Does online rating affect firms’ performance in hotel industry? Case study from hotel groups in China

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether online rating affects the firm performance of hotel companies in China. For the purpose of this research, the data consists of online customer rating data and financial data from 2013 to 2017. This study is a case study and five representative hotel groups were selected to do the research. The regression models were built up to test the relationships. Using various common financial ratios to measure firm performance and a large online rating sample from the five hotel groups in China, the research finds that online rating is not related to the financial performance of the hotel industry in China. These results support part of findings from previous literature and add some findings from the relationship between online ratings and hotel groups in China in this kind of research.