the effects of online user-generated expert reviews on travelers’ behavior. After controlling for a large set of independent variables, the results show that as the number of expert reviews for a hotel increases, future traveler ratings for the hotel increase. However, the marginal effect of a greater number of expert reviews decreases. Further, as the reviewing expertise level of a traveler increases, the traveler posts more negative ratings, but the marginal effect of the level of reviewing expertise decreases. Our results also indicate that reviewing expertise can reinforce the positive effect of expert hotel reviews on travelers’ rating behavior. The robustness of our results is confirmed by a Bayesian ordered logit model. Finally, the implications of the results are discussed in terms of research and practice. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.