What does this research mean for the field?

Star ratings remain the strongest pricing anchor for hotels, while platform signals like guest evaluations and location quality provide additional premiums that vary significantly across different city destinations. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.CONFIRMATORY. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.SUPPORTS_CONSENSUS.

What question did this study set out to answer?

To examine how formal quality certifications and online platform reputation signals jointly influence hotel pricing across diverse global destinations.

September 10, 2026Cornell Hospitality Quarterly

Stars or Reviews? How Certified and Platform Signals Jointly Shape Hotel Prices Across Destinations

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Authors

JMJuan Pedro MellinasUniversidad de Murcia IRIsabel P. RiquelmeUniversidad de Murcia

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Implication

Cross-sectional econometric analysis reveals star ratings and guest evaluations drive hotel room rates across 71 cities, indicating certified quality anchors pricing more than platform metrics.

Key Points

To examine how formal quality certifications and online platform reputation signals jointly influence hotel pricing across diverse global destinations.
Analyzed cross-sectional pricing and feature data from 19,290 hotels (from an initial sample of 20,722) located across 71 city destinations in 39 countries.
Estimated semi-log hedonic price models with city fixed effects alongside multilevel regression models to evaluate city-specific premium variations.
Official star ratings serve as the primary, non-linear pricing anchor within destinations, while perceived location quality and overall guest evaluation scores add meaningful positive price premiums.
Chain affiliation and sustainability certifications show modest positive associations with room rates, whereas review volume exhibits a negative relationship after controlling for quality tier and reputation.
Multilevel models reveal marked heterogeneity across cities in the price premium tied to location, demonstrating that uniform global pricing frameworks are inadequate.

Cite This Study

Mellinas et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6aa27a9f58559d80afc735eb https://doi.org/10.1177/19389655261478904

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Implication

Cross-sectional econometric analysis reveals star ratings and guest evaluations drive hotel room rates across 71 cities, indicating certified quality anchors pricing more than platform metrics.

Stars or Reviews? How Certified and Platform Signals Jointly Shape Hotel Prices Across Destinations

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

Stars or Reviews? How Certified and Platform Signals Jointly Shape Hotel Prices Across Destinations

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

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