their interlocutors (Briz, 1998), thus providing clues on the purpose and functional and interpersonal tenor of interactions (Halliday, 1985). In the corpus being studied, the presence or absence of openings and closings is particularly relevant since the review constitutes an emerging discursive genre in which there is no fully established configuration. Responses, on the other hand, constitute a ‘second element of the pair’ that have more identifiable features, since they have to refer to and related intertextually with the initial review.

Table 1. Openings and closings in hotel reviews and responses. Number of appearances and [ratio of appearances per review] hotel responses

Source: Prepared by the author

Results show that the authors of the reviews hardly use openings or greetings (only 4 cases of greetings) compared to the hotels, which systematically open and close responses with formulas of greetings and farewells. When reviewers use greetings, they used the informal (4) or semi-formal (3) option, addressing other platform users. Reviewers use farewell formulas occasionally (5), but they do sign off from reviews in some cases with closing formulas, such as a synthesis or final evaluation (6).

(3) Buenas tardes a todos, el pasado 24-25 y 26 de julio fuimos al Hotel C de Mallorca.

(Good afternoon everyone, on 24-25 and 26 July we went to Hotel C de Mallorca). (Opinion 5 Hotel C).

(4)Hola! Me alojé en el hotel del 1 al 10 de Febrero del 2018. Tengo opiniones encontradas (Opinion 13 Hotel B)

(Hello! I stayed at the hotel from1 to 10 February 2018. I have conflicting opinions)

(5) Excelente hotel y excelente la atención de su personal (todos nos trataron muy bien y se esforzaron para que nuestra estadía sea única, especialmente Samuel y Karina en Coco’s beach club) También La Palapa bar es otro muy buen lugar que nos trataron muy bien. Saludos.

(Excellent hotel and excellent attentive staff (everyone treated us very well and tried to make our stay unique, especially Samuel and Karina at Coco’s beach club) Plus, La Palapa bar is another very good place that we were treated very well. Regards). (Opinion 5 Hotel A).

(6) Pero estan en terrible estado todo, las camas, los closet los baños, las camas ni ganas de dormi dan de ver los rodapies tan sucios y las ropas de camas tan viejas que no sabes si estan sucias oh solo viejas!!!!... no lo recomendaria para hospedarse!!!! (But everything is in terrible condition, the beds, the wardrobes, the bathrooms, the beds are so off putting and the skirting boards are really dirty, the bed linen is so old that you don’t know if it’s dirty or just old !!!! .. I would not recommend staying there!!!!)4 (Opinion 10 Hotel C)

The hotel responses, on the other hand, feature systematic use of greetings and farewells. Greeting are always formal and epistolary, starting with ‘estimado/a’ (Dear Sir/Madam) in all cases, or the variant ‘apreciado’ (Dear), and follows