
become the world’s most popular online travel website, and it had over 661 million user reviews
and opinions as of 2018, covering approximately 7.7 million hotels, inns, B&Bs, restaurants,
travel destinations, attractions, etc. (TripAdvisor Reports, 2018).
It has become obvious that a significant number of people utilize various online travel
review websites for their decision-making. According to the data gathered by TripAdvisor
(2017), 62% of all worldwide users started their decision process and subsequently booked travel
online in 2016. Furthermore, approximately 8 in 10 users (82%) agreed that the reviews
published on TripAdvisor helped them to plan better trips. Globally, 96% of global TripAdvisor
users considered reading reviews important when planning and booking hotels. Therefore, it is
imperative for major travel destinations such as theme parks and hotels to thoroughly analyze
and understand the reasons why people leave negative reviews and improve based on those
results (TripAdvisor Network, 2017).
There is a numerous number of direct or indirect factors that affected people to leave
negative reviews online for theme parks they visited. For example, according to the research
conducted by Geissler and Rucks (2011), 18 major attributes were developed: Landscaping, park
cleanliness, restroom cleanliness, signs/directions, employee courtesy, variety of attractions
available, restaurant variety, educational experience, fun experience, atmosphere of park, quality
of food, food price/value, gift quality, ride/show wait-lines, admission price value, satisfaction
with total cost, restaurant cleanliness, and taste of meals. Respondents rated these attributes
based on their overall experiences at theme parks.
To sum up, analyzing negative reviews on online travel review websites such as
TripAdvisor is essential for theme parks and other hospitality business providers in general, to
attract more guests by understanding previous guests’ needs as well as enhancing the overall