A Preliminary Analysis of Images in Online Hotel Reviews

Authors

  • Florian J. Zach Howard Feiertag Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management Pamplin College of Business Virginia Tech
  • Yufeng Ma Department of Computer Science College of Engineering Virginia Tech
  • Edward Fox Department of Computer Science College of Engineering Virginia Tech

Keywords:

online hotel reviews, image classification, image

Abstract

Following the idiom “A picture is worth a thousand words”, recent tourism and hospitality research has adopted deep learning techniques to better understand the content and effect of photographs. This exploratory study delves into image content, to learn which sets of images relate to positive and negative reviews. Several image classes appear in both positive and negative reviews. However, the distribution of images across classes differs. Of interest were images that did not represent core hotel services, which suggests that users review the surrounding area, attractions, and activities as well as the hotel property. This finding is relevant for managers to learn which areas (to engage with) could improve guest experiences.

Author Biographies

Florian J. Zach, Howard Feiertag Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management Pamplin College of Business Virginia Tech

Florian J. Zach is an Assistant Professor of innovation and entrepreneurship in tourism and hospitality at Virginia Tech with an interest in new technologies. His current research focuses on the implementation of technological advancements to create tourism experiences.

Yufeng Ma, Department of Computer Science College of Engineering Virginia Tech

Yufeng Ma is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Computer Science at Virginia Tech, where he is co-advised by Dr. Patrick Fan and Dr. Edward Fox. He is mainly interested in the interaction between Computer Vision and the combination of Natural Language Processing, Deep Learning, and Machine Learning.

Edward Fox, Department of Computer Science College of Engineering Virginia Tech

Edward Fox is a Professor of Computer Science and of Electrical and Computer Engineering (by courtesy), as well as Director of the Digital Library Research Laboratory, at Virginia Tech. His research interests include digital libraries, information retrieval, natural language processing, machine learning, multimedia, and related areas.

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Published

2019-01-30

How to Cite

Zach, F. J., Ma, Y. and Fox, E. (2019) “A Preliminary Analysis of Images in Online Hotel Reviews”, e-Review of Tourism Research, 16(2/3). Available at: https://ertr-ojs-tamu.tdl.org/ertr/article/view/328 (Accessed: 29 March 2024).

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Section

Articles