The effectiveness of online reviews for consumers’ booking and/or purchase intention has been addressed by many studies (e.g., Sparks and Browning, 2011 Xie et al., 2014). Moreover, as more and more consumers search online for information to evaluate the choice alternatives, they often have access to hundreds or thousands of reviews from peer consumers before the purchase/booking (Mudambi and Schuff, 2010). However, there is no study empirically test the determinants of booking timing in the context of the real online environment by using real purchase/booking data. Further, the experiential and dynamic nature of travel- and hospitality-related products and services is another important factor that leads to customers’ hesitation (Schwartz, 2006 Chen and Schwartz, 2008a).Ī few studies have addressed the importance of the timing of reservations for service providers (Chen and Schwartz, 2006 Chen and Schwartz, 2008a, 2008b, 2013 Schwartz, 2008) and have applied analytical models or survey data to examine the factors that may affect consumers’ booking propensity or timing, including demand information (Chen and Schwartz, 2006), the likelihood of being offered a good deal, the sellout risk or availability (Chen and Schwartz, 2008b Chen et al., 2011), consumers’ price expectations and the price patterns observed (Chen and Schwartz, 2008a). Consumers often hesitate to make a final decision when they are unable to collect relatively complete information about the target products or services (Liang et al., 2017a Zhu and Zhang, 2010). The major reason for customers’ hesitation in making purchase decisions lies in their uncertainty about whether or not their current choice is correct, as they can obtain only insufficient or asymmetric information (Cheung et al., 2014 Money and Crotts, 2003). This difficulty is evident by a Google search of keywords such as “booking early or late”, as many related questions have been asked by consumers in online communities and Q&A websites. Consumers are often beset by deciding a rational booking time, which is a complicated problem for many consumers. Timing is also important for potential customers who plan to make reservations, and it is of even greater importance when making decisions in uncertain environments (Chen and Schwartz, 2008b). In contrast, lacking a reservation system or employing last-minute booking may create difficulties in restaurant operations, sales forecasting, and simultaneous management of booked customers and walk-in diners, particularly in popular restaurants. By facilitating more accurate cover projections, online reservations allow restaurants more time to better plan for food purchases, production, and staff scheduling. In the context of the hospitality industry, online reservations provide useful information for restaurants in terms of cover prediction and cover turnover management. Accordingly, advance reservations can significantly influence service providers’ revenue management (e.g., Chen and Schwartz, 2008a Schwartz, 2006). The importance of timing is due partly to the perishable nature of service-oriented products, i.e., unsold items cannot be consumed beyond a given time. Timing is one of the most important factors considered by service providers (Chen and Schwartz, 2013).
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