Ivar E. Vermeulen & Daphne Seegers wrote an article about: „The impact of online hotel reviews on consumer consideration“, published by Tourism Management: 30 (2009) 123-127
There hypothesis were:
1 ) Exposure to online reviews increases hotel awareness.
2 ) Exposure to online hotel reviews increases hotel awareness more for lesser-known hotels than for well-known hotels.
3 ) Exposure to online hotel reviews affects hotel attitude: Positive reviews yield positive attitude changes, whereas negative reviews yield negative changes.
4 ) Exposure to online hotel reviews-affects hotel attitude more for lesser-known hotels than for well-known hotels.
5 ) Exposure to expert online hotel reviews affects attitude more than exposure to non-expert online reviews.
6 ) Exposure to online hotel review increases hotel consideration
7 ) Exposure to positive online hotel reviews improves hotel consideration, whereas exposure to negative reviews yields no change in consideration
8 ) Exposure to online hotel reviews affects consideration more for lesser-known hotels than for well-known hotels.
9 ) Exposure to expert online hotel reviews affects consideration more than exposure to non-expert online reviews..
Results are quite interesting:
Ad Hypothesis 1 ) As they predicted, hotel awareness increased by exposure.
Ad Hypothesis 2 ) It is true, too
Ad Hypothesis 3 ) So it is.
Ad Hypothesis 4 ) Attitudes toward lesser-known hotels reacted stronger on review valence than attitude toward well-known hotels.
Ad Hypothesis 5 ) Experts did not influence people more than other reviewers.
Ad Hypothesis 6 ) Yes, hotel consideration augmented significantly.
Ad Hypothesis 7 ) That is very interesting, because as suggested positive reviews had a positive impact on consideration, but however negative reviews had no significant influence on consideration!
Ad Hypothesis 8 ) Like I thought, the hypothesis was accepted, consideration of well-known hotels was less changeable than for lesser-known hotels.
Ad Hypothesis 9 ) Experts‘ opinions weight stronger than from other reviewers!, in sharp contrast to attitude change – where it has not got influence.
By and large one can say that negative reviews have much less influence to clients than expected, but they are not harmless. Continuous negative reviews will be harmful. The authors wrote that a single negative review, can not do any harm in a positive pool, however a positive review in a pool of negative, can do a lot of good.
Other studies also suggested that online reviews can do a lot for hoteliers since people are less price sensitive by good reviews.