Exploring Four-Star vs Two-Star Hotel Guests’ Online Reviews: An Attitude Analysis in Appraisal Framework

. This research analyzes the reviews written by guests staying at four-star and two-star hotels in Semarang. It is aimed at examining whether there are similarities or differences in how guests expressed their attitude towards their experiences after staying at the hotels. The research employed the Appraisal framework proposed by Martin and White [1], focusing on the Attitude system consisting of Affect, Judgment, and Appreciation. The data were obtained from guest’s reviews downloaded from Traveloka website. The data were taken then analyzed qualitatively by describing the guests’ attitudes towards the hotel services. The results reveal that the guests demonstrate judgment, appreciation, and affect in their reviews. Both hotels also received positive and negative reactions from the guests. Hotel guests are mostly satisfied with the low price and facilities/services given by the two-star hotel. On the contrary, the guests have high expectations since they spend more money in the four-star hotel. In addition, based on the average rating (with 10 being the highest), the two-star hotel had a slightly higher score than the four-star hotel. This research indicates that hospitality industries can take the advantage be a useful as a tool to generate valuable inputs for the improvement of hotel and tourism industries.