{"id":1902,"date":"2016-12-21T07:17:17","date_gmt":"2016-12-21T07:17:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.ift.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/?p=1902"},"modified":"2017-05-21T09:27:47","modified_gmt":"2017-05-21T08:27:47","slug":"the-rise-of-online-hotel-booking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/the-rise-of-online-hotel-booking\/","title":{"rendered":"The rise of online hotel booking"},"content":{"rendered":"\u4e2d\u6587\u6458\u8981 \/ Summary in Chinese<\/span>\n

The use of online tools to book accommodation in luxury hotels in Macao is expanding rapidly, offering hoteliers a new avenue for business growth. A study involving a scholar from IFT concluded that more than half of those staying at 5-star hotels in the city had made their reservations through the Internet.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe findings suggest a bright future for the online market in Macao,\u201d the researchers said.<\/p>\n

The study was conducted by IFT scholar Dr. Qi Shanshan, in collaboration with Dr. Rob Law from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Dr. Dimitrios Buhalis of Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom. The results were featured in their academic paper \u201cWho booked five-star hotels in Macau? A study of hotel guests\u2019 online booking intention\u201d, published in the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management.<\/p>\n

Despite the growth of online hotel bookings in Macao, the scholars said \u201coffline users\u201d \u2013 those still using traditional methods to book a room \u2013 should \u201cnot be ignored by the tourism industry\u201d. The researchers suggested that hotel firms should \u201cconsider using product promotions to maintain a balance between attracting both online and offline consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The study found that \u201ca majority of offline consumers do not trust the Internet and prefer to purchase from a travel agency to obtain more information and get a cheaper price.\u201d In addition, these consumers considered online booking was complicated and inconvenient, the findings showed. \u201cIn the light of this, [hotels] should make an effort to create online booking systems which are easier to use and have more comprehensive content, and, more importantly, emphasise convenience and safety,\u201d the scholars suggested.<\/p>\n

As of December 2016, there were 36,300 hotel rooms in Macao. Of these about 21,800 \u2013 or 60 percent of the total \u2013 where located in 5-star hotels, according to data from the city\u2019s Statistics and Census Service. At that date, the city had a total of 32 5-star hotels, the majority connected to casino properties.<\/p>\n

Different profiles<\/strong><\/p>\n

The research paper was based on a large-scale survey involving 1,036 hotel guests. The interviews were collected in the entrance area of 18 5-star hotels in Macao, randomly selected from a list from the local tourism bureau. Most of the respondents were from Asia, particularly from Mainland China (48.6 percent of the total) and Hong Kong (23.6 percent).<\/p>\n

Among the respondents, 57.5 percent stated they had purchased their hotel stay online, while 42.5 percent had used other channels. A total of 82.3 percent of the total respondents indicated that before their trip they had searched online for hotel information. This meant a portion of those people who had used offline methods for hotel booking had used the Internet to search for accommodation information.<\/p>\n

The study found significant differences between people who had booked their rooms online and those who had used offline channels instead. The latter \u201ctended to be male, older, less educated, and earn less,\u201d the researchers stated.<\/p>\n

Consumers booking rooms online, on the other hand, were more likely to be female and aged between 18 and 44, the study found. \u201cIn terms of age and education, most respondents who had booked online were young and had a college degree,\u201d the scholars noted.<\/p>\n

Most of those who had booked their room online used the hotel\u2019s own website, according to the study findings. Visitors from Mainland China were strongly represented in this group of consumers. Ranked second in importance as sources of bookings were online travel intermediates and travel websites such as C-trip, Agoda or Booking.com.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese findings imply that even though hotel websites are beginning to become prominent in the Macao online hotel market, there is still a place for online travel agencies,\u201d the scholars wrote.<\/p>\n

Respondents who had searched for hotel information online but did not make a booking via the Internet were generally male and aged between 25 and 34. The majority had a college degree and earned over RMB10,501 (MOP12,200) per month.<\/p>\n

The findings also showed that for most online users, hotel websites were the most popular information search channel. Blogs (travel diaries) and travel agency websites were other popular channels for information.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

More info<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
The researchers<\/div>\nDr. Qi Shanshan is an Invited Assistant Professor at IFT. She earned a doctorate from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2011. Prior to joining IFT in 2012, she taught in Hong Kong and Europe. Dr. Qi\u2019s research interests include computer technology applications in tourism, and tourism\/hospitality website evaluations.<\/p>\n

Dr. Rob Law has worked in Canada and Hong Kong in both industry and academia. He joined the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 1995: he is currently a Professor at the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at that university. He holds a doctorate in computer science from the University of Regina, in Canada. Dr. Law has received many research-related awards and honours, as well as several external and internal research grants.<\/p>\n

Professor Dr. Dimitrios Buhalis is a strategic management and marketing expert, with a specialisation in technology and tourism. He is currently Director of the eTourism Lab at the School of Tourism at Bournemouth University, in the United Kingdom. He has had visiting appointments at higher education institutions in France, Hong Kong, Portugal and Austria. Dr. Buhalis holds a doctorate from University of Surrey, in Britain.
\n<\/div>\n

The paper<\/div>\n

Qi Shanshan, Rob Law and Dimitrios Buhalis: \u201cWho booked five-star hotels in Macau? A study of hotel guests\u2019 online booking intention\u201d, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management. Volume 20, pages 76-83, 2013.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1016\/j.jhtm.2013.05.002<\/a>
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The use of online tools to book accommodation in luxury hotels in Macao is expanding rapidly, offering hoteliers a new avenue for business growth. A study involving a scholar from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":1908,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[185,181,183,184,180,182],"class_list":["post-1902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-knowledge","tag-hospitality","tag-hotel-booking","tag-journal-of-hospitality-and-tourism-management","tag-luxury-hotel","tag-online-booking","tag-qi-shanshan"],"views":1345,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1902"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1911,"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1902\/revisions\/1911"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.utm.edu.mo\/NewsPortal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}