Effects of hotel website photographs and length of textual descriptions on viewers' emotions and behavioral intentions

Reviewing multiple hotel websites reveals no consistency in the amount of information they provide. This study investigates the effects of the number of website photographs and length of photograph descriptions on hotel customers' emotions (enjoyment and stress) and behavioral intentions, as well as the moderating effects of visual and textual information processing styles. Analyzing the responses of 572 persons, using structured equation modeling, the number of pictures increases enjoyment, especially with short descriptions, and long textual information causes stress. Enjoyment significantly increases booking intentions, but stress has no significant influence. Visual processors' enjoyment significantly increases with the number of pictures, while their stress increases with lengthy descriptions. The findings offer important theoretical and practical implications by highlighting the influence of website photos, their descriptions, and information processing styles on hotel customers' emotions and behaviors. Hotel practitioners should consider the study findings to better design their websites to improve booking intentions.