Role of user-generated photos in online hotel reviews: An analytical approach [Summary]

The research shows photo-embedded online hotel reviews contain informational values just like the textual contents. Especially, it turned out from the study that guests who stayed at the two-star hotels put more core product- related pictures, while guests who stayed at the three-star hotels posted more facility-related photos and guests who stayed at the four and five-star uploaded more value-added products related pictures. This implies that hotel managers should acknowledge the importance of online reviews with photos to figure out their hotels’ strengths and weaknesses through the contents of reviews. Moreover, they should focus on user-generated reviews to learn which factors make guests contented or dissatisfied to respond to their needs effectively.