The Influence of Hotel Price on Perceived Service Quality and Value in e-tourism

The Relationships Between Price and  

Perception of Both Quality and Value

Most studies confirm the existence of a relationship between price and post-

purchase perceptions of quality as well as value in an offline environment, from 

different perspectives. Oh (2003) indicates that asymmetric effects between 

positive (gain) and negative (loss) price deviations can be found in buyers’ judg-

ments of quality and value, although this is not the case for overall price percep-

tions. Cui, Yang, and Hou (2009) establish a new pricing model, implying that 

optimal price is positively related to perceived quality. Korda and Snoj (2007) 

identify a significant relationship between price and perceptions of value in the 

mobile phone industry.

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26    JOURNAL OF HOSPITALITY & TOURISM RESEARCH

Looking at the online context, most studies focus on e-commerce. For instance, 

Garcia-Acebron, Vazquez-Casielles, and Iglesias (2010) were the first ones to inves-

tigate the relationship among perceived value, satisfaction, and price tolerance in a 

business-to-business framework. Lu and Feng (2009) confirm that price has a mod-

erate effect on the relationship between word of mouth value and sales. Li and Hitt 

(2010) quantify the price effects in consumer reviews for different formats of review 

systems using actual market prices and online consumer rating data. However, most 

studies use surveys to investigate these relationships; few have drawn on genuine 

online reviews posted by customers.

In the field of tourism and hospitality, the abundance of online reviews pro-

vides a new research forum for investigating the relationship between price and 

perceived quality and value, which has previously tended to be studied offline 

or in other fields. Accordingly, the purpose of this article is to present a concep-

tual framework and empirical evidence to enable a better understanding of the 

impact of price on perceived quality and value in the online context of tourism 

and hospitality.