Do Domestic and International Customers Behave Alike in Online Hotel Booking

Abstract

The aim of this research is to explore online hotel booking behaviors of domestic and international customers. We examine the impact of review rating (location rating and service rating), review volume and hotel characteristics on the proportion of online domestic bookings. Using data from London and Paris hotels, we evaluate a variety of models to explain fractional dependent variables. Our results show that price, review volume and location rating have a significant and negative impact while service and star rating have a significant and positive impact on the proportion of domestic bookings. However, the proportion of international bookings does not increase if the hotel belongs to a chain group. Moreover, domestic customers are more sensitive to changes in price and service rating whereas international customers are more responsive to changes in location rating. The results suggest that that domestic and international customers’ online hotel booking behaviors show significant differences.