ABSTRACT
The wide usage of internet on smart devices
and personal computers has made online reservation a predominant method to book
a hotel room. It is important for hotel booking sites to know the factors
influencing the customers’ intension through their websites. Exploratory study
is done initially to identify the factors that the customers to book a hotel
through online hotel booking sites and factors found are price, convenience, range
of choices, online consumer communities’, quality of online information, service
quality attributes such as website design, reliability, responsiveness, ease of
use, security with regard to online transactions and personal information. Hotel
booking sites/apps are important tools for the customer to search and decide on
which hotel to stay. The main aim of the paper was to understand the factors
influencing in booking a hotel through online hotel booking sites/apps and it
has been done by reviewing past research papers and by findings gaps from it
and then making a research proposal with specific objectives, scope, and framing
a hypothesis was tested on SPSS. The structured questionnaire was prepared to
collect data about personal information and subject of the study. The results
found that price/promotions, convenience, range of choices and quality of
information would actually influence the customers more. Consumer communities
and social influence (Friends, peers and relatives etc.) was found to be greater
in association with consumers’ intentions toward online hotel reservations and
majority of the customers feel that the companies may misuse their personal
information. The quality of the information provided on the hotel booking
website is crucial.
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Key
words: Price (Sales promotion), convenience, consumer communities and
service quality attributes.
I.
Introduction
Today, many people use Internet to carry out their
business because due to tremendous growth in the use of world wide web all over
the world. Hotel website provides huge opportunities for the hoteliers to
generate more revenue by increasing the number of reservation through their own
direct booking websites. However, researches have shown that the hotel
customers prefer to compare the hotel room price from multiple travel websites,
rather than looking at the hotel website only. Hotel booking sites/apps are important tools for the customer to
search and decide on which hotel to stay. The promotion offers on the website
are the most influential factor in enhancing hotel sales. The specialty about
online booking sites is that it has become the essential venue for customer to
access information on price and customers review about the hotel. The
main objective of the present study is to determine the important factors
influencing in booking a hotel through online hotel booking sites/apps. And
also to determine the dominant factors which are influencing the most in
encouraging online hotel booking sites/apps. Some popular online hotel booking websites/apps
in India include Oyo Rooms, Trivago.
Goibibo, Clear Trip, Make my trip and yatra.com. Oyo Rooms is a startup in
the Hotel Booking Industry but is growing at a relatively faster pace. Price
transparency of online channels adds more pressure to hotel room rates and
thereby forces hotels to keep rate parity in all channels, keep online rates as
low as possible, or provide “low price guarantees” on online hotel booking websites.
Researches indicate most consumers are concerned with acquiring good value for
their money instead of solely seeking the lowest possible price.
II.
Literature
Review
Asilah Emir (2006) has made an attempt to understand the factors influencing the
customers’ intention to book a hotel accommodation online. The study undertaken
to investigate the factors influencing customers’ intention to adopt online
hotel booking website from Stimulus-Organism-Response perspective. He found
that the stimuli lead to perceived value and which in turn directs towards
purchase intension.
Sue-Lynn Saw, Yen-Nee
Goh, Salmi Mohd Isa (2017) have made an attempt to investigate the determinants
of consumers’ intentions toward online hotel reservations. Specifically, this
study intended to explore whether perceived price, trust, social influence and prior
online experience have any significant effect on consumers’ intentions toward
online hotel reservations. They found that that perceived price, trust, prior
online purchase experience and perceived risk are related to customers’
intentions toward online hotel reservation while social influence was found to
have no significant influence in this regard.
Mr. Nikhil Monga1 (2012) has made an attempt to understand online consumer behavior and to
analyze consumers’ motivation and intention to search and book hotel deals
through online travel intermediaries. To
measure the cognitive, emotional and social factors that influenced motivation
and also how motivation mediated these factors toward booking intention. His
found that the consumers’ attitudes and perception were two substantial factors
that influenced motivation to book hotel deals online, which in turn, impacted
their future intention.
Kin Man Chow (2017)
has made an attempt to examine how web design, responsiveness,
reliability, enjoyment, ease of use, security, and customization influence
e-service quality of online hotel booking agencies in Hong Kong. He found that the online hotel booking
companies can concentrate their resources to these identified dimensions, in
particularly through web design and customization, to achieve the desired level
of e-service quality. This study has practical implications to online hotel
booking agencies on how to enhance their e-services quality.
Sungsik Yoon (2011)
has made an attempt to study the effect of five e-service quality dimensions on
user’s perceived value, satisfaction and intention to re-use hotel booking Web
sites. Also, this study compares the results of two types of hotel reservation
Web sites (hotel-owned vs. OTA web sites). The study provided marketers a
better understanding of both the strengths and weaknesses of their web pages,
so they can make appropriate strategies for the distribution channel. Thus,
marketers are likely to improve their effectiveness in motivating travelers to
reserve a room on their web pages
III.
Objectives
of The Study
The objectives of this study are
·
To identify the factors influencing in
booking hotel through online hotel booking sites/apps.
·
To understand the dominant factors which
influence the most in booking a hotel through online hotel booking sites/apps.
IV.
Scope of The Study
The
study aims at understanding the factors influencing in booking a hotel through
online hotel booking sites/apps and assessing them based on factors such as
price, convenience, range of choices, online consumer communities’, quality of
online information, service quality attributes such as website design,
reliability, responsiveness, ease of use, security with regard to online
transactions and personal information. The factor service quality is also
considered by knowing service quality attributes (Web design, responsiveness,
reliability, enjoyment, ease of use, security) to understand the service
quality as a factor for going online. The hotel booking websites/apps: Oyo
Rooms, Trivago. Goibibo, Clear Trip, Make my trip. Yatra.com etc.
Place:
Bangalore and Hyderabad
Duration: From October 2017 – December 2017 i.e. 3
months
V.
Hypothesis
The following hypothesis have been made.
1. Ho:
There is no significant impact of price (sales promotions) on purchases
intention of the customer towards online hotel booking sites/apps.
H1: There is a significant impact of
price/sales promotion on purchases intention of the customer towards online
hotel booking sites/apps.
2. Ho:
There is no significant impact of Consumer communities on purchase intension of
a customer towards online hotel booking sites/apps.
H1: There is a significant impact of Consumer
communities on purchase intension of a customer towards online hotel booking
sites/apps.
Hypothesis testing is carried out with a significance
level of 0.05
VI.
Data
and Methodology
Descriptive research
was adopted in carrying out this study. However exploratory study is done
initially to identify the factors that the customers to book a hotel through
online hotel booking sites. The primary data obtained using Questionnaire. The
population consists the respondents have already booked the hotel through
online hotel booking sites/apps.
Data Collection
Primary Data
Structured
questionnaire was set to obtain personal information (gender, age, occupation,
level of education and income group) on respondents and then asked questions to
understand the key factors influencing in booking a hotel through online hotel
booking sites & apps.
Secondary data
Secondary
Data The secondary data is being collected from various sources like Google,
Wikipedia, research papers, journals, articles, Newspapers, websites.
Sampling
Sample
design – Non
probability sampling
Convenience Sampling
Sample unit – The
customers who have booked a hotel through online hotel booking sites/apps including employees, students pursuing
higher education and business people.
Sample Size – 125
Statistical
Tool
The statistical tool used to do hypothesis-testing is
Chi-square, used to analyse data and to test the statistical significance of
the observed association in a cross tabulation. It assists in determining
whether a systematic association exists between two variables.
SPSS and MS excel are used to analyze the data.
VII.
Analysis,
Results and Discussions
Table No.1
From
the above table it can be observed that no of respondents who have participated
in the survey are 125 of which majority mentioned that the above factors are
very important. It can be inferred that Price, convenience and security with
regard to online transaction are very important, as sales promotion,
flexibility in booking, safer online transactions will influence the majority
of the customers.
Testing the Hypothesis
Ho: There is no significant impact of price (sales
promotions) on purchases intention of the customer towards online hotel booking
sites/apps.
H1: There is a significant impact of price/sales
promotions on purchases intention of the customer towards online hotel booking
sites/apps.
Hypothesis Test-I
Table
4.29: Hypothesis Testing-I
Case Processing Summary
Cases
Valid
Missing
Total
N
Percent
N
Percent
N
Percent
How often the respondent book a hotel online every year * Price
or Promotions
125
100.0%
0
0.0%
125
100.0%
How often the respondent book a hotel online every year * Price
or Promotions Cross tabulation
Price
or Promotions
Total
Not
important
Slightly
important
Fairly
important
Important
Very
important
How often the respondent book a hotel online every year
Once in a year
1
0
5
5
8
19
2 – 3 times
1
8
7
12
11
39
3 – 4 times
0
1
3
2
5
11
4 – 5 times
0
1
0
5
4
10
As and when required
0
1
5
4
36
46
Total
2
11
20
28
64
125
Chi-Square
Tests
Value
df
Asymptotic
Significance (2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square
37.467a
16
.002
Likelihood Ratio
40.302
16
.001
Linear-by-Linear Association
14.608
1
.000
N of Valid Cases
125
Interpretation:
Since significance value, 0.002 is less than 0.05 so
we reject the null hypothesis and accept the alternate hypothesis, as price or
sales promotions play a significant role on purchase intension of the customer
towards online hotel booking sites/apps.
Hypothesis
Test-II
Ho: There is no significant impact of Consumer
communities on purchase intension of a customer towards online hotel booking
sites/apps.
H1: There is a significant impact of Consumer
communities on purchase intension of a customer towards online hotel booking
sites/apps.
Table
4.30: Hypothesis Testing-II
Case Processing Summary
Cases
Valid
Missing
Total
N
Percent
N
Percent
N
Percent
How often the respondent book a hotel online every year *
Consumer communities such as trip adviser, Holiday IQ would influence
decision making ?
125
100.0%
0
0.0%
125
100.0%
How often the respondent book a hotel online every year *
Consumer communities such as trip adviser, Holiday IQ would influence
decision making? cross tabulation
Consumer
communities such as trip adviser, Holiday IQ would influence decision making
?
Total
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Strongly
agree
How often the respondent book a hotel online every year
Once in a year
4
7
5
3
0
19
2 – 3 times
0
2
15
16
6
39
3 – 4 times
0
0
4
6
1
11
4 – 5 times
0
0
2
7
1
10
As and when required
1
7
10
22
6
46
Total
5
16
36
54
14
125
Chi-Square Tests
Value
df
Asymptotic
Significance (2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square
40.955a
16
.001
Likelihood Ratio
39.522
16
.001
Linear-by-Linear Association
7.076
1
.008
N of Valid Cases
125
Interpretation:
Since significance value, 0.001 is less than 0.05 so
we reject the null hypothesis and accept the alternate hypothesis, as there is
a significant impact of consumer communities on purchase intension of a
customer towards online hotel booking sites/apps.
VIII.
Conclusion
From the above research, it can be
concluded that price/promotions,
convenience, range of choices and quality of information would actually
influence the customers more. Consumer communities and social influence
(Friends, peers and relatives etc.) was found to be greater in association with
consumers’ intentions toward online hotel reservations and majority of the
customers feel that the companies may misuse their personal information. The quality
of the information provided on the hotel booking website is crucial. Hotel
customers should be able to search the related information conveniently. The
hotel’s product or service information must be accurate, easy to be understood,
updated and comprehensive. The online booking website should also be
interactive by allowing two-ways communication between the website user and the
booking website. Website user should be able to control their browsing
experience themselves. Besides, interactive technology should be responsive to
the website user by providing fast feedback on any inquiries and in performing
online transactions.
References
1. Asilah Emir, Hazwani Halim, Asyikin Hedre, Dahlan
Abdullah*, Azila Azmi, Saiful Bahri Mohd Kamal, Factors Influencing Online
Hotel Booking Intention: A Conceptual
Framework from Stimulus-Organism-Response Perspective, February 2013.
2. Sue-Lynn Saw, Yen-Nee Goh and Salmi Mohd Isa,
Exploring consumers’ intention toward online hotel reservations: insights from
Malaysia. Problems and Perspectives in Management (open-access), 2015.
3. Nikhil Monga, To Study Consumer Behavior While
Booking Hotel Through Online Sites, May 2016.
4. Kin Man Chow1*, E-service Quality: A Study of
Online Hotel Booking Websites in Hong Kong, July 2017.
5. Sungsik Yoon, Effects of e-Service Quality on
Perceived Value, Satisfaction, and Reuse Intentions in Online Hotel Booking:
Evaluating Hotel-owned and OTAs’ Web sites, 2011.
6. Cliff Lampe, Rick Wash, Alcides Velasquez, Elif
Ozkaya, Motivations to Participate in Online Communities, 2010.
