Hotel Websites Research Articles

Further 65 community pharmacy sites to start vaccinating patients against COVID-19

An additional 65 community pharmacy-led vaccination sites will begin administering COVID-19 vaccines over the coming week. The sites, 55 of which are led by independent pharmacies, include the Manchester Whalley Range Tennis and Cricket Club, run by Wilbraham Pharmacy, and pop-up Odeon and Village Hotel sites operated by Pharmacy2U. They will join the first six […]

Website Quality and Purchase Intention: The Role of Participation, E-Wom, and Trust

The purpose of this study is to find out the relationship between website quality, participation, electronic word of mouth, and trust to purchase intention in hospitality industry, particularly in the hotel industry. As far as the authors knowledge, the study about booking intention directly from hotel website based on website quality, participation, e-wom, and trust, has never been conducted before. In addition, most authors conducted booking intention based on online travel agent application leaving alone the hotel website. Thus, the loyalty of customers moves to online travel agency instead of the hotel itself. Quantitative method has been conducted in this research. There were 68 item statements distributed to 380 respondents and 357 valid responses were received from respondents who stayed at any hotels for the past 6 months and booked a room directly from the hotel website. Data were checked for normality, model fit, construct validity and reliability. By applying some modifications, data were adequate for hypothesis analysis. This research reveals that website quality influences participation and trust, while participation influences e-wom on the online website, leading to customer’s trust which finally lead to customer’s purchase intention. This study contributes to the development of body of knowledge regarding purchase intention to book a room in a hotel directly from the hotel website based on website quality, participation, electronic word of mouth, and trust. Some recommendations were added to give more options for managers to increase the purchase intention to book a room from the hotel website. This study also recommends to add culture, location based advertising, social media marketing, and search engine optimization to increase the purchase intention to book a room directly from hotel website. Limitation of this study is on the scope where only Greater Jakarta was included, whereas there are other major cities in Indonesia that provide tourist attractions.

Website Functionality of Convention and Exhibition Centers: Important Performance Dimensions and Attributes

A convention and exhibition center (CEC) offers spaces and services for various events. An effective website is important for a CEC because event site selection involves extensive long-distance information searching and communication. However, despite ample website evaluation studies conducted in the tourism and hospitality field, very few studies can adequately reflect the business environment of the CECs and the decision process of selecting a CEC. This study builds on the existing models for hotel website performance and identifies the important dimensions and attributes of a CEC website through a focus group discussion with multiple stakeholders on the selection of event venues. A framework with four dimensions and 41 attributes is developed. The results show that CECs websites should focus on Venue Facilities and Services (VFS), Contact Information (CI), Website Management (WM), and Destination Information (DI). Functions related to reservation and payment, which are very important for hotels, are found not value-added for CECs. The study expands the literature on website evaluations and e-marketing. Managerial insights are also provided to CEC operators and other related industry practitioners.

Exploring the roles of hotel wellness attributes in customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction: application of Kano model through mixed methods

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the underlying structure of wellness in upper-upscale and luxury hotels and the roles wellness attributes play in customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a mixed methods approach consisting of content analysis and social media analytics. In Study 1, the authors integrate and review the structure of wellness attributes by conducting a literature review on prior research on wellness and analyzing websites of upper-upscale and luxury hotels. In Study 2, the authors implement text analytics and regression analysis to determine the roles of wellness attributes in customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction by examining the final data gathered from 141,973 reviews of 226 upper-upscale and luxury hotels in NYC.FindingsThis research introduces the underlying structure of wellness in the upper-upscale and luxury hotels. Findings demonstrate a significant relationship between wellness attributes and customer satisfaction/dissatisfaction. This study shows each wellness attribute’s specific roles in customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction through the Kano model.Research limitations/implicationsThe current study extends the research on wellness by discovering the underlying structure of wellness in the upper-upscale and luxury hotels. Based on the Kano Model, the study reveals specific roles of wellness attributes regarding their dichotomous impact on customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction. The study makes a novel approach to the topic of wellness through a mixed methods approach consisted of content analysis and social media analytics. Analyzing online customer reviews derived from TripAdvisor.com, the study provides an in-depth insight and understanding of customers’ perceptions of wellness attributes.Practical implicationsThe study guides hotel operators to perform wellness attributes by defining the unique roles of wellness attributes in customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Using the findings of the current study, hotel operators can prioritize wellness attributes regarding their core strategies and provide satisfying wellness attributes to customers.Originality/valuePrior research merely focuses on hotels in wellness destinations or wellness-focused hotels with a lack of research on wellness offered in the general lodging industry. This research fills the gap by discovering the underlying wellness structure embedded in the general lodging industry, specifically in the upper-upscale and luxury hotels.

Utilization Analysis of Slovenian Hotel Websites

The purpose of the article is to get an insight into the content of the websites of Slovenian four- and five-star hotels and, based on the set criteria, to determine which websites are more utilized than others. We defined the utilization criteria and analysed all four and five-star hotels in Slovenia using data clustering analysis. The content of the websites, analysed in 2017, at the first glance seems diverse, but when comparing their content, we concluded that there are no major statistical differences. An important discovery of the research falls on the security of most of the analysed websites – it is very flawed and sometimes misleading. The potential for interactivity and gamification remains untapped despite the various recommendations of experts and academics. Keywords: website, hotel, Slovenian hotel websites, security

An Integrated Fuzzy Best-Worst-TOPSIS Method for Evaluation of Hotel Website and Digital Solutions Provider Firms

In todayʼs world where technology is rapidly evolving, hotels need to be the best in all conditions to be one step ahead of other competitors. Digital marketing and hotel website solutions play a lead role in this competition. Therefore, hotel websites need to be innovative, user-friendly, and descriptive. The main purpose of the study is to evaluate and rank potential hotel websites and digital solutions provider firms. Since there are various potentially competing quantitative and qualitative criteria to take into consideration in the decision-making process, a multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) method is needed. As the MCDM method, fuzzy best-worst method (FBWM) is integrated with the Fuzzy Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (F-TOPSIS). In this integration, FBWM is applied to determine fuzzy evaluation criteria weights and then F-TOPSIS is implemented to rank alternatives utilizing the obtained fuzzy weights. A case study is presented, where 4 alternative hotel websites and digital solutions provider firms for Paloma Hotels in Turkey are evaluated based on 9 criteria by 3 hotel managers.

Comparison of Virtual Reality Visualizations With Traditional Visualizations in Hotel Settings

The objective of the current study was to investigate how virtual reality (VR) visualizations compare with traditional visualizations such as two-dimensional (2D) photos as a marketing tool for hotel websites. The specific research question was “How do VR visualizations compare with 2D photos in terms of (1) affective responses, (2) attitudinal/behavioral responses, and (3) cognitive load—that is, task efforts and experiences associated with technology?” A quasi-experimental study was conducted over two time periods with independent sample pools. A boutique hotel lobby and a guest room were captured in 2D and VR formats. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of the two types of visualizations. The sample comprised 84 university undergraduate students from the South-Central United States. Nonparametric tests were used to test the proposed hypotheses. There was a statistically significant difference between two visual conditions for several variables—that is, pleasure, satisfaction, word of mouth, and so on. However, those differences were not always consistent between the two time periods. Overall findings suggest that the use of VR visualizations as a promotional tool might not be more effective than traditional photos. Limitations of the study include using students as a proxy for the general population of travelers, small sample size, self-reported measures, and narrow conditional scope. Those limitations should be addressed in future studies.

Dynamics of hotel website browsing activity: the power of informatics and data analytics

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the temporal dynamics of users browsing activity on a hotel website in order to derive effective marketing strategies and constantly improve website effectiveness. Users' activities on the hotel's website on yearly, monthly, daily and hourly basis are examined and compared, demonstrating the power of informatics and data analytics.Design/methodology/approachA total of 29,976 hourly Weblog files from 1 August 2014 to 31 December 2017 were collected from a luxury hotel in Hong Kong. ANOVA and post-hoc comparisons were used to analyse the data.FindingsUsers' browsing behaviours, particularly stickiness, on the hotel website differ on yearly, monthly, daily and weekly bases. Users' activities increased steadily from 2014 to 2016, but dropped in 2017. Users are most active from July to September, on weekdays, and from noon to evening time. The month-, day-, and hour-based behaviours changed through years. The analysis of big data determines strategic and operational management and marketing decision-making.Research limitations/implicationsUnderstanding the usage patterns of their websites allow organisations to make a range of strategic, marketing, pricing and distribution decisions to optimise their performance. Fluctuation of website usage and level of customer engagement have implications on customer support and services, as well as strategic partnership decisions.Originality/valueLeveraging the power of big data analytics, this paper adds to the existing literature by performing a comprehensive analysis on the temporal dynamics of users' online browsing behaviours.

Resort Otel İşletmeleri Web Sitelerinin Dijital Pazarlama Performanslarının Analizi: Alanya daki Beş Yıldızlı Otel İşletmeleri Üzerine Bir Araştırma

Today, hotel businesses reach their current and potential customers through corporate websites and carry out their marketing activities from this channel. The effectiveness of hotel website digital marketing activities is an important factor in terms of the success and performance of the business. The purpose of this study is to analyze the digital marketing performances of the corporate websites of resort hotels. For this purpose, websites of 79 five-star hotels in Alanya were analyzed by content analysis method and their digital marketing performances were analyzed according to 74 criteria determined in 10 dimensions. According to the findings obtained from the analysis, the digital marketing performance of resort hotel websites in terms of sales promotion tools is poor. In terms of public relations and mobile features, the performance is insufficient. Digital marketing performance is excellent in terms of information about the services offered at the hotel. As a result of the study, the overall digital marketing performance of resort hotel websites has been determined as good.

Understanding the Drivers and Consequences of Trust Toward Hotel Websites Under Different Cultural Contexts

The main aim of this study is to develop a model that links guests' characteristics, hotel characteristics, website infrastructure, interactions, perceived website trust, and the guest intentions to book hotels online. The present study adopted a positivist research philosophy with a quantitative method to assess the suggested model and the model was tested using structural equation modelling (SEM). The results show that perceived ease of use, service quality and reputation are the most influential determinants of perceived website trust for Egyptian consumers. While at the same time, perceived usefulness, service quality, and satisfaction are the most influential determinants of perceived website trust for the UK consumers. Furthermore, the findings of group comparison analysis assert that the strength of perceived usefulness of the UK customers is significantly stronger than that of Egyptian customers. Moreover, perceived website trust has a stronger influence on guests' intention to book hotel online for the UK sample than for the Egyptian sample.

Turning Discounts Into Profits: Factors Influencing Online Purchasing Decisions for Hotel Add-on Items

A hotel website exclusive discount is widely adopted by major chain hotels to increase the volume of direct bookings. Although the traditional purpose of a discount promotion is to attract customers to the business, this research suggests that a hotel website exclusive price discount can induce consumers’ additional spending. Principles of mental accounting and two thinking styles (analytic vs. holistic) predict different effects of a price discount and the add-on product type by individual thinking styles. A quasi-experiment investigated the effect of an unexpected discount, relatedness of add-on item to a hotel stay, and individual thinking styles on add-on purchasing. The mediating role of impulse buying was subsequently examined using the PROCESS model. The effect of a price discount and the relatedness of add-on item are significant for analytic thinkers, whereas holistic thinkers report higher likelihood to purchase add-on items regardless of relatedness. Holistic thinkers’ likelihood to purchase is enhanced through an impulse buying tendency. The findings provide further evidence for the role of individual differences in response to pricing tactics by suggesting that a price promotion increases add-on purchases for analytic thinkers, whereas promoting a sense of impulsiveness can be more effective for holistic thinkers.

Closeness and distance through the agentive authorial voice

Credibility is a function associated with promotional genres and persuasion, and a powerful marketing concept (Eisend, 2006; Ming, 2006) which provides trustworthiness about the quality of products or services offered by hotels (Suau-Jiménez, 2012a, 2019). It is partly attained through the hotel’s self-mentioning in websites. When this self-mentioning is agentive with action verbs, the main instantiation is the pronoun we, projecting closeness and assertiveness. However, this self-representation is also construed with depersonalized realizations like the hotel’s proper name, other nominalizations or even pronouns like it and they, which provide attenuating aspects and create a sense of distance. The current corpus-based study of 112 hotel websites hypothesizes that this attenuation may diminish closeness of the authorial voice (Brown & Levinson, 1987), thus displaying authority, following disciplinary and generic constraints. Results suggest that discursive closeness and distance, intertwined with personalized and depersonalized self-representations of the authorial voice, may aid to improve credibility.

Effects of hotel website photograph size and human images on perceived transportation and behavioral intentions

Travelers have been shown to use the Internet as their primary source of information for locating and booking hotel accommodation, while various website dimensions have been known to influence consumer behavior. Yet, there is no consistency in the way that hotels display their website photographs, especially in relation to photograph size and content, and few studies have investigated this important domain. This study examines the influence of hotel websites’ pictorial information (i.e., photograph sizes and human images) on perceived transportation, booking intentions and willingness to pay more. Analyzing 247 responses with structural equation modeling, large photographs increase transportation, which, in turn, increases booking intention and willingness to pay more. Large photographs are most effective when human presence is absent, while the effect of small photographs is improved with human presence. This study extends transportation theory by demonstrating that transportation can occur in non-narrative scenarios, specifically through photographic images.

Development and validation of a scale measuring hotel website service quality (HWebSQ)

This research aims to develop and validate a scale to measure website service quality in the hotel industry, namely HWebSQ. It also establishes the predictive power of the new scale by examining its relationship with an expected outcome, i.e. customer purchase intention. The research employs a detailed scale development process: domain specification, item generation, scale refinement, purification and validation. Data were collected from tourists who stayed at 4-to-5-star hotels in Vietnam. The findings confirm HWebSQ to be a valid and reliable measure of hotel website service quality containing 34 items with 7 dimensions. These include website functionality, website design, response time, ease of use, information quality, interactivity and security. Each of these dimensions is positively associated with customer purchase intention. The newly developed HWebSQ scale would be valuable to managers of hotels and other accommodation services who are interested in designing and managing websites aimed at attracting and retaining customers.

Forming impressions of hotels: the subtle power of words

The aim of the study was to investigate the potential power that subtle wording changes may have in altering the impressions that potential guests gain from brief descriptions, such as on the home pages of hotel websites or in online reviews.
 The intention was to determine whether the findings of earlier psychological research on the formation of impressions of people could be replicated regarding impression formation of hotels. In the psychological experiments, students first read a brief biography about a guest lecturer, then later attended a discussion led by him. They then rated their impressions of the man on a number of dimensions. All of the respondents experienced exactly the same discussion and received exactly the same biography. The words were identical except for one word. In one version a sentence said people who knew this man described him as cold. In the other version he was described as warm.
 The change of this one word alone had significant effects on people’s ratings on some dimensions and very little effect on others. For example, those who received the warm version rated the man as more generous than those who received the cold version.
 The current study was designed to see if this effect would occur when hotel management students formed an impression of a hotel, especially when there was limited information available – such as on the home page of a hotel’s website.
 Data were collected from 60 students from a hotel management college who were familiar with hotels either as guests, students on industry placement, or both. The students were in their early twenties and represented a number of different nationalities.
 Information from the home pages of two New Zealand hotel websites was adapted and edited to form a description of a fictitious hotel. The brief description of the hotel was followed by a survey containing 15 items, each describing a dimension of the hotel. The students gave each item a score of between 1 and 6 (see Table 1).
 Respondents received exactly the same descriptions of the hotel except for the change of one word. In one version a sentence said, “Guests who have stayed at the hotel generally describe it as having a cold ambience.” The same sentence in the other version said, “warm ambience.” Thirty students read the warm version and the other 30 read the cold version.
 
 
 
 Table 1: Statistically significant dimensions of ‘warm’ versus ‘cold’ hotel
 
 
 Hotel dimension (scored 1→6)
 ‘Warm’ mean
 ‘Cold’ mean
 t-test result (p)
 
 
 Popular → Unpopular
 2.0
 3.3
 0.002
 
 
 Busy, bustling → Not busy, inactive
 2.5
 3.6
 0.011
 
 
 Quiet → Noisy
 2.6
 3.5
 0.019
 
 
 Tidy, well-kept → Untidy, run-down
 2.0
 2.8
 0.035
 
 
 Environmentally friendly → Not environmentally friendly
 2.4
 3.1
 0.040
 
 
 Modest → Extravagant
 3.9
 3.1
 0.042
 
 
 Knowledgeable staff → Not knowledgeable staff
 2.9
 3.3
 0.050
 
 
 Note: mean=average score (between 1 and 6); p=probability
 
 
 
 Statistical analysis of the group averages revealed seven statistically significant dimensions. Table 1 shows that the ‘warm’ group perceived the hotel as more likely to be more popular, busier and bustling, quieter, tidier and well kept, environmentally friendly, extravagant and with more knowledgeable staff than did the ‘cold’ group.
 Having rated the warm ambience as more likely to be bustling it might be expected that it would be rated noisier. That was not the case. Revisiting some students and further questioning them revealed that a cold ambience was perceived as more likely to have harsh surfaces such as tiles and glass that would echo noise. A warm ambience was perceived to be more likely to be carpeted, curtained and with décor that absorbed sound.
 The findings show that the warm-cold effect could be replicated regarding impression formation of hotels and may suggest that some dimensions are core for forming an impression and others are peripheral. It appears ambience described as warm and cold may be among the core dimensions. The current study was an initial exploration of this phenomenon and further research would be required to identify whether other dimensions are core or peripheral. However, a more recent replication of the study by the current author using “welcoming – unwelcoming” produced five statistically different dimensions and hence may also be a core dimension. Whatever the case, the findings suggest that care needs to be taken when hoteliers choose wording to include in descriptions on the home pages of their websites.
 Corresponding author
 Robin Hill can be contacted at: robinh@pihms.ac.nz

ALTERNATIVE DIGITAL PROMOTION AT W BALI - SEMINYAK

This research is conducted to find out the application of online promotion strategy to increase room occupancy at W Bali – Seminyak because in the last three years, there was a fluctuation of room occupancy especially made by online booking source. The research objectives are to formulate promotional strategy of W Bali – Seminyak, prioritizing online promotion that can be applied by the hotel to achieve the occupancy target. The method used in this research are participant observation, interview, questionnaire and documentation with 7 key informants from sales and marketing department. The data in this research is analyzed by using the combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis; IFAS (Internal Factor Analysis Summary), EFAS (External Factor Analysis Summary), IE (Internal-External) Matrix, SWOT (Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats) and QSPM (Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix).The results of IFAS matrix shows; the major strength is the hotel provides complete information at hotel website, social media, brochure, magazine and newspaper meanwhile the weakness is the hotel does not have their own magazine. The EFAS matrix shows if one of the opportunities is level of safety in Bali relative conducive and the threats is many similar hotels around Seminyak area which offer lower price. The SWOT analysis gives 8 alternative online promotions with the highest TAS (Total Attractive Score) is 99,32. Thus, the main strategy recommended is developing special package with affordable price in low season. The study results are expected can be used by managements to develop the online promotion strategy theoretically and enrich the reference especially on promotion strategy.

The Factors Affecting Customer Decision on Online Hotel Booking: the Case of Luxor

With the digital revolution, travelers can compare prices and get information about the experience of other guests, which can influence online hotel booking. In addition to hotel customers can readily find most of the information they need online price, location, star rating, comfort, cleanliness, security, service quality and reputation to compare hotel properties and choose the most appropriate. Online reviews and ratings have an important role in the decision-making process, reducing uncertainty. Interaction is a seriousness feature of marketing communication; hotel website interactivity is indispensable to engage customer attention towards online buying or online booking. The research objective was to shed light on the factors affecting customer decision on online hotel booking. The study has some of limitations: The data was collected through questionnaire with a sample of Luxor hotels the period of January 2020 till March 2020. The received questionnaires were 860, but the correct samples to be statistically analyzed were 720 with a percentage of 83.7 %. This tool was used to investigate the factors affecting customer decision on online hotel booking. Results showed that there are many factors such as (Previous guests' experience, location, price and loyalty program) positively influences on online hotel booking. Moreover, online hotel booking positively influences on hotel booking.

Hotel website quality, performance, telepresence and behavioral intentions

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the associations among hotel website quality, telepresence, websites’ utilitarian and hedonic performance and customers’ behavioral intentions. Design/methodology/approach An online survey was used to collect the data from 683 respondents. Data was analyzed by using the two-stage modeling technique through Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings Findings indicate a significantly positive impact of hotel website quality on telepresence, utilitarian and hedonic performance. In addition, telepresence has a significantly positive impact on utilitarian and hedonic performance. Finally, telepresence, utilitarian and hedonic performance have a significantly positive impact on customers’ behavioral intentions. Research limitations/implications Based on the findings of this study, theoretical and practical implications for hospitality and tourism researchers are provided. Originality/value This study is one of the very few studies integrating hotel website quality scale to examine the hotel website features that influence telepresence and perceived utilitarian and hedonic performance leading to positive behavioral intentions.

‘Different’ and ‘distinct’ as markers of otherness

The present study seeks to offer an understanding of how high-end hotel websites produce privilege, creating a sense of belonging and entitlement for their 4/5-star guests. The experience of tourism is intrinsically linked to embracing otherness, and as a reflection of this, hotel websites offer a characterization of cultural otherness in an attempt to make it resonate with the potential expectations of a socioeconomically privileged client. The study considers the question of what elements of experience of otherness the website will address, relying on a Critical Discourse Analysis perspective and drawing on Bourdieu’s notion of habitus as related to lifestyle, difference and distinction. Specifically, the words different and distinct are addressed in this study as markers of otherness and privilege. Based on Fairclough’s sociocultural approach, and specifically on Halliday’s transitivity system, the use of these words in clause construction patterns yields an understanding of how specific representations of reality revolving around the idea of otherness are built up. The research is corpus-driven and qualitative, its conclusions also offering some insight as to how hotel websites recreate forms of in-group similarity

Environmental information disclosure in ecotel hotels in India - an exploratory study to understand the environmental information available on the hotel's website

Environmental information disclosure in ecotel hotels in India - an exploratory study to understand the environmental information available on the hotel's website