Motivations for Visiting Hotel Websites: Chinese versus International Consumers
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Date
2011
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Adnan Menderes University
Abstract
The online travel industry has attracted great interest from academics and
practitioners, with the hospitality industry being identified as one of the most popular
research topics in the field. Many researchers have evaluated websites and considered
ways of improving their quality. However, limited research has considered the cultural
aspect of a website’s performance. Chinese consumers, in particular, have not received
sufficient attention, and most published articles are focused on the Western context.
This study uses qualitative methods to investigate the perceptions of Chinese users’ on
hotel websites, and to identify their requirements for using those websites. Chinese
consumers require six unique factors: employment/internal staff list with photos,
message board/bulletin board service, one-to-one online services, celebrity stays
recorded, unique design of the website’s logo, and a Chinese version of a hotel website.
The perceptions and requirements of international users were also considered and
compared to those of their Chinese counterparts. The findings also revealed differences
in preferences between Chinese and international website users.
Description
Journal of Travel and Tourism Research, Fall 2011
Keywords
Hotel website, China, Chinese consumer, Perceptions, Motivation