The effect of pandemic and website information on consumers’ perceived satisfaction in the hotel industry: An exploratory study focusing on e-marketplace consumers in South Korea

Abstract

The emergence of the e-marketplace and the Pandemic have had both large and small effects, especially on the tourism and hotel sector. Although several studies have analyzed consumer satisfaction, the impact of the Pandemic on consumers' satisfaction in the e-marketplace environment has received much less attention. Therefore, this study aims to investigate consumers' perceived satisfaction with their accommodation during the COVID-19 outbreak by analyzing website information provided by consumers and hotels. This study examines star rating as a moderating effect on consumers' perceived satisfaction and the impact of the Pandemic. This study collected data from the Coupang travel platform, one of Korea's largest e-marketplaces, and 1,018 responses were used. Based on the OLS regression approach, the results state that consumers' perceived satisfaction differs before and during COVID-19. In addition, there is a moderating effect of star rating, and perceived satisfaction tends to decrease as the star rating increase. Furthermore, the volume of reviews and hashtags that consumers and hotels provide positively affect perceived satisfaction. This study provides new insights into the e-marketplace approach, considering website information in the tourism literature from an e-business perspective.