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In this empirical study, we investigate whether English-, Dutch- and Italian-written negative hotel reviews on TripAdvisor show similar or divergent characteristics. The main goal is to find out whether users writing in different languages constitute differentiated speech communities with different discursive norms or rather share the same norms and discourse habits. To answer this question, we examined 100 reviews for each language and analysed three features, namely the types of speech acts that they use, the specific topics that they evaluate and the extent to which they up-scale or down-scale their evaluative statements. The main conclusion of the cross-linguistic analysis is that there is a general trend towards similarity between the three language user groups under examination. We found analogous (although not identical) patterns for the three features. Within this overall trend towards similarity, specific divergences can be detected, for example regarding the status of positive comments in English-written reviews, or the status of the ‘interpersonal’ topic in Italian-written reviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Responses from business embody a new and productive CMC genre, also known as 'webcare'. In this contribution we investigated responses written by hotels to negative reviews posted on TripAdvisor. More specifically, we analyzed a total number of 300 responses written in three languages, namely English, Dutch and Italian, focusing on a cross-linguistic perspective. Discourse characteristics of these emergent CMC texts have been examined. First, we carried out an analysis of the rhetorical moves structuring the responses in the three languages under examination. Second, we analyzed the responses from a qualitative point of view, using the conceptual framework of Rapport-Management Theory (RMT, Spencer-Oatey, 2008). Results brought to light a substantial similarity between English and Dutch responses in terms of communicative strategies, while consistent divergences have been found in the Italian subset. In particular, dismissing the tourists' complaints, through moves as denying the service failure, shifting responsibility to others and providing justifications, seem to be linguistic strategies adopted mostly by Italian response writers when compared to the other subsets. These findings suggest how Italian response writers are less concerned with the restoration of customers' satisfaction and their 'sociality rights' (Spencer-Oatey 2008), preferring a more confrontational and defensive style when addressing a service failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]