Driving Factors of Online Reviews and Facilitation Methods of Tourists` eWOM in the International Hotel Business

This paper discusses the phenomenon of electronic “word of mouth” in the form of online reviews in the international hotel business. The actuality of the research is supported by the growing trust in user-generated content. The aim of the work is to determine the factors influencing the publication of online reviews by Russian consumers. In this study, both qualitative and quantitative methods are used. A desk study was conducted by analysing the presented international literature on the eWOM topic to identify factors that may influence the level of engagement in the electronic “word of mouth” in the form of writing online reviews. Quantitative research methods included a survey of consumers to identify and confirm the alleged factors, as well as assess the degree of their influence on the frequency of online reviews publication. Data was analysed in SPSS. The study revealed 9 factors that affect the frequency of publication of hotel reviews. People tend to write reviews more often because of: the desire to help others and the performance of the core hotel attributes. 3 significant reasons for refusing to publish reviews, which were identified are the inconvenience of the platform, lack of interest and being no reason about writing about the hotel which was liked. It was also revealed that some demographic and cultural characteristics, as well as travelling patterns, affect the reviews publications. The paper gives recommendations on working with the most important factors to achieve higher engagement of Russian hotel guests in publishing online hotel reviews.