HOTEL'S WEB SITE HEALTH AUDIT AND PAGES DISTRIBUTION BY THEIR STATUS: AN EMPIRICAL RESEARCH OF FIVE STAR HOTELS IN THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to indicate the importance of direct online booking in the structure of hotel online booking channels. In this context, this paper explores the relationship between quality of websites and the amount of online direct bookings through hotel websites. Methodology – Empirical Research was conducted by qualitative multidimensional analysis of 5* hotel websites in the Republic of Croatia. This process is made up of numerous analytical subprocesses such as web site health, user engagement, user experience, traffic, functionality, website performance and other. In this paper the focus is on the Hotel’s web site healt audit. Hotel’s web site health audits aims to analyze the overall health of web pages within web site while discovering all issues that hotel should be aware of. The authors' research was conducted using Semrush analytical platform for improving search engine visibility. Findings – The results of the empirical research show the distribution of web pages within the analyzed web sites according to their qualitative status. Interpretation of the research results explains the impact on the structure of online booking channels in hotel business and applicability in theory and practice. Contribution – The scientific contribution stems from empirical research that defines the way and space to improve direct online hotel bookings through own web site in terms of improving web site performances.