EVALUATION IN SINGAPORE HOTEL REVIEWS ON TRIPADVISOR

Abstract

This thesis investigates the evaluation of Singapore hotels on TripAdvisor. The aim of this thesis is to uncover the evaluative practices used by hotel reviewers so as to better characterise the sub-genre of hotel reviews and contribute to the existing literature on online consumer reviews. A parameter-based framework has been adapted from Su (2016), through which evaluations made in line with the parameters of quality, satisfactoriness, worthiness, and recommendability are examined. The quality parameter further consists of the cleanliness, service, comfort, and location sub-parameters. This thesis has found that hotel reviewers employ an array of evaluative strategies, ranging from intensification, mitigation, fact-stating, and conditionals so as to qualify their reviews. Collective use of the various evaluative strategies allows hotel reviewers to accurately evaluate their experiences. The analysis has also shown that hotel reviews are highly dialogic, with reviewers extensively using the first and second person pronouns I and you. Ultimately, hotel reviews can be seen as a genre in which reviewers actively navigate subjectivity and objectivity in order to produce holistic and trustworthy reviews.