How to make guest reviews more informative? A case study of Airbnb

Authors

  • Sai Liang Collaborative Innovation Center of Modern Tourism Development College of Tourism and Service Management Nankai University
  • Xiaoxia Zhang School of Management Harbin Institute of Technology
  • Hui Li College of Tourism and Service Management Nankai University

Keywords:

Review informativeness, online reviews, peer-to-peer accommodation platforms, Airbnb, big data

Abstract

Sharing economy platforms like Airbnb and Uber have attracted lots of academic attentions in recent years. An important implication for hosts and platform managers is how to make guest reviews more informative. This study collects longitudinal data from Airbnb and constructs panel regression model to observe the determinants of review informativeness. The results show that providing more detailed descriptions about both properties and hosts can motivate the subsequent guests to post more informative reviews. The conclusions of this study provide implications to tourism literature and managerial insights for hosts and platform managers in peer-to-peer property rental platforms.

Author Biographies

Sai Liang, Collaborative Innovation Center of Modern Tourism Development College of Tourism and Service Management Nankai University

Sai Liang is Lecture of the Collaborative Innovation Center of Modern Tourism Development and the College of Tourism and Service Management at the Nankai University, China. His current research focuses on e-Tourism, online review and social media.

Xiaoxia Zhang, School of Management Harbin Institute of Technology

Xiaoxia Zhang is a Master student in the School of Management at the Harbin Institute of Technology, China. Her research interests cover e-tourism, financial and insurance service

Hui Li, College of Tourism and Service Management Nankai University

Hui Li is Professor of the College of Tourism and Service Management at the Nankai University, China. His current research focuses on case-based reasoning of tourism, tourism informatics, data mining and electronic commerce.

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Published

2019-12-20

How to Cite

Liang, S., Zhang, X. and Li, H. (2019) “How to make guest reviews more informative? A case study of Airbnb”, e-Review of Tourism Research, 17(4). Available at: https://ertr-ojs-tamu.tdl.org/ertr/article/view/545 (Accessed: 26 April 2024).

Issue

Vol. 17 No. 4 (2020)

Section

Late Breaking Results

License

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