Assessing luxury brands and eWOM using online reviews: Hospitality Management on the edge

Along with the growing usage of the Internet in the service sector, online reviews of service experiences have been gaining attention in the hospitality management literature. However, studies of this field are mostly focused on developed countries, with few exceptions concerning developing ones, which are gaining growing importance. This study fills the void by examining the biggest developing country-China, in terms of its online users´ word of mouth (WOM) on hotel staying experiences in five-star hotels of Beijing and Shanghai. Comparisons and analyses on the eWOM are made from three perspectives: online booking sites vs. online meta-search sites; Chinese hotels vs. foreign and Hong Kong/ Macau/ Taiwan/Singapore hotels; and hotels in Beijing vs. hotels in Shanghai. These three perspectives respectively draw on the issues of incentive, cultural and operational, and geopolitical differences in the hospitality industry of China.