The role of consumer travel reviews in comparison shopping

Expectations Dan Gilbert gave a great talk @ TED a few years ago where he discusses the ways consumers make mistakes in estimating the value of purchases. In it he describes an experiment where test subjects were asked to evaluate how much they will enjoy the future experience of snacking on potato chips while either in the presence of gourmet chocolates, or canned ham. As expected, those looking at chocolates thought they would enjoy the potato chips a lot less than those looking at the Spam. The eventual result is that potato chips are yummy, and we all enjoy eating them about the same no matter how badly we over or under estimated our potential enjoyment of them.

Vacation is better than potato chips

I’m into backpacking. A backpacking trip is a little micro economy where mass is currency and comfort is expendable. I’m not a weight freak, or an ultralight hiker, but I do try to keep my gear down to about 35 lbs. When traveling by foot for 4+ days, your priority is food, shelter and security. Therm-A-Rest makes a compact travel chair that lets you turn your sleeping pad into an upright chair. It retails for around $29.95 and weighs a whopping 10.5z (297g). Most backpackers don’t flinch at the dollars, but that’s more than half a pound extra weight to carry around. Standing there in REI with a latte in hand and copy of Lonely Planet it was hard for me to imagine spending half a pound on comfort when I could just sit on a rock. Turns out that after hiking over 12,000 foot passes for 8 hours, with an aching back, empty stomach and sore feet, 10.5 oz seems like a slim price to pay for what turns out to be luxurious comfort. I vastly underestimated my future enjoyment of that Therm-A-Rest chair, but, thankfully, something made me buy it and pack it anyway. Two things were going on here that weren’t happening in Gilbert’s potato chip experiment: 1) It was the beginning of backpacking season and the discomfort of a long hike was at least 8 months behind me and 2) the future experience was at least a week away. That situation reminds me of another common scenario where people try to evaluate the future enjoyment of an experience.

Consumer Reviews

When faced with combating consumer’s poor ability to estimate the value of a travel or vacation product, consumer reviews give them the chance to estimate their future enjoyment of that product through an external experience. Whenever I tell someone what one piece of backpacking gear is best, the Nalgene Lexan flask filled with Knob Creek is it. But the Therm-A-Rest chair is next because it’s value compared with the sacrifice is so high. This works with hotel reviews, ski resort reviews, even recreational equipment and travel. Online reviews written by our peers are the number one influencer in making travel decisions because they give us a better way to estimate the variable value of our purchases that we simply can’t get on our own. -Mike]]>