Dynamic recommendation algorithms for a COVID-19 restrictions scenario in the restaurant industry

Abstract

Purpose

Using the data set about the restaurants from different countries and their customer's feedback, the purpose of this paper is to address the following issues: in the restaurant industry, how have user behavior and preferences changed during the COVID-19 restrictions period, how did these changes influence the performance of recommendation algorithms and which methods can be proposed to improve the quality of restaurant recommendations in a lockdown scenario.

Design/methodology/approach

To assess changes in user behavior and preferences, quantitative and qualitative data analysis was performed to assess the changes in user behavior and preferences. The authors compared the situation before and during the COVID-19 restrictions period. To evaluate the performance of restaurant recommendation systems in a non-stationary setting, the authors tested state-of-the-art collaborative filtering algorithms. This study proposes and investigates a filtering-based approach to improve the quality of recommendation algorithms for a lockdown scenario.

Findings

This study revealed that during the COVID-19 restrictions period, the average rating values and the number of reviews have changed. The experimental study confirmed that: the performance of all state-of-the-art recommender systems for the restaurant industry has significantly degraded during the COVID-19 restrictions period; and the accuracy and the stability of restaurant recommendations in non-stationary settings may be improved using the sliding window and post-filtering methods.

Practical implications

The authors propose two novel methods: the sliding window and closed restaurants post-filtering method based on the CatBoost classification model. These methods can be applied to classical collaborative recommender algorithms and increase the value of metrics under non-stationary conditions. These methods can be helpful for developers of recommender systems and massive aggregators of restaurants and hotels. Thus, it benefits both the app end-user and business owners because users honestly rate restaurants when they receive good recommendations and do not downgrade because of external factors.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper provides the first extensive and multifaceted experimental study of the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on the effectiveness of restaurant recommendation systems in different countries. Two novel methods to tackle restaurant recommendations' performance degradation are proposed and validated.

研究目的

利用关于不同国家餐厅及其顾客反馈的数据, 我们探索了以下问题：(i) 在餐饮行业, 用户行为和偏好在COVID-19限制期间如何改变, (ii) 这些变化如何影响推荐算法的性能, 以及 (iii) 可以提出哪些方法来改进封锁情景下的餐厅推荐质量。

研究方法

为了评估用户行为和偏好的变化, 本研究进行了定量和定性数据分析, 对比了COVID-19限制期前后的情况。为了评估非稳态环境中餐厅推荐系统的性能, 我们测试了最先进的协同过滤算法。我们提出并研究了一种基于过滤的方法, 以提高封锁情景下推荐算法的质量。

研究发现

研究发现, 在COVID-19限制期间, 平均评分和评论数量发生了变化。实验研究证实：(i) 在COVID-19限制期间, 所有最先进的餐厅行业推荐系统的性能显著下降; (ii) 使用滑动窗口和后过滤方法可以改进非稳态环境下餐厅推荐的准确性和稳定性。

实践意义

我们提出了两种新方法：基于CatBoost分类模型的关闭餐厅后过滤和滑动窗口方法。这些方法可以应用于经典的协同过滤推荐算法, 并在非稳态条件下提高指标值。这些方法对于推荐系统的开发者和大规模餐厅和酒店聚合平台都有帮助。因此, 这对于应用的最终用户和企业主都有好处, 因为当用户得到良好的推荐时, 他们会诚实地对餐厅进行评价, 而不会因为外部因素降低评分。

研究创新

本文首次提供了COVID-19限制对不同国家餐厅推荐系统有效性影响的广泛多方面的实验研究, 并提出和验证了两种解决餐厅推荐性能下降问题的新方法。

Citation

Glukhov, G., Derevitskii, I., Severiukhina, O. and Bochenina, K. (2024), "Dynamic recommendation algorithms for a COVID-19 restrictions scenario in the restaurant industry", Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHTT-09-2021-0278