Key Attributes of Michelin 3-star Restaurants’ Experiences: Evidence from TripAdvisor

Abstract

Consumers can share User Generated Content on social media sites like TripAdvisor, which\rallows customers to track their contentment and displeasure. These activities are an important\rform of electronic word-of-mouth that might affect other customers' purchasing decisions. Hence,\rutilizing User Generated Content from an online platform, this study attempts to investigate guest'\rexperiences in Michelin 3-star restaurants in the United States. Broadly speaking goal of the study\rwas to identify the key aspects of Michelin 3-star restaurant experiences and see if they differed\rdepending on the age and nationality of the travelers. Content analysis approaches were used to\rexamine a sample of 1,032 customer online reviews. After computer-assisted qualitative data\ranalysis identified the dominant themes, subsequent qualitative analysis identified the important\rnarratives connected with Michelin 3-star restaurant experiences using Leximancer software. The\rfindings show that customers are exceedingly pleased with their Michelin 3-star dining\rexperiences. \"Food,\" \"chefs,\" \"restaurant,\" \"wine,\" \"staff,\" and \"price\" are the major motives that\rrun across the dominant narratives. The findings provide valuable perspectives into guests' overall\rexperiences based on social media data and make it easier to identify the primary themes\rassociated with the guests' gender and nationality.