Understanding Consumers’ Inferences from Price and Nonprice Information in the Online Lodging Purchase Decision

Breffni M. Noone () and Stephani K. A. Robson ()
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Breffni M. Noone: Pennsylvania State University, University Park, State College, Pennsylvania 16802
Stephani K. A. Robson: Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, Ithaca, New York 14853

Service Science, 2016, vol. 8, issue 2, 108-123

Abstract: The sustained success of variable pricing for revenue management (RM) is dependent on the creation of appropriate price points at which to sell a given product offering. To date, few studies have considered the impact of nonprice information on consumer reaction to price, and none have investigated the relative weights that consumers assign to price and the nonprice information available to them during different phases of the purchase choice process. This exploratory study uses a combination of eye tracking and retrospective think-aloud (RTA) interviews to examine how consumers consider the price and nonprice content generated by the firm and the nonprice information generated by other consumers during two distinct phases of the online choice process: browsing and deliberation. This study’s findings suggest that during browsing, firm-generated content appears to be very influential, particularly the image selected to represent the property in search results. Both firm-generated and user-generated content play a role in hotel choice during deliberation, with the interplay among several types of information being an important indication of value for consumers.

Keywords: revenue management; consumer choice process; eye tracking; price; hotel image; brand name; consumer reviews and ratings (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:orserv:v:8:y:2016:i:2:p:108-123

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