The influence of customer ratings and hotel attributes on prices in urban centres in Canada and China.

Abstract

Purpose – This study aims to examine which hotel attributes contribute to hotel room prices most significantly in Chinese market and Canadian market, and which significant differences exist in the contributions of attributes to hotel room prices between the two different markets. Design/methodology/approach – Hedonic regression model was developed for the analysis. Findings – Using data from Beijing and Shanghai for China and Toronto and Vancouver for Canada, empirical findings suggest that star rating and express checkout equally affect hotel room prices in China and Canada; Significant differences exist in the effects on room prices of independent, Ctrip online customer ratings, Expedia online customer ratings, free parking, and in-room safe between Chinese hotels and Canadian hotels. Practical implications – The findings of the current study can provide hotel managers with knowledge that can be used in strategic pricing, the decision-making of investment in new attributes for current hotels, the decision-making of what attributes to include for developing new hotels, and highlighting the attributes that are valued by the target market in marketing. Originality/value – The current study made up the gap in hotel hedonic pricing studies by making a comparative study between two different markets.