Online platforms have witnessed significant growth in contemporary times. With ever expanding internet facilities and technology, social media and related online platforms play a great role in influencing the choice and decision of consumers. This necessarily indicates the importance of online reviews and ratings in attracting consumers to hotels and restaurants. The quantitative and qualitative approach in the study aims to investigate how these online reviews shape the consumer’s decision-making process and aid them in recognizing the quality and value of the hotel or restaurant. Negative response in reviews and poor ratings have immense capacity to alter consumer’s choice and can even act detrimental to the success of the hospitality industry. This suggests that with active monitoring, effective regulating and participation in the online feedback system the hospitality industry can generate a positive image that eventually will attract huge number of consumers. The study intends to explore various ways of organizing proper network of feedback in hospitality industry by analyzing the role played by online reviews and ratings as well as also look at factors in the online platform which affect the business negative, such that alternate effective measures can be taken to tackle the same.

Online reviews, Ratings, Hospitality, Consumer, Role