Tourists’ Perceptions of Service Quality: Using Text for Tourism Hospitality Industry Insights

More and more consumers describe their tourism experiences through online reviews. Online reviews create a wealth of textual data that is extremely important in supporting consumers’ purchasing decisions and, as a result, in helping hotel managers understand customer preferences. The authors analyze 7248 online tourist reviews of 109 Portuguese rural accommodation establishments (RTA) of a leading international travel website. The results show that tourists’ perceptions of overall service quality reflected in their online reviews depend on their perceptions of the accommodation and of the surroundings. These discoveries have implications for academics, as well as for RTA owners who want to understand precisely the factors that affect tourists’ evaluations and perceptions of their services. Lastly, the authors conclude by stating some potential areas for future work.