The elitist vision of Spain and Turkey: luxury tourism analysis through a network approach

This study provides a comprehensive analysis of luxury tourism through the lens of user-generated content on the digital platform Tripadvisor, highlighting the growing importance of online reviews in the hospitality industry and focusing on the cognitive, affective, and conative images as experienced by guests. The study emphasizes the significance of understanding these dynamics, particularly in the context of luxury hotels in Spain and Turkey, which present contrasting cultural and geographical landscapes that influence guest perceptions. The research delves into the cognitive image, emphasizing guests' beliefs and knowledge about hotel attributes, and identifies key factors that contribute to the overall hospitality image. The affective image analysis explores the emotional responses elicited by the hotels, while the conative image examines guests' behavioral intentions, such as recommendations and revisit intentions.

The literature review explores the critical role of cognitive, affective, and conative dimensions in shaping the hospitality image of luxury hotels. It highlights how guests' beliefs and knowledge about a hotel's attributes (cognitive image), emotional responses to their experiences (affective image), and subsequent behavioral intentions, such as recommendations or repeat visits (conative image), interact to form a comprehensive perception of luxury hospitality. Various studies are discussed, illustrating how these dimensions influence guest satisfaction and loyalty, emphasizing the importance of aligning hotel services with guest expectations. This segment underscores the necessity for luxury hotels to strategically manage these elements to enhance their competitive edge in markets like Spain and Turkey, focusing on the integration of tangible quality and emotional engagement to foster positive guest experiences and advocacy.

To assess the hospitality image projected by luxury hotels in Spain and Turkey, the methodology used in this study involves a detailed network analysis of Tripadvisor reviews. This approach involves scraping all reviews of 5-star hotels in both countries. This provides a rich dataset for analysis. After several weeks of indexing and downloading, the download has allowed to obtain reviews of 205 Spanish hotels and 412 Turkish hotels, which has allowed to develop the statistical analysis with 153,686 reviews of Spanish hotels and 262,934 reviews of Turkish hotels. The methodological framework focuses on analyzing these reviews to extract data on cognitive, affective and conative dimensions. Advanced text analysis and sentiment analysis techniques are used. 

The main findings from the analysis of Tripadvisor reviews reveal notable differences in the hospitality images of luxury hotels in Spain and Turkey. In Spain, luxury hotels are often praised for their heritage, sophisticated service and luxurious amenities, in line with traditional expectations of luxury. Conversely, Turkish luxury hotels are valued for their unique offerings that blend Eastern and Western hospitality traditions, often providing novel and culturally rich experiences that appeal to a global audience. The findings also highlight the influence of specific factors such as location, hotel style and how guests interact with hotel staff on the overall guest experience.

The study concludes that guests' cognitive, affective and conative perceptions, as reflected in their online reviews, significantly shape the hospitality image of luxury hotels in Spain and Turkey. These findings validate the proposed theoretical framework and demonstrate the interplay between guests' knowledge, emotional responses and behavioral intentions. The conclusions highlight the critical role of cultural and operational factors in shaping these perceptions and suggest that luxury hotels need to strategically manage these factors.

The theoretical implications of this research contribute to the broader discourse on destination image, particularly by applying the cognitive-affective-conative model in the context of luxury tourism. This application enriches the academic understanding of how luxury hotels can influence guest perceptions through strategic communication and service design. Practically, the study provides valuable insights for hotel managers and marketers on how to use online reviews to refine their branding and operational strategies. It provides concrete examples of how hotels can align their offerings with guest expectations and cultural preferences to promote a positive hospitality image.

The paper also identifies several avenues for future research. It suggests that further studies could broaden the scope of analysis to include a wider range of destinations, which would help to understand whether the findings from Spain and Turkey can be generalized across different cultural and geographical contexts. In addition, in order to build a more comprehensive picture of the hospitality image, it is recommended that more diverse data sources are included, such as social media feedback and direct guest surveys. The potential of integrating advanced analytical tools and techniques, such as machine learning and big data analytics, is also highlighted as a means to better understand the impact of digital transformation on the luxury tourism sector.