The electronic word-of-mouth on digital platforms: The case of Torre de Palma Wine Hotel

Abstract

The intention of this research is to understand the importance and influence that the management of the rural hotel attributes to the reviews generated by users of digital platforms. The touristic destinations face different challenges, especially the electronic word-of-mouth, that allows reviewing services through digital platforms in a permanent and fast way. The tourists search information on websites with consumer generated content (Ferst, Anjos, Coutinho, & Flores, 2020; Gondim & Araújo, 2020). This way of recommendation tends to influence touristic managers’ decisions. This case study is instrumental, descriptive, analytical, longitudinal and exploratory. 3066 units of register were born out of the analysis of 703 texts, using resourceful techniques to interpret the content of the platforms Booking and TripAdvisor, between the years of 2014 and 2019. The influence of these comments on the strategies implemented was achieved by interviewing the management. The results point towards an increase of positive comments from year to year. The categories that register the most positive comments are: environment and atmosphere, decoration and architecture, satisfaction and loyalty, services of wine tourism, and staff. The comments generated by the users are considered relevant according to the management. The regular attention to these platforms allows them to detect positive and negative references in order to transform the services into what the customers are looking for. The study’s main contributions are the enlarge vision of the comments, the knowledge of the guests preferences and the fast and reasoned intervention by the management.