{"id":2977,"date":"2017-09-11T12:06:36","date_gmt":"2017-09-11T11:06:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.ift.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/?p=2977"},"modified":"2017-09-11T12:17:03","modified_gmt":"2017-09-11T11:17:03","slug":"a-taste-of-publicity-tripadvisor-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/a-taste-of-publicity-tripadvisor-style\/","title":{"rendered":"A taste of publicity TripAdvisor-style"},"content":{"rendered":"\u4e2d\u6587\u6458\u8981 \/ Summary in Chinese<\/span>\n

Macao restaurants are making a good impression on diners, indicates research regarding English-language online reviews by customers. But satisfaction levels are lower for the most expensive outlets than for other price points.<\/p>\n

The conclusions are in a study by IFT Lecturer Mr. Simon Lei and Dr. Rob Law, from Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The results were featured in their academic paper \u201cContent analysis of TripAdvisor reviews on restaurants: a case study of Macau\u201d, published in the Journal of Tourism.<\/p>\n

The pair\u2019s research analysed English-language versions of 614 online reviews about 22 Macao restaurants. They had been published via the popular international travel website TripAdvisor.com.<\/p>\n

According to its parent company, TripAdvisor gathers more than 500 million reviews and opinions covering more than 7 million accommodation venues, airlines, tourist attractions and restaurants worldwide. The website reportedly records on average per month approximately 390 million visitors.<\/p>\n

For their study, the researchers sorted the sample reviews in 4 categories by ascending price: \u201cfast food or self-service\u201d; \u201ccasual or sit-down service\u201d; \u201cformal dining\u201d; and \u201cmost expensive or service for special occasions\u201d. The researchers classified each comment as \u201cpositive\u201d, \u201cnegative\u201d or \u201cneutral\u201d, based on how consumers reviewed elements of each restaurant\u2019s offer, including not only the food, but also service, value for money, atmosphere and other factors.<\/p>\n

Results indicated that \u201cthe overall customer satisfaction on the dining experience in Macao was positive,\u201d according to the authors. The study found that \u201cpositive comments on Macao\u2019s restaurants greatly outnumbered the neutral and negative comments combined in all 4 price categories.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the most expensive category of restaurants got double the negative comments (14 percent) of casual or formal dining restaurants (7 percent), the authors noted. According to Mr. Lei and Dr. Law, high-end restaurants did not \u201creadily yield high customer satisfaction because well-travelled customers are already exposed to diverse food qualities and prices offered from other places in the world, which become their bases for comparison.\u201d<\/p>\n

eWOM power<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSmall caf\u00e9s\u201d by contrast were more broadly evaluated positively for customer satisfaction. Positive perceptions of \u201cproduct quality, uniqueness and the knowledgeable, passionate and amicable qualities of the restaurateur\u201d were the reasons for this upbeat assessment, the researchers explained.<\/p>\n

They added: \u201cSome smaller restaurants are still popular for providing good food and good services at reasonable prices.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Mr. Lei and Dr. Law, more and more people now post commentaries on their travel and dining experiences online, creating a \u201cpowerful and ever-growing customer knowledge base\u201d shared among Internet users worldwide. \u201cWith the emergence of Web 2.0 and user-generated content, electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) effects have become gigantic,\u201d they noted. \u201cThe seamless integration between review sites and social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, hastens and renders the effects of eWOM as long-lasting,\u201d the researchers wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo maintain competitiveness in the market\u201d, the authors argued, \u201cfirms in the tourism and hospitality industry should not disregard the influence\u201d of customer reviews online.<\/p>\n

They added: \u201cGiven that business firms have no control over user-generated content, not only should service providers monitor online discussions regarding an individual firm and its competitors, but must also promptly respond to customer complaints and\/or address service failures for future encounters.\u201d The authors suggested that, \u201cin order to provide higher customer satisfaction in [such a] competitive industry, restaurateurs need to find ways to uncover what has been said [about their businesses online] \u2026 and to respond strategically\u201d to remedy deficiencies identified by customer reviews.<\/p>\n

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More info<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The researchers<\/div>\nMr. Simon Lei is a Lecturer in computer information systems at IFT. He holds a MBA from the California State University, East Bay, in the United States, and a second master\u2019s degree in science from New York University, also in the United States. His research interests are focused on information systems in tourism and hospitality. Prior to joining IFT, he held posts in several multinational organisations related respectively to information technology, public utility services, hospitality and education.<\/p>\n

Dr. Rob Law has worked in Canada and Hong Kong in the industrial and academic sectors. He joined the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 1995: he is currently a Professor at the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at that university. He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Regina, in Saskatchewan, Canada. Dr. Law has received many research-related awards and honours, as well as several external and internal research grants.
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The paper<\/div>\nSimon Lei and Rob Law: \u201cContent analysis of TripAdvisor reviews on restaurants: a case study of Macau\u201d, Journal of Tourism, Volume 16, Issue 1, pages 17-28, 2015.
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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