Travel Planning

Abstract

A survey of 249 leisure travelers at four hotels in Seattle, Washington, finds overwhelming use of the internet for searching and booking hotel rooms, although a noticeable percentage still make telephone calls to book rooms. Eight of ten respondents used the web for a hotel room search. Of this group, 67 percent continued online to make their booking (on either the hotel’s page or a third-party site), 26 percent made telephone calls, and the remainder used travel agents or walked in to book rooms. Earlier research indicates that the personal contacts (notably by phone) are aimed at negotiating a price lower than that found online. For those booking electronically, hotel websites were used most commonly by this group of respondents (37 percent), following by third-party sites (30 percent) and opaque auction sites (25 percent). In contrast to studies from the early 1990s, this study found that women have surpassed men in information search activities. Also, those who purchased hotel rooms online trended toward being younger, having higher incomes, and purchasing more room-nights than those who used traditional distribution channels. Although the study findings cannot be generalized because of the sampling procedure, it is clear that a substantial number of travelers use the internet for search only, and then book another way (usually by phone). Women conduct much more research regarding potential hotels and rates than do men. Hotels’ own websites remain the first choice for booking rooms, but opaque auction sites are almost as popular as regular third-party sites. For this sample, Priceline and other similar sites accounted for 25 percent of all bookings. Finally, even those travelers who did not use the internet for any purpose in connection with their hotel stay still had a relatively favorable opinion of the concept of online booking.

Future Trends in the Hospitality Industry: An Analysis From the Consumers’ Point of View

“…Table 5 reveals that past experiences appear as the most important source (4.32), followed by customer review sites (4.25) and websites of the hotels (4.12). Consumers first use internal sourcestheir past experiencesand then external sources, with the Internet being the most relevant one, especially review and hotel websites, thus corroborating the literature, which indicates that the search for consumer information begins in memories (Fodness and Murray, 1999;Chen and Gursoy, 2000) and later on external sources, being the Internet the main external source (Toh et al, 2011;Xiang et al, 2014). In addition, there is a considerable number of respondents (31%) that do not use travel agencies as a source of information, and their importance by those who use them is not very high (2.95).…”

“…Buttle (1991), in turn, states that one of the advantages of studying consumer behavior is the ability to predict and control demand more efficiently. Consumer decision-making, seen as a complex process in the tourism sector given its intangible characteristics (Zeithaml et al, 1985;Swarbrooke and Horner, 2007), has distinct phases that are interrelated and influenced by personal factors, such as age or occupation (Mathieson and Wall, 1982), and external factors that are neither controlled by the tourists nor by the supply side, such as strikes, climate, diseases or wars (Swarbrooke and Horner, 2007;Wall and Mathieson, 2006). Motivations are considered determinants of consumer behaviour since they are the driving force that compels tourists to travel (Baloglu and Uysal, 1996).…”

“…In this way, initially it has a general section about what type of hotels the consumer has most used in the previous two years, and what motivations have most often led to their stay. The second part relates to issues concerning the planning process (Gronflaten, 2009;Jun et al, 2010;Sparks and Browning, 2011;Toh et al, 2011;Vermeulen and Seegers, 2009;Xiang et al, 2014;Xiang and Gretzel, 2010), reservation (Crnojevac et al, 2010;Dolnicar and Otter, 2003;Lockyer, 2005;Murphy et al, 2016;Toh et al, 2011), satisfaction (Ananth et al, 1992;Atkinson, 1988;Chen, 2014;Chu and Choi, 2000;Dolnicar and Otter, 2003;Saleh and Ryan, 1992;Yavas and Babakus, 2003), recommendation (Lopes, 2015;Serra Cantallops and Salvi, 2014;Yen and Tang, 2015), and perspectives on what the consumer considers to be the future of hotels (Amadeus, 2010; Lopez et al, 2013;Yeoman, 2006Yeoman, , 2012. The questionnaire ends with a section related to the sociodemographic profile of the respondent.…”

“…It is, therefore, relevant to analyze two dimensions: the trends that result from changes at the consumer level and the trends emerging from the external environment that influence tourism, for example by changing available resources, demand patterns or legislation (Costa andBuhalis, 2006a, 2006b). In this context, the area of consumer behavior becomes essential to know the tourists and their decision making, allowing the definition of guidelines to develop, promote and sell tourism products (Swarbrooke and Horner, 2007).…”

An investigation of multiple devices and information sources used in the hotel booking process

“…Internal sources are dependent on personal experiences and knowledge and external sources tend to be commercially based and marketdominated. The Internet is now the most important external source of information for travel planning and hotel booking (Jun, Vogt, & MacKay, 2010;Toh, DeKay, & Raven, 2011;Xiang & Gretzel, 2010;Xiang, Wang, O'Leary, & Fesenmaier, 2014). Customers search and consult information sources prior to booking accommodation more frequently than other travel related products (Jun, Vogt, & MacKay, 2007).…”