THE IMPACT OF ONLINE HOTEL REVIEWS: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF REVIEW CHARACTERISTICS AND PERCEIVED USEFULNESS

This study examines the determinants of the perceived usefulness of online hotel reviews, offering theoretical contributions and managerial implications for the hospitality industry. This study uses a mixed-method approach that includes bibliometric analysis, content analysis, and an empirical survey to look into how review content attributes and reviewer attributes affect how useful people think online reviews are. We collected data through a structured questionnaire survey and analyzed it using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SPSS 26.0 and SmartPLS 4.0. The results show that both the content of the review and the reviewer's characteristics have a big positive impact on how useful people think it is, with perceived value acting as a sort of middleman. These results highlight the critical role of online reviews in reducing information asymmetry, enhancing consumer trust, and shaping purchase intentions. This study provides strategic insights for hotel managers to optimize online review management, improve consumer engagement, and strengthen brand equity. Moving forward, more research should use experimental and longitudinal methods, as well as AI and big data analytics, to learn more about the complex cognitive and behavioral processes that make online reviews work.