What is Digital Valuation Made of? The integration of valuation poles on a reservation platform and its effects on the hotel industry in Switzerland

Philip Balsiger; Thomas Jammet

doi:10.3384/VS.2001-5992.2022.9.1.47-77

Authors

Philip Balsiger University of Neuchâtel
Thomas Jammet School of Social Work Fribourg, Switzerland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3384/VS.2001-5992.2022.9.1.47-77

Keywords:

algorithms, Booking.com, digital platform, markets, online consumer reviews, ranking

Abstract

Digital platforms act as new powerful intermediaries challenging existing market orders in many sectors. Algorithmically producing ratings and rankings often built from online consumer reviews, platforms are important players in the digitizing of valuation. This article asks how these new platform-generated valuations relate to other forms of valuation. It presents a qualitative case study of valuation in the hotel sector in Switzerland, drawing on interviews with professionals and a description of valuation categories on the Booking.com website. Going beyond the description of the opposition between online consumer reviews and traditional judgment devices, the analysis shows that valuation on the platform is based upon a permissive hierarchical integration of a plurality of valuation poles, with algorithmic valuation at its center. This destabilizes the evaluative landscape with regard to three issues: lack of transparency of the algorithmic ranking; weakening and even undermining of formulaic valuation; and the issue of singularization of the online offer.

Author Biographies

Philip Balsiger, University of Neuchâtel

Philip Balsiger is assistant professor of economic sociology at the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. He is interested in markets, market change and valuation, in particular by studying the consequences of processes of contention and digitalization on markets. His work has been published in outlets such as Socio-Economic Review, Journal of Consumer Culture, and European Journal of Sociology. He is the co-editor of The Contested Moralities of Markets (Emerald Publishing, 2019)

Thomas Jammet, School of Social Work Fribourg, Switzerland

Thomas Jammet is Scientific Assistant at the School of Social Work Fribourg (HES-SO) and Research Associate at University of Neuchâtel. His work focuses on the digital communication strategies of organizations and on the transformation of professional activities through digitalization. He has published several articles in French-language peer-reviewed social science journals and contributed to two projects funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation.

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