No abstract

No abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to develop a typology of social media messages to compare the effectiveness of different message strategies. Design/methodology/approach In total, 1,837 messages from 12 hotel brand Facebook pages were content-analyzed. Applying both correspondence analysis and multivariate analysis of variance, the study compared message strategy across hotel-scale levels and explored the effectiveness of different message strategies. Findings A typology of four-type message format and six-type message content was developed. The picture message was the best message format. Product, brand and involvement messages were shown to be more effective than information, reward and promotion messages. Promotion message was the least effective message content type. Research limitations/implications The major limitation of this study is the generalizability owing to the sample selection process. There is also the limitation on exclusion of control variables, selection of the three effectiveness measures and evolving social media technology. Practical implications The typology of Facebook message strategy developed in the study provided guidelines for hotel marketers to create messages on Facebook pages and track effectiveness. Hotels should also take full advantage of the picture format and product, brand and involvement contents. Originality/value This study created a new typology of social media message strategy consisting of two dimensions. It also provided empirical evidence to support the application of message strategy theory in the hotel social media marketing area.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that affect the usage of guest empowerment technologies (GET) with a specific focus on in‐room entertainment technologies.Design/methodology/approachThis study used structural equation modeling to evaluate the application of task‐technology fit (TTF) and technology acceptance models (TAMs) in reference to entertainment GETs.FindingsThis paper confirmed that the most popular forms of entertainment GET were in‐room movies and on‐demand services. Most importantly, the analysis of the data revealed that a user's individual experiential characteristics have a significant negative relationship with fit of GET while the technology and task characteristics have a significant positive relationship with fit of GET.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper makes a contribution to the current body of literature as it is among the first to utilize a hybrid TTF/TAM in the hotel self‐service environment. As such, it can be utilized by future researchers as a foundation for conducting similar research.Originality/valueThis paper is of value as it is the first academic paper to investigate a variety of forms of entertainment‐based GET. These types of technologies which combine the functionality of self‐service devices while taking into account the user's experience during the design process are in constant and growing demand. As such, technology developers as well as hospitality practitioners will need to rely more and more on this type of research in the future in order to provide consistent levels of quality guest experiences.

Purpose This study aims to gain an understanding of hotel experiences during the pandemic by examining sentiments of guests posted online. Design/methodology/approach This paper incorporates the balance theory, in a dyadic system to analyze the ways in which guests were motivated to restore a position of balance during the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis. Qualitative content analysis was used to detect thematic patterns of hotel experiences based on examining online reviews shared by actual guests of two major hotel brands – one more closely associated with convenience-driven automation (high-tech) and the other known for providing more guest–employee interaction (high-touch). Findings The analysis of the reviews yielded six main themes: “purpose of visit,” “COVID safety concerns,” “technology adoption,” “COVID limitations,” “exceeded expectation” and “hospitality of staff.” Staff displaying a welcoming attitude was the main factor in creating a convivial experience for guests at both hotel brands, but the technology was not highlighted as much in guests’ reviews. Despite the pandemic, guests of both hotel brands had similar levels of enjoyment regarding their hotel experiences regardless of the high-touch or high-tech nature of the operations. Research limitations/implications User-generated content often reflects the opinions of those who are very satisfied or not satisfied at all. Different data collection techniques could be used to get a “big picture” view of the balance between high-touch and high-tech experiences. Practical implications The findings offer support to researchers and practitioners who advocate that high-touch and high-tech can indeed co-exist, and that these distinct service delivery modes do not have to be mutually exclusive. Originality/value This paper provides new trajectories that can broaden the approaches undertaken by hospitality/tourism scholars and practitioners based on user-generated content. This study is one of the first to adopt the lens of the balance theory, in a dyadic system, to investigate how guests may be psychologically motivated to balance their perceptions and expectations during a time of crisis.