Importance of Hotel Website Dimensions and Attributes: Perceptions of Online Browsers and Online Purchasers

Abstract

The recent introduction of Internet technology to general business has led to its wide-scale application in the hotel industry. Consumers have been increasingly using the Internet to search for accommodation-related information on hotel Websites. To facilitate a better understanding of e-commerce, hospitality and tourism researchers have shown the importance of establishing content-rich and user-friendly Websites. The existing hospitality literature, however, has a very limited number of published articles that investigated the perceptions of hotel Website users on the importance of specific features on hotel Websites. The absence of prior studies on assessing the importance of hotel Website dimensions and attributes is particularly true in the comparison of online browsers who only search for information and online purchasers who have made online bookings. This article reports on a study that examined these two groups of international hotel Website users on their perceived importance level of specific dimensions and attributes on hotel Websites. Empirical evidence indicates that there was no significant difference in most of the included dimensions and attributes between these two groups of users. In addition, the respondents viewed that the included dimensions and attributes are important on Websites of 3-star or above hotels.