Progress in information technology and tourism management: 20 years on and 10 years after the Internet—The state of eTourism research

This paper reviews the published articles on eTourism in the past 20 years. Using a wide variety of sources, mainly in the tourism literature, this paper comprehensively reviews and analyzes prior studies in the context of Internet applications to Tourism. The paper also projects future developments in eTourism and demonstrates critical changes that will influence the tourism industry structure. A major contribution of this paper is its overview of the research and development efforts that have been endeavoured in the field, and the challenges that tourism researchers are, and will be, facing

Perceived recourse and redress risk (PRRR): conceptualisation and preliminary scale development

Prior to purchase, consumers expect that retailers are able to handle their complaints and resolve problems effectively. However, consumers’ efforts in seeking proper recourse and redress often end in frustration. This has given rise to consumers’ perceived lack of effective and efficient complaint management systems, creating a barrier to purchasing – this is termed “Perceived Recourse and Redress Risk” (PRRR). This research posited that existing purchase risk dimensions – performance, financial, privacy, physical, psychological, social, time, and convenience risks – do not adequately capture consumers’ PRRR as a barrier to purchase, and formal scales for measuring constructs that are directly central to recourse and redress failures do not exist. This research discovered the types of risk related to consumers’ PRRR and investigated the potentially risky purchase contexts that influence the salience of PRRR. New items were developed to measure these aspects of perceived risk. From the experiments, consumers perceived a higher level of PRRR when they used an interactive complaint channel compared to when they used a remote complaint channel to seek redress; a higher PRRR for online purchases compared to offline purchases; and a higher PRRR for purchases that involved a foreign retailer compared to purchases from a locally owned retailer. Purchase platform and consumers’ level of ethnocentrism did not moderate the impact of both complaint channel and retailer’s country of origin on consumers’ level of PRRR. Dimensions of PRRR such as “Unreturned”, “Transferred”, “Inaction”, and “No Action due to Policy” showed more consistent significant effects than other dimensions such as “Invalid”, “Rudeness”, “Extended Delay”, and “Incompetence”. This research shed light on effective complaint management systems and suggests that certain changes in the way complaints are handled could result in different and more desirable consumer behaviours, so affecting consumer loyalty

Reactions of Generation Y to Luxury Hotel Twitter Promotions

Social media refers to the means of interactions among people in which they create, share, and exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks (Merriam-Webster, 2013). Social media marketing refers to the process of gaining website traffic or attention through social media sites (Evans, 2008). In today’s society, social media refers mainly to websites including (but not limited to) Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+. The most popular and fastest growing of these social media venues is Twitter. Twitter was founded in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, and Biz Stone. Since 2006, almost 200 million users across the globe have joined the site; over 140 million tweets are “tweeted” daily (Picard, 2011). Twitter took advantage of a niche in the market, allowing 140 characters to express an idea or emotion. Twitter has changed the media world as a news source, tweeting real-time information from stories that arise (Picard, 2011). In the lodging industry, methods of social media to promote hotels are becoming more popular. Twitter, in particular, has emerged as a “moment of truth” for a hotel, demonstrating how instantly and tactfully hotels react to the thoughts and opinions of former, current, and potential guests. Studies have also suggested that “online social life mirrors offline relationships in many ways” (Moore, p. 440). Therefore, Twitter accounts should be viewed as an extension of the hospitality business, in particular lodging, echoing the relationship a customer would feel upon arrival to the hotel. Hotel marketing teams have reached “great success by driving demand to hotels through increased online advertising and web optimization” (Chipkin, 2013). This has increased overall customer views of the hotel without affecting the rate strategy of the property or brand. Twitter presence could, potentially, help a patron decide between two hotels, “If a promotion, experience or package is unique, it definitely works to generate bookings and helps put you first in a consumer’s mind when they are choosing between two or three hotels,” says Rachel Harrison of Hyatt Andaz (Chipkin, 2013). Hotel companies worldwide are investing in their social media networks. Certain hotels (i.e. W Barcelona) are even hiring social media and marketing managers whose responsibilities include instant Twitter feedback (Appendix 1). The purpose behind this investment is to maximize these social media accounts, creating feedback from all potential guests, allowing them to react to both positive and negative word of mouth. Social media managers have recently encountered an opportunity; Generation Y is becoming a target demographic. As Generation Y enters the workforce and begins a career, the exposure to hotel brands and types will increase. Luxury hotel stays are becoming more financially reachable to these Generation Y guests because of their career advancements (Fields, 2013). This study will serve to evaluate the added benefits from the adoption of social media channels, particularly Twitter

Complaints management 2.0: dealing with unhappy customers when everybody has an audience

This report examines customer complaint management practices in an era where customers expect instant action from companies and, if service does not meet their expectations, they do not hesitate to voice their disappointment in both public and private arenas. This research includes an extensive literature review of both academic and practitioner sources in order to identify best practice for complaint management in the business to consumer environment. Four key steps in developing a comprehensive complaints management strategy have been identified. The first step is about developing an effective approach to complaint management by understanding how, and why, customers voice their dissatisfaction. This needs to be followed by having the right procedures in place to facilitate customers’ access to the organisation in order to streamline customer interaction and to optimise the outcome for the company and the customer. Thirdly, companies need to take a strategic view of complaint management giving it equal weight to other marketing strategy initiatives such as customer satisfaction targets and loyalty programs. The fourth and final step is to identify and measure the benefits of complaint management along with its associated costs in order to ensure the appropriate allocation of resources required not only to track improvements but also to communicate the importance of consistent complaint management processes across all levels of the organisation. Without a thorough understanding of the costs and benefits of a comprehensive complaint management system it is difficult to engage the organisation at the strategic level. Addressing complaint management strategically provides coherence, unity and integration with the myriad policies and procedures that make up the smooth and successful running of an organisation. Coherence is needed to meet the expectations of customers who want seamless interaction with the organisation and who are increasingly likely to voice their dissatisfaction through the highly visible mechanisms of social media such as blogs or twitter feeds. This research concludes that both researchers and practitioners need to develop a solid understanding of the potential benefits and financial implications of managing complaints in a timely and satisfactory manner. In order to do this it is necessary to monitor performance and close the gap between strategic goals and customer behaviour. They also need to understand the barriers to complaining faced by less confident and less vocal, customers, so that the business can gain a true and holistic view of its customer service operation. Finally, social media platforms need to be integrated into the portfolio of communication channels available to organisations and customers alike in order to develop the power of electronic word of mouth

Digital marketing strategies on retail sector in Cali

Currently, the society is immersed in knowledge. The global economy has transformed, the main assets now are neither physical nor financial, but are intellectuals. Knowledge and ideas are driving the extent of growth in economy, rather than by traditional resources of the earth, such as, raw materials, labor and capital. As a result, there is a need to take better advantage of knowledge, understanding it as a key factor for social development that allows to strengthen the competitiveness of organizations. Although, it is essential to highlight that in the present, the approach towards online shopping trends is taking great impact in organizations, where it is necessary to direct the processes of both products and services. Thus, leading to entities regulators select to create standards for those organizations that are in the process of launching a product or service to the market, comply with the quality standards for online sale and thus not avert the consumer. The most popular marketing variables are product, price, place and promotion, known as 4 Ps. Depending on the purpose of each company, a combination of variables may be resulting in the ideal marketing mix in order to reach consumers and position a product. However, an appropriate strategy to attract a segment of customers and achieve retain a profit long term may be the most important (Kotler, 2007). Moreover, traditional marketing channels have been replaced or complemented by the Internet. Online platforms are developed where businesses can move into more competitive markets, record more information and measure faster the effectiveness of strategy. New media are emerged supported by Information technologies a using the 4 Ps world in order to reach final consumers (Cruz Herradon, 2009).PregradoADMINISTRADOR(A) DE EMPRESA

Distributing Real Time Data From a Multi-Node Large Scale Contact Center Using Corba

This thesis researches and evaluates the current technologies available for developing a system for propagation of Real-Time Data from a large scale Enterprise Server to large numbers of registered clients on the network. The large scale Enterprise Server being implemented is a Contact Centre Server, which can be a standalone system or part of a multi-nodal system. This paper makes three contributions to the study of scalable real-time notification services. Firstly, it defines the research of the different technologies and their implementation for distributed objects in today\u27s world of computing. Secondly, the paper explains how we have addressed key design challenges faced when implementing a Notification Service for TAO, which is our CORBA-compliant real-time Object Request Broker (ORB). The paper shows how to integrate and configure CORBA features to provide real-time event communication. Finally, the paper analyzes the results of the implementation and how it compares to existing technologies being used for the propagation of Real-Time Data