Tastes, feelings and emotions: how affective components shape dining intentions of tourists and locals

Purpose This study aims to examine differences in the perception of affective components in restaurant experiences between tourists and residents, identifying key factors influencing satisfaction in both groups. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on text mining analysis of 286,642 consumer reviews from TripAdvisor, using structural topic modeling (STM) to extract topics and assess the impact of metadata variables (rating and resident status) using effect estimation models. Findings The results reveal differences in how tourists and residents perceive restaurant experiences. Residents prioritize social interactions (celebrations, family and friendly atmosphere, music and parties), and their dissatisfaction is mainly related to service quality and wait times. Tourists value panoramic views, location, drinks and overall service. They are susceptible to pricing and the quality of side dishes. Breakfast, business lunches and international cuisine did not significantly affect satisfaction levels or visitor status, indicating that these factors are perceived as standard elements of restaurant service. Originality/value The study contributes to the understanding of consumer behavior in the hospitality industry by adopting a novel methodology that combines STM with metadata-driven effect estimation. The comparative analysis of tourists and residents reveals new insights into their expectations and decision-making processes. It provides managerial implications for restaurant service optimization while not studying the two groups differently, but comparing their experience to find different and similar patterns.