A Comparative Study of Customer Perceptions of Urban and Rural Bed and Breakfasts in Beijing: An Analysis of Online Reviews

Xin Zhang, Jiaming Liu, He Zhu, Zongcai Huang, Shuying Zhang and Ping Li
Additional contact information
Xin Zhang: Key Laboratory of Regional Sustainable Development Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Jiaming Liu: Key Laboratory of Regional Sustainable Development Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
He Zhu: Key Laboratory of Regional Sustainable Development Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Zongcai Huang: State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environment Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Shuying Zhang: State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environment Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Ping Li: College of Recreation and Tourism, Beijing Sport University, Beijing 100084, China

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 20, 1-15

Abstract: The differences between urban and rural B&Bs should be emphasized, which is critical for the sustainable development of the B&B industry. This study identified and compared the topics that customers were concerned about for urban and rural B&Bs in Beijing by analyzing 13,241 online reviews obtained from the website Ctrip. The results showed that customers focused on 10 common topics: “room”, “location”, “host”, “experience”, “surroundings”, “facilities”, “service”, “design/style”, “value”, and “entertainment”. However, the importance of each topic varied between urban and rural B&Bs. Customers paid more attention to the room. Urban B&B customers were more concerned about location. The convenience of urban B&Bs was more prominent than that of rural B&Bs, especially in terms of public transportation and commercial services. While rural B&B customers were more concerned about experience, service, design/style, and entertainment. In addition, the “host” is the most crucial and influential factor in the development of B&Bs. This study made contributions to customer perceptions of B&Bs from a comparative perspective and enriched the understanding of the characteristics of urban and rural B&Bs. In the part of practice, this study might provide enlightenment for B&B operators and local governments to take measures for B&Bs sustainable development.

Keywords: comparative study; customer perceptions; bed and breakfasts; online reviews; Beijing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/20/11303/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/20/11303/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:20:p:11303-:d:655246

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().