دانلود رایگان ترجمه مقاله استراتژی های بازاریابی دیجیتال، بررسی آنلاین و عملکرد هتل – الزویر 2018

استراتژی های بازاریابی دیجیتال، بررسی آنلاین و عملکرد هتل

Digital marketing strategies, online reviews and hotel performance

Abstract

We investigate to what extent digital marketing strategies (such as having a digital marketing plan, responsiveness to guest reviews, and monitoring and tracking online review information) influence hotel room occupancy and RevPar directly, and indirectly through the mediating effect of the volume and valence of online reviews they lead to, and to what extent this mechanism is different for different types of hotels in terms of star rating and independent versus chain hotels. The research was carried out in 132 Belgian hotels. The results indicate that review volume drives room occupancy and review valence impacts RevPar. Digital marketing strategies and tactics affect both the volume and valence of online reviews and, indirectly, hotel performance. This is more outspoken in chain hotels than in independent hotels, and in higher-star hotels than in lower-tier hotels.

1 Introduction

Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) is “all informal communications directed at consumers through Internet-based technology related to the usage or characteristics of particular goods and services, or their sellers” (Litvin et al., 2008). eWOM can take many forms, the most important one being online reviews. eWOM has a profound effect on attitudes and buying behavior of consumers and on commercial results in many product categories, such as books (Chevalier and Mayzlin, 2006), movies (Duan et al., 2008a; Liu, 2006), online games (Zhu and Zhang, 2010) and restaurants (Kim et al., 2016). eWOM appears to be particularly important for experience products. These are goods or services the quality of which cannot be judged easily prior to consumption, like hotels (Casalo et al., 2015). In such situations, the opinion of other consumers who post their experiences in online reviews, provides information from a source that is perceived as more independent and trustworth than company information (Zhao et al., 2015; Ye et al., 2011). In the travel industry, in the USA alone nearly two thirds of Web users relied on digital channels for travel information in 2013 (eMarketer, 2013). More than 74 percent of travelers use the comments of other consumers when planning trips (Gretzel and Yoo, 2008). Thus, online reviews are an important source of information for prospective hotel consumers, and they have an influence on trust and enjoyment (Sparks and Browning, 2011; Gretzel and Yoo, 2008), perceived credibility (Casalo et al., 2015; Mauri and Minazzi, 2013), hotel awareness (Vermeulen and Seegers, 2009), corporate reputation (Baka, 2016), attitudes (Casalo et al., 2015; Vermeulen and Seegers, 2009), hotel quality perceptions (Torres et al., 2015), booking intentions (Casalo et al., 2015; Ladhari and Michaud, 2015; Mauri and Minazzi, 2013; Sparks and Browning, 2011), hotel choice (Sparks and Browning, 2011; Vermeulen and Seegers, 2009), and willingness to pay (NietoGarcía et al., 2017). As a result of this, online reviews also have an effect on hotel performance. Online reviews have been found to influence room occupancy, RevPar (revenue per available room), prices (Ögut and Tas, 2012; Ye et al., 2009, 2011) and market share (Duverger 2013). Both the volume and the valence of online reviews affect consumer behavior (Kwok et al., 2017). Volume refers to the number of online reviews about a hotel in a given period; valence refers to the degree of positivity (rating) of these reviews (Blal and Sturman, 2014). More online comments have been found to lead to higher awareness (Zhao et al., 2015), and a better hotel performance (Viglia et al., 2016; Melián-González et al., 2013). The valence of online reviews also affects hotel performance. Ye et al. (2009, 2011) show that a 10% improvement in reviewers’ rating can increase sales by 4.4%. Anderson (2012) reports that a 1-percent increase in a hotel’s online reputation score leads up to a 0.89-percent increase in price, to a room occupancy increase of up to 0.54 percent, and to a 1.42-percent increase in RevPar. Viglia et al. (2016) report that a one-point increase in a hotel’s review score is associated with an increase of 7.5 percentage points in the occupancy rate. Viglia et al. (2016) and Torres et al. (2015) find that both ratings and the number of reviews had a positive effect on online hotel bookings. Blal and Sturman (2014) demonstrate that, contrary to the number of reviews, there is a significant impact of ratings on RevPar. However, very few studies have explored the potentially differential effects of review volume and valence on different indicators of hotel performance, such as room occupancy and RevPar. An important question is what hotel marketing management can do to increase the volume and improve the valence of online reviews and, indirectly, hotel performance. Digital marketing strategies, such as closely monitoring and analyzing customer feedback (Torres et al., 2015), responding to customer feedback (Melian-Gonzalez and Bulchand-Gidumal, 2016; Sparks et al., 2016; Torres et al., 2015; Limb and Brymer, 2015; Wang et al., 2013; Levy et al., 2013; Chen and Xie, 2008), establishing a digital reputation management plan (Levy et al., 2013), monitoring and studying social media (Baka 2016; Levy et al., 2013) and integrating third-party review sites on the hotel website (Aluri et al., 2016) appear to drive online review volume and valence and/or hotel performance. However, Melian-Gonzalez and BulchandGidumal (2016); Baka (2016) and Cohen and Olsen (2013) argue that further research is needed on how digital marketing strategies can enhance reviews and improve organizational performance. Finally, what drives online reviews and how and to what extent these reviews impact hotel performance may be different for different types of hotels. Blal and Sturman (2014) and Phillips et al. (2017) argue that hotel characteristics are contextual factors that play an important moderating role in consumer behavior. Viglia et al. (2016) point out that belonging to a hotel chain or being higher-star-rated could be factors that increases hotel occupancy. However, only a few studies have focused on the moderating effect of hotel characteristics on the effect of online reviews on hotel performance, for instance unknown versus well-known hotels (Casalo et al., 2015), higher versus lower-tier hotels (star rating) (Blal and Sturman, 2014; Duverger, 2013), and chain versus independent hotels (Banerjee and Chua, 2016).