How Does the Dining Experience Vary by Social Context? A Sentiment Analysis of Online Reviews of Michelin-Recognized Restaurants in Cappadocia by Traveler Type

Abstract

This study investigates how the social composition of dining groups shapes customers' evaluations of restaurant experiences across four key dimensions—food, service, atmosphere, and perceived value—in Cappadocia, a region included in the Michelin Guide for the first time in 2025. Using sentence-level VADER sentiment analysis, 3,499 TripAdvisor reviews from 15 Michelin-listed restaurants were analyzed across three customer segments: couples, families, and groups of friends. The analysis examined mention frequencies across customer segments and calculated sentiment scores and distributions for each experience dimension. The findings revealed that the food dimension was the most frequently discussed across all segments, whereas perceived value emerged as the least frequently mentioned dimension. This suggests that the experiential quality of restaurant experiences is primarily shaped by food, with atmosphere and service playing comparatively limited roles. In the atmosphere dimension, couples recorded the lowest average sentiment score and the highest proportion of neutral comments (10.5%). The perceived value dimension exhibited substantially higher proportions of negative comments than the other experience dimensions across all customer segments, indicating that perceived value is a common source of dissatisfaction regardless of the customer segment. While the family segment consistently achieved the highest sentiment scores in the food, service, and perceived value dimensions, the friends segment recorded the lowest scores across these three dimensions.

Keywords

• Dining Experience
• Customer Experience
• Social Context
• Sentiment Analysis
• Online Reviews

Ethical Statement

This study does not require ethics committee approval.

Yemek Deneyimi Sosyal Bağlama Göre Nasıl Şekillenir? Kapadokya'daki Michelin Restoranlarının Online Yorumlarının Müşteri Tiplerine Göre Duygu Analizi

Abstract

Bu çalışma, 2025 yılında ilk kez Michelin Rehberi’ne dahil edilen bir bölge olan Kapadokya kapsamında, yemek grubunun sosyal bileşiminin müşterilerin restoran deneyimine ilişkin değerlendirmelerini dört temel boyut (yemek, hizmet, atmosfer ve algılanan değer) üzerinden nasıl şekillendirdiğini incelemektedir. Cümle düzeyinde VADER duygu analizi kullanılarak, Michelin tarafından listelenen 15 restorana ait toplam 3.499 TripAdvisor yorumu; çiftler, aileler ve arkadaş grupları olmak üzere üç müşteri segmenti kapsamında analiz edilmiştir. Analizde, deneyim boyutlarının müşteri segmentleri arasındaki değinilme sıklıkları ile her deneyim boyutuna ilişkin duygu puanları ve duygu dağılımları incelenmiştir. Bulgular, yiyecek boyutunun tüm segmentlerde en sık tartışılan boyut olduğunu, algılanan değerin ise en az değinilen boyut olarak öne çıktığını göstermektedir. Bu durum, restoran deneyiminin deneyimsel kalitesinin öncelikle yiyecek, daha sınırlı ölçüde ise atmosfer ve hizmet tarafından şekillendiğini göstermektedir. Atmosfer boyutunda çiftler, en düşük ortalama duygu puanı ile birlikte en yüksek nötr yorum oranını (%10,5) kaydetmektedir. Algılanan değer boyutu tüm segmentlerde diğer deneyim boyutlarına kıyasla belirgin biçimde daha yüksek olumsuz yorum oranları sergilemekte olup bu durum, algılanan değerin müşteri segmentinden bağımsız olarak genel bir memnuniyetsizlik kaynağı oluşturduğuna işaret etmektedir. Aile segmenti yemek, hizmet ve değer boyutlarında sürekli olarak en yüksek duygu puanlarını kaydederken, arkadaşlar segmenti aynı üç boyutta en düşük puanları göstermektedir.

Keywords

• Restoran Deneyimi
• Müşteri Deneyimi
• Sosyal Bağlam
• Duygu Analizi
• Çevrimiçi Yorum

Ethical Statement

Bu çalışma, etik kurul belgesi gerektiren bir çalışma değildir

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