Analyzing online reviews using unstructured text: a dynamic assessment of rural homestay customerexperience utility

Purpose This study aims to capture the dynamic characteristics of customer experience in rural homestays through online reviews and to assess how customer experience dimensions evolve over time. The goal is to promote the sustainable development of rural homestays and to offer innovative approaches for research in this domain. Design/methodology/approach A dynamic assessment framework was developed using online review data sourced from Ctrip.com. The framework integrates natural language processing, machine learning and time series analysis to identify long-term trends and temporal fluctuations. Findings Rural-specific personalized service, rural living comfort, scenic-area-oriented convenience, rural experience value perception and local culinary experience are key dimensions influencing customer experiences in rural homestays. The consequences of these dimensions for customer experiences exhibit dynamic characteristics that potentially fluctuate over time and demonstrate varying practical effects on the utility of customer experiences. Originality/value By incorporating experience economy theory and dynamic capability theory, this study establishes a theoretical framework for examining rural homestay experiences. It mines real customer experience dimensions from unstructured texts (e.g. online reviews) and applies time series analysis to track evolving patterns. This enriches theoretical research on the experience economy and broadens the application of dynamic capability theory in tourism contexts.