Search Results (2)

Since outdoor air pollutants may penetrate into hotels, indoor air quality (IAQ) has recently developed as an important criterion for tourists’ decision to choose traveling destinations and for business travelers to select accommodation. Thus, some hoteliers have raised concerns about the negative effects of emerging air quality issues on guests’ experience and are willing to invest in improving the IAQ. Unlike the hotel’s currently offered services and products which are observable, the improved IAQ is almost invisible and the mitigation technology of air pollutants is new to hoteliers, consumers and researchers in tourism. Hence, the search and understanding of the relationship of signals communicating hotel’s effort on air quality enhancement and booking intention plus the mediating and moderating factors become the main objective of the research and can fill the knowledge gap plus meet the practical need. The study found that the more reinforced IAQ effort included in the website presentation, the higher the travelers’ booking intention. The travelers’ trust in the hotel partially mediated the relationship between travelers’ perception of reinforced IAQ effort input by hoteliers and their booking intention. Further, the study finds that the enhancement of online booking intention does exist in a segment of travelers who are high health-conscious. Additionally, the influence of health-conscious traveler’s perception of hotel IAQ enhancement effort via the portal on the dependent variable—hotel booking intention was statistically significant. The findings enable hotel managers to have a deeper understanding of the relationship between the potential customers’ booking intention on hotel rooms and the online marketing communication signals mediated by their trust in the hotel’s cleaning air effort. The results can serve as a reference for designing more effective marketing communication programs and channels for hotels’ endeavor to improve indoor air quality, especially sustaining the tourism development in the post-epidemic era. Additionally, the study unveils some applied measures in improving hotel air quality not being documented in hospitality and tourism journals. Full article

Today, social media have become a major trend, and consumers are engaging more and more in the social media platforms used by hotels. This does not mean that they book a hotel room via social media, as the booking process is a complex one. The paper investigates the factors that affect users’ intention to book a hotel room using social media applications. The recent enforcement of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in California may have an impact on consumers’ behavior. To investigate this further, the study integrates into a model the following constructs: Perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, trust in online hoteliers, social media use, and permission-based-acceptance. The survey was conducted on Greek users of social media. An online questionnaire was used for data collection. The conceptual model was tested using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis. The study identified four factors that directly or indirectly influence consumers’ intention to book hotel rooms through social media. Usefulness directly affects intention to book online. Permission-based acceptance plays a core role in the model. Both constructs trust in online hoteliers and social media use, and have a direct positive effect on permission-based acceptance, whereas permission-based acceptance has a direct positive influence on intention to book through social media. The validated model stretches the need for hoteliers to obtain permission from consumers in carrying out their marketing activities. It is important for hotel owners, managers, and social media specialists to keep consumers in mind, offer them useful information and services, and have a trustworthy behavior in order to boost bookings through social media. Full article