Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Doctor of Business Administration

Major

Business Administration

Date of Defense

11-10-2020

Graduate Advisor

Thomas Eyssell

Committee

Bindu Arya

Dinesh Mirchandani

Abstract

Today’s travelers are increasingly relying on aggregated online opinions to make purchase decisions. One of the sectors most impacted by these online reviews is the hospitality industry, where consumer review websites such as TripAdvisor, Expedia, and Bookings.com play a critical role in influencing consumer's choice of hotel and the price they will pay for the room. Recently, there have been studies investigating the various aspects of user-generated online reviews and ratings. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of user-generated ratings on hotel valuations. Our paper does this using regression analysis to study the impact of TripAdvisor user ratings on Occupancy Rates, Average Daily Rate (ADR), and the corresponding market value of the hotels. The research was carried out on 33 properties operating in luxury through economy market segments and located within Chicago, Illinois. The results indicate user-generated ratings positively influence Occupancy rates and ADR. The findings indicate a robust relationship between higher user-generated ratings and higher Occupancy rates and ADR suggesting a corresponding increase in market values. The study also reveal a strong positive correlation between Seasonality and ADR. The academic and managerial implications of this research along with future directions have also been discussed.

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