Customer-Preferences-for-Online--Social-Media--and

://cqx.sagepub.com/content/53/3/183Theonlineversionofthisarticlecanbefoundat: DOI:10.1177/1938965512445161201253:183originallypublishedonline15May2012CornellHospitalityQuarterlyRohitVerma,DebraStockandLauraMcCarthyCustomerPreferencesforOnline,SocialMedia,andMobileInnovationsintheHospitalityIndustry  Publishedby:  CornellUniversitySchoolofHotelAdministrationcanbefoundat:CornellHospitalityQuarterlyAdditionalservicesandinformationfor    : : : : : WhatisThis? -May15,2012OnlineFirstVersionofRecord -Jul16,2012VersionofRecordbybobchoionOctober28,2013cqx.sagepub.comDownloadedfrombybobchoionOctober28,2013cqx.sagepub.comDownloadedfrombybobchoionOctober28,2013cqx.sagepub.comDownloadedfrombybobchoionOctober28,2013cqx.sagepub.comDownloadedfrombybobchoionOctober28,2013cqx.sagepub.comDownloadedfromCornellHospitalityQuarterly53(3)183–186©TheAuthor(s)2012Reprintsandpermission:sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.navDOI:10.1177/1938965512445161(CHR)hasforthepastfouryearsbeeninvestigatingtheimpactofsocialmediaonthehospi-talityindustry,includingissuesrelatingtomarketinganddistributionbothinNorthAmericaandinternationally.Inadditiontoresearchstudies,wehaveorganizedtwointerna-tionalIndustryRoundtables,oneinSingaporeearlyin2010andtheotherin2012,inMumbai,India(seeVermaandSmith,2010).Intheseroundtables,welearnedthatpartici-pantsbelievethatthehospitalityoperatorsarecaughtbetweentheirefforttomeetthestandardsofinternationalratingorganizationsandtheneedtorespondtocommentsonsocialmediawebsites.Whilerecognizingthecomplexi-tiesandambiguitiessurroundingsocialmediaratings,theroundtableparticipantsconcludedthatthemostpowerfulpromotionaltooliswordofmouthfromafriend,andsocialmediaareanextensionofthishumannetwork.Acknowledgingtheambiguitiesandanxietysurroundingtheaboveissues,theCHRcommissionedaresearchprojecttoexploreconsumers’useoftechnologyforsearchandpur-chaseactivities,includingtheeffectsofusercommentsonallelectronicmedia.Wealsoexploredtheevolvingcus-tomerpreferencesforhospitality-relatedmobileapps.Afterreviewingpastresearchrelatedtohowcustomerssearchforandchoosehotelsonline(seeBodenlosetal.2010);therelationshipsbetweencustomers’demographicsandtheirtravelbehavior;thesimilaritiesanddifferencesbetweenbusinessandleisuretravelers;andtherelationshipbetweentravelpreferencesandindividuals’willingnesstoadoptnewtechnologies(seeVermaetal.2007),wecon-ductedin-depthinterviewswithindustryandacademicexpertstofurtherexpandtheideasidentifiedduringthelit-eraturereview.Wedevelopedandsentasurveytoabal-ancedsampleof4,000businessandleisurehotelcustomerswithintheUnitedStatesandreceivedatotalof2,830useableresponsesalmostevenlydividedbetweenmenandwomen,andwellbalancedgeographicallyanddemo-graphically(formoredetail,see:McCarthyetal.,2010).SearchPatternsofBusinessandLeisureTravelersWefoundthatthetopfactorinhotelchoiceforbusinesstravelersistherecommendationofthecompanyororgani-zation,citedby40percentofthebusinesstravelersinourstudy.Toalesserextent,businesstravelersdidconsultsearchenginesandmeta-searchsitestolearnaboutpoten-tialhotels.Instarkcontrast,thenumberonesourceofhotelinfor-mationforleisuretravelersistherecommendationsof1CornellUniversitySchoolofHotelAdministration,Ithaca,NY,USA2Expedia3TIGGlobalCorrespondingAuthor:RohitVerma,CornellUniversitySchoolofHotelAdministration,StatlerHall,Ithaca,NY14853,USAEmail:[e-mail]rOnline,SocialMedia,andMobileInnovationsintheHospitalityIndustryRohitVerma1,DebraStock2,andLauraMcCarthy3AbstractThestudydiscussedheresummarizestheinternetsearchpreferencesandmobiledeviceuseof2,830recenttravelers.Withregardtogatheringinformationforahotelstay,businesstravelersmostoftenfollowtheircompany’srecommendationforahotel,althoughmanyofthemusesearchenginesoronlinetravelagentstolearnmoreaboutavailablehotels.Incontrast,recommendationsoffriendsandcolleaguesaremostimportanttoleisuretravelers,followedbytravel-relatedwebsites,searchengines,andOTAs.Oncetheinformationisgathered,however,travelersofallkindsturnmoretosuchsourcesasthebrandwebsite,OTAs,andTripAdvisor.Lateinthedecisionprocess,therespondentstendedtolandonthebrandwebsitesorgotoanOTA,wheretheycanbooktheirroom.KeywordsTravelerpreferences,socialmedia184CornellHospitalityQuarterly53(3)friendsandfamily,whichwascitedbyhalfmalerespon-dentsandnearly60percentofwomen.Searchengines(Google,Yahoo,Bing),travel-relatedwebsites,andmeta-searchwebsiteswerealsoheavilyconsulted.Asafollow-up,therespondentswereaskedtoindicatewhichsocialmediaorcustomerreviewsitestheyco