Discursive interaction and forms of address in hotels’ responses to traveller’s opinions

Abstract

This article analyses different self-address and reader forms of address employed by the people in charge of tourist accommodation establishments when answering the opinions or reviews made by their clients in the TripAdvisor search engine (tripadvisor.es). First, I attempt to determine how the singularity of this cybergenre of tourism 2.0, opinion-answer, with its functional tenor and its discursive roles, affects the selection of the above mentioned forms, categorized as pragmalinguistic strategies that enhance the distance or closeness between the interactants. Secondly, an attempt is made to prove whether the hotel category along with its location in Spain or in Argentina also bear an influence on the enactment of these address forms. It is concluded that the discursive genre type and the hotel category turn into significant elements that condition the employment of these address forms.