Referencial para a caracterização de websites de hotéis de acordo com as necessidades dos consumidores

Online presence is essential for tourism organisations, and the quality of websites can influence customers. In the case of hotels, there are many studies to evaluate website performance based on functionality, usability and other factors, much less on the amount of different information available to the consumer. In the near future by using Big Data it is expected that hotel websites will be dynamic, they will adapt themselves on-the-fly, showing personalized information to each consumer. Different consumers will have different websites (information? available) from the same hotel. This paper presents a framework for the characterisation of hotel websites, focusing on the amount of information available to the consumer in each website, which was applied in a case study during the last months of 2013 to the websites of five-star hotels that operate in the tourist region of the Algarve, Portugal. The framework allowed to identify a set of exhaustive indicators for hotel website characterisation, which were then grouped into ten fundamental information dimensions. These dimensions further fell into four dimension groups. Finally, it is presented and discussed quantitative and qualitative evaluations, that illustrates which indicators and dimensions are more often considered on hotel websites to satisfy the consumer?s information needs

A relevância do uso de Smartphones durante a experiência turística

Atualmente, para os turistas, os smartphones são imprescindíveis para a realização de uma viagem, quer para procurar informação, quer para comunicar com os amigos e os familiares, neste sentido, o presente artigo pretende investigar a importância dos smartphones para a experiência associada à viagem turística. Foi elaborado e aplicado um questionário on-line, com o objetivo de averiguar a opinião dos utilizadores de smartphones sobre a importância deste tipo de tecnologia e de que forma é utilizada. Após recolha dos dados, procedeu-se à sua limpeza e verificação para detetar as respostas válidas; em seguida, foram aplicadas as ferramentas de Business Intelligence integradas no Microsoft Excel. Como resultados, obteve-se que os turistas consideram relevantes a utilização destes dispositivos, que os utilizam preferencialmente para consultar informações sobre o destino turístico e pontos de interesse, bem como a rede social que mais utilizam é o TripAdvisor

WHO ARE THE TOURISTS SHARING CONTENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA? BEHAVIOUR AND CHARACTERISTICS

Increasingly, tourist information on the Internet comes from the content generated by users, being no longer limited to the communications of tourism professionals and government entities. At the same time, the comments, opinions and reviews made by consumers are the type of information which tourists value the most. This reality means that the Internet has become an extremely valuable source of information for prospective travelers. This study aims to identify and characterize the behavior patterns of tourists on social media during and after their travels, specifically: who are the tourists who create content, what leads them to have this initiative, and what behaviors stand out on each of these platforms. The methodology is based on a questionnaire survey, which was applied to tourists. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistical methods, cluster analysis and principal component analysis. It is possible to categorize tourists according to three perspectives regarding use of social media during and after the trip: those who prefer review websites, those who prefer social networks and those who don’t particularly use social media in general

Smatphone user segmentation based on trust mobile payment

The role of trust in mobile payment has been examined in different studies due to its importance in understanding consumer behaviour in mobile transactions,. This investigation contributes with a segmentation and a characterization of smartphone users based on their trust in mobile payment. Data was collected from 456 Spanish smartphone users and cluster analysis was employed to segment Spanish respondents. The results indicate that Spanish smartphone users can be classified into three segments depending on their trust in mobile payment. In terms of the characterization of each category, it is found that they present different demographics characteristics. While men, users aged between 25 and 34 and self-employed are overrepresented in users with high trust in mobile payment, women and users older than 45 years are overrepresented in users with low trust in mobile payment. The identified segments will allow companies to adapt their segmentation strategies.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech