Managing the Smiley Face Scale Used by Booking.com in an Ordinal Way

  1. Raquel González del Pozo 1
  2. José Luis García-Lapresta 1
  1. 1 Universidad de Valladolid
    info

    Universidad de Valladolid

    Valladolid, España

    ROR https://ror.org/01fvbaw18

Journal:
Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research

ISSN: 0718-1876

Year of publication: 2021

Volume: 16

Issue: 2

Pages: 128-139

Type: Article

DOI: 10.4067/S0718-18762021000200109 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openOpen access editor

More publications in: Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research

Abstract

User reviews are a new source of information in the hospitality and tourism sector. Usually, these reviews contain comments of users and assessments expressed through ordered qualitative scales. The website Booking.com uses a smiley face scale to ask users the degree of satisfaction regarding several aspects of accommodations. The scoring system of the website assigns numerical values to each item of the smiley face scale. However, when users perceive different proximities between pairs of items of an ordered qualitative scale, these numerical codifications are because they may misrepresent the original ordinal information. In this paper, we analyze the drawbacks and limitations of the scoring system of Booking.com and we manage its smiley face scale through a purely ordinal procedure. This procedure avoids assigning numerical codifications to items of scales and it takes into account how users perceive the proximities between pairs of items. The findings show the importance of considering how users understand qualitative scales when they face subjective assessments through ordered qualitative scales.