Feeling Luxe: A Topic Modeling × Emotion Detection Analysis of Luxury Hotel Experiences

As the luxury market and associated experiential consumption continues to rise, the hospitality management literature lags somewhat behind practice in examining luxury experiences. This research presents an exploratory analysis of luxury hotel experiences via the approach of topic modeling and emotion detection in online luxury hotel reviews. Results demonstrate that “people” and “product—activity & wellness” aspects of luxury hotel experiences tend to be positively associated with online review ratings. The “product—food & beverage” and “physical evidence and place” aspects may produce mixed effects on rating levels. Finally, the “process” and “price and promotion” aspects tend to be negatively associated with online review ratings. Findings further reveal that such effects function via the mediation paths of various categories of discrete emotions. These results offer enriching insight for hospitality management research and practice regarding luxury hotel experiences.