Abstract
The analysis of the effect of online review ratings on usefulness is a relevant topic today. Park and Nicolau (2015) find asymmetric effects in the restaurant industry so that negative reviews are more useful than positive ones, and that people perceive extreme ratings (positive or negative) as more useful than moderate ratings, giving rise to a Ushaped curve. While the study of Park and Nicolau (2015) focuses on “general review ratings of restaurants”, we go a step further and analyze “general and particular review ratings of hotels”. Specifically, we examine “general ratings” and ratings for “value”, “location”, “sleep quality”, “rooms”, “cleanliness” and “service”. Tourism Alliance (2015) reports that for visitors to the UK accommodation is the second largest expenditure at £14.1bn, which emphasizes the importance of focusing on the hotel industry.