INTRODUCTION
TripAdvisor.com is a travel website providing directory information and reviews of travel related content. Online reviews now shape the way travellers and international tourists choose hotel accommodation and plan for holiday destinations. Many consumers consult online trip advisor reviews before making travel and accommodation choices in hotels. However, Racherla, Cornolly & Christodoulidou, (2013: 135) argued that, existing academic understanding of these popular information sources in the tourism and hospitality domain is relatively weak. Likewise, Vermeulen & Seegers, (2009:123) acknowledged that, many consumers consult online reviews before making travel arrangements, yet, little is known about the impact of these reviews on consumer decision making. Hence, there is no contradiction that reviews are a powerful and significant part of the travel planning experience. Therefore, this research aims to explore the effects of hotel trip advisor reviews on international tourist booking intentions and perception of trust of 5 star luxurious hotels of Cape Town South Africa
The researcher will be targeting international tourist and she will be focusing on following 5 star luxurious hotels of the city of Cape Town. Namely, Table Bay, Cape Grace, One & Only and Taj hotels. Trip advisor consumer generated reviews impact both positively and negatively on global tourist booking intentions in hotels in Cape Town. Ye, Law & Gu, (2009:181) put forward that, online user reviews have an important impact on hotel bookings.
Trip Advisor has been studied from various perspectives including examining whether Trip Advisor reviews are reliable or not. Yet no research has been conducted to examine the impacts of the trip advisor revie...
... middle of paper ...
...s of Service Providers? An Exploratory Study of Online Traveller Reviews. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management. 22(2) : 135-161.
Tuominen, P. 2011. The Influence of TripAdvisor Consumer-Generated Travel Reviews on Hotel Performance.
Vermeulen, I. E. & Seegers, D. 2009. Tried and tested: The impact of online hotel reviews on consumer consideration: Tourism Management: 30: 123–127.
Sparks,A., B. & Browning, V. 2011. The impact of online reviews on hotel booking intentions and perception of trust. Tourism Management .32 : 1310- 1323.
Ye, Q., & Law, R. & Gu, B. 2009. The impact of online user reviews on hotel room sales: International Journal of Hospitality Management. 28: 180–182.
Yoo, H. k. & Purifoy, M. 2007. Role & Impact of Online Travel Reviews: Online travel Review study. Laboratory for Intelligent Systems in Tourism Texas A&M University
As the online travel market matures and transforms, audiences are no longer content just to shop for price or read destination information written by marketers. Now more sophisticated online users are looking to connect and share with other travelers and with the content itself.
Prendergast, G., Ko, D., & Siu Yin V., Y. (2010). Online word of mouth and consumer purchase intentions. International Journal Of Advertising, 29(5), 687-708
Internet Marketing News and Know-How. Hotel Marketing. 18 Feb. 2011. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. .
Because of today technology, continuous development, we are going to do all the promotions and marketing online. Nowadays everyone spends more than 3 hours on the internet, so we are going to invest money to attract guests. After we are going to create a certain clientele, we are sure that our guests are going to make good publicity for the hotel thank to the best services that we are going to provide. We are going to communicate the unique and natural concept to appeal to our future guest.
In reality anyone can provide a review – anyone from honest travelers to dishonest employees of the hotel/restaurant/tour in question who feels mis...
For the introduction, brief information regarding my purchase and the travel and tourism industry is presented. It was then followed by the explanation of the 2 chosen theories from two different chapters.
With that said consumers chose to compare hotels as the World Wide Web gives you that information needed and has taken over the way we book hotels. Increase of social media people are tending to book hotels by tread and online feed backs, this could be positive and negative, positive being consumers are enticed to make choice with people's feedback and use of shared images which give them real view and shows other consumers experiences however, on negative side bad feedback can be bad for your business as comments could lead to consumers choosing alternative
In today’s time, when a sizeable percentage of hotel reservations are done online, we cannot certainly deny the importance of a hotel website which is quite unique and exclusive to the hotel. Yes, unique and exclusive, as the website features all the information related to the hotel in detail and most importantly, it has all the potential to generate good amount of reservations through it.
Gruner, Axel Dipl.-Betriebswirt, Dev, Chekitan Prof.Dr. Globale Marketing Trends und ihre Auswirkungen auf die Hotellerie", abseits.de. 2 Febr. 2000.
Our target market in the US uses a range of online channels for planning their international holidays, including general travel websites, online travel articles, and travel agent and airline websites. They also use other influential information sources such as word of mouth, travel agent 's brochures, television travel shows, and travel guides. It is common for travelers from our target market in the US to plan and book all aspects of their holiday
In the past, the tourists were usually more influenced by the comments and opinions of friends and relatives; however, social media is taking place nowadays. The impact of social media tools for travelers and hoteliers has been paid highly attention since the presence of TripAdvisor. Because of the development of technology, social media has been widely adopted by travelers to search, plan, organize and share their travel stories and experiences by using the tools like Twitter, Facebook, TripAdvisor, YouTube and some other social network sites.
1. To identify the factors that can influence traveler using online travel agencies to purchase travel
Thanks to these factors, pricing becomes one of the primary uses with which hotels attract customers. However, due to customers’ independent nature, there influence over industry players is limited. In the high-end segment of hotels, price influence becomes even less as hotels find it easier to differentiate themselves from the competition and customers become less price sensitive coming to expect higher prices as a symbolism of superior quality and services. Lastly, corporate business and tour operators can exert more influence due to their large purchases but this affect is of a limited nature and does not extend across the whole
Bloggers, in particular, are a rising popularity. Market research has shown that more consumers tend to look up on reviews before making purchasing decisions. Companies can choose to ride on the rising popularity of bloggers, as sponsored reviews from bloggers are generally not as pricey as “engaging an internationally renowned celebrity as an endorser” (Euromonitor International, 2014). Also, it is noted that the review of a blogger will send a more reliable message, as compared to one in the mainstream media (Khan-Gordon, A., 2007). As technology advances forward, companies have also begun to interact with their consumers through these means (i.e. Facebook, blogs, websites with beauty advice or apps for smart phones) in attempt to increase profits (Kopaciuk, A., & Koboda, M., 2013, cited from In-cosmetics, 2010). Furthermore, probe into consumers’ behaviors have shown an increase on purchases made over the Internet. This substantiates the fact that the Internet plays an important role in the consumers’ decision-making process (Kopaciuk, A., & Koboda, M., 2013). Additionally, the benefits of maintaining consumer relationships through the use of Internet can positively affect the company on the long run. It helps to garner honest feedbacks, and can lead consumers into being “loyal” to the brand that is willing to
Moreover, the InterContinental Hotels & Resorts is considered the first international hotel brand in the world, as it began operations in the year 1946 (About InterContinental Hotels Group Brands, 2015). Over time the hotel group has evolved to encompass quality hotel rooms not only in North America, but in Central and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Australia, and Asia-Pacific (IHG – InterContinental Hotels Group, 2015). In addition, they have acquired extended stay facilities and the Hualuxe Hotels & Resorts, which specifically “celebrates the essence of Chinese hospitality” (About InterContinental Hotels Group Brands, 2015). In my opinion, this shows that their target market has changed by expanding their scope of travel, which means they are traveling to farther and farther locations and require the familiar surroundings with equivalent product quality at the final destination. The InterContinental Hotels Group is in the fourth and final stage of the product life cycle, which is the decline stage (Editorial Board, 2014, p. 212). Indeed, the brands lengthy history indicates it has loyal customers, but its addition of innovations indicates the targeting of new customers for the organization, which are clear signs of a business in the decline stage of the product life cycle (Editorial Board, 2014, p.