Two peer-reviewed Academic Papers
1. The article titled “The effectiveness of managing social media on hotel performance” gives an account of how social media revolutionized business interactions with consumers. It values social media as a useful business tool, which facilitates and sustains business relations with consumers (Kim et al. 2015). One of the major advantages of social media is that it offers an easier access to consumers. Furthermore, social networking websites provide salient features that take consumer interactions to the next level. Social media ensures relentless connectivity with consumers, thereby evolving as a crucial element of business operations. It is a valuable tool for marketing and development of client base. For marketing purpose, social media enhances and expands marketing operations that were previously conducted by businesses through traditional websites (Kim et al. 2015). The reactive nature of social media is a supplement to these traditional websites.
2. The article titled “The becoming of user-generated reviews: Looking at the past to understand the future of managing reputation in the travel sector” provides an overview of how User-Generated-Content (UGC) has become a major challenge to management practices through its nature of change and restructuring of organizations. The author suggests that the formal accreditation schemes offered by UGC integrate easily with minimal formal mechanism, thereby facilitating intermediate users to arrive at their personal conclusions with regards to products and services (Baka 2016). The article gives an account of how the reviews and ratings generated by UGC cast a significant impact on the possibility of organizational reputation in the field of travel. The findings provided in the article are dependent on a huge amount of data, which includes a research conducted at offices run by the website of one of the most popular travel giants, TripAdvisor (Baka 2016). The findings also base their results on netnographic approach. The main aim of the article is to understand the shifts occurring in marketing from word of mouth communication to eWOM, which refers to word of mouth communication through online media. The authors discuss about the consequences of word of mouth communication in the travel sector and offer a balanced overview of the crucial role played by reviews, lists and ratings (Baka 2016). The article proposes a conceptual model, which is capable of dealing with online reputation in UGC. Furthermore, the article acknowledges the current phenomenon of change in the field of reputation management.
Two business articles accessed through RULDiscovery
1. The article titled “The mechanism of online review management: A qualitative study” provides information about the effect of social media and online reviews on hotel businesses. It explains how online reviews have unprecedentedly contributed to gaining insight about customers. The article considers online reviews as an important source for accomplishing exceptional service (Nguyen & Coudounaris 2015). The authors consider social media as a crucial tool that helps the hotel business to acquire good reputation and ensure a balanced competition in the industry. The article researches how online reviews lead to enhanced hotel bookings and ultimately, a flourishing business. The authors give an account of a survey carried out by a Trip Advisor and Market Matrix in the year 2009, in which over 85 percent of the hotels lack guidelines for effective management of online reviews posted by guests (Nguyen & Coudounaris 2015). The article provides information about another research conducted in the recent times, which confirms the validity of the survey. The authors cite the statement provided by the founder of Review Pro, who asserts that hotels fail to make adequate investments on the management of online reputation (Nguyen & Coudounaris 2015). This in turn suggests that the feedback obtained from social networks seriously impacts every department in the hotel industry. Therefore, the authors suggest the necessity for investments in online reputation as this issue requires research contributions. Furthermore, the article gives an account of various previous studies, which have played a significant role in providing evidence about the massive impact of online reviews with regards to hotel bookings by enhancing motivation and awareness among customers (Nguyen & Coudounaris 2015). The article also casts light on the actions taken by hotels to control the effect of online reviews for the development of hotel business in the social media era and user-generated content. The research also provides information about various important issues related to online guest review management.
2. The article titled “The business value of online consumer reviews and management response to hotel performance” analyses the business case for the evaluation of online reputation and its increased scrutiny over the recent past. The authors investigate the role of consumer reviews in generating business value and the contribution of management responses to the overall performance of hotels (Xie et al. 2014). In this article, the researchers showcase data analysis related to consumer responses and online consumer reviews corresponding to 843 hotels available on a reputed hotel review website. The end results determine that the overall rating of hotels and the assigned ratings of value, cleanliness, variation, location and number of consumer reviews have a potential connection to hotel performance (Xie et al. 2014). Furthermore, the number of management responses also plays a significant role in the influencing hotel performance. Additionally, variation and the number of consumer reviews cast a moderate impact on the relationship between hotel performance and overall rating. The research mentions about the implications of using management responses and consumer reviews for leveraging the hotel business (Xie et al. 2014).
References
Baka, V., 2016. The becoming of user-generated reviews: Looking at the past to understand the future of managing reputation in the travel sector. Tourism Management, 53, pp.148-162.
Kim, W.G., Lim, H. and Brymer, R.A., 2015. The effectiveness of managing social media on hotel performance. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 44, pp.165-171.
Nguyen, K.A. and Coudounaris, D.N., 2015. The mechanism of online review management: A qualitative study. Tourism Management Perspectives, 16, pp.163-175.
Xie, K.L., Zhang, Z. and Zhang, Z., 2014. The business value of online consumer reviews and management response to hotel performance. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 43, pp.1-12.
