What is Customer Reviews

The understanding of the differences between/among types of restaurants is important with the effective management of the involved businesses. Nonetheless, a meaningful definition and differentiation of each and every type of restaurant is largely missing. Therefore, this study aims to differentiate and define the existing categories of restaurants in a tourism and travel setting. In order to obtain this objective, this study opts to collect and analyze customer reviews to reveal the external attributes that they prioritize. From there, comparisons are made to see whether different types of restaurants are attributed to different characteristics or not. After that, definition of each type of restaurant is proposed. Using reviews about restaurants in Tokyo posted on tripadvisor.com, this study confirmed that the categorization of restaurants according to price and value is a valid and reliable practice. Definitions of restaurant types were then conceptualized. Practical and theoretical implications of this study were also discussed.