ANALYSIS OF FACTORS INFLUENCING TRAVEL CONSUMER SATISFACTION AS REVEALED BY ONLINE COMMUNICATION PLATFORMS

The objective of the present empirical study is to determine the factors influencing the tourism consumer satisfaction, as it results from the evaluations posted on virtual platforms. The communication platform chosen as study is the Romanian website Amfostacolo.ro. In this case, the travel consumer satisfaction is expressed by the score of the ratings posted on the virtual platform Amfostacolo.ro and the decision to recommend or not the unit / destination. Considering the peculiarities of the communication platform studied, the elements influencing the score indicating satisfaction there can be identified as components of tourism supply and the characteristics of the reviewer. Data processing has been carried out with ordinary least squares (OLS), structural equation modeling (confirmatory factor analysis, path analysis), cluster analisys and polytomous logistic regression. The results broadly confirm the hypotheses, namely that: the type of stay and the age of the reviewer influence the satisfaction of the consumer more than the destination and number of stars of the accommodation, the age group of the reviewer influences the destination yet it is uncertain about the influence of the variables related to the holiday (the type of stay and the number of stars of the accommodation), the meal service influences more than other attributes the consumer satisfaction and the recommendation of the reviewer is influenced by the characteristics related to his person and the holiday consumed

Operationalization of importance-performance analysis with nine categories and tested for green practices and financial evaluation

The Importance-Performance Analysis is a widely used diagnostic tool in many fields of economic activity, such as: transport, health, construction, public food industry, finance, banking, sustainable activities, etc. Despite its use for over 40 years in many economic and social fields, this tool has some important drawbacks that affect the accuracy of managerial decisions. Over time, many variants for improving the standard Importance-performance matrix have been proposed. The aim of our research is to propose a method to solve one of the biggest problems of the standard Importance-Performance Analysis, respectively a method of boosting confidence in the positioning of attributes in the matrix. We use a mathematical method, inspired by classification theory tools, to apply the nine categories division of attributes in the importance-performance plane. Moreover, we introduce a level of confidence in a nine categories Importance-performance matrix, which helps the practitioners to prioritize a decision on attributes, according to the resources, managerial plan, competition, etc. We test and discuss the effectiveness of the new method on two studies: on the green practices in educational restaurant operations and on the financial performance evaluation. First published online 06 October 202