The becoming of user-generated reviews: Looking at the past to understand the future of managing reputation in the travel sector

• UGC in travel places reputation management on the front line of everyday practices.
• We propose a conceptual model to manage online reputation in the era of UGC.
• Changes in rankings have had an impact on booking rates.
• Managers must develop a thorough understanding of the nuances of reputation ratings.
• In the era of UGC the offline and online worlds are entangled and inseparable.

The emergence of User-Generated-Content (UGC) is challenging the equilibrium of reputation management practices prompting widespread change and organizational restructuring. Formal accreditation schemes mingle with less formal mechanisms which place users in the middle making them draw their own conclusions about products and services. This paper explores how UGC reviews and ratings have intensified the contingency of organizational reputation in the travel sector. The findings are based upon a corpus of data including: a field study at the offices of the largest travel user-generated website, TripAdvisor, and a netnographic approach. In particular we discuss the shift from Word-Of-Mouth to eWOM, the consequences for the sector and provide a balanced view of the role of reviews, ratings and lists. We are concluding with a conceptual model for managing online reputation in the era of UGC, while acknowledging the current process of transformation in reputation management.