Papers
Issues and Opportunities of Internet Hotel Marketing in Developing Countries
7. Au, N. and Ekiz, H. E. (2009), “Issues and Opportunities of Internet Hotel Marketing in Developing Countries”, Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing, Volume 26, Number 3, pp. 225-243.
ABSTRACT. Despite the continuously increasing number of published work on the use of the
Internet in tourism and hospitality literature, little has been written specifically on issues faced
by hoteliers in developing countries and how they could learn from other successful practices.
Indeed, analyzing the well performing destinations would provide useful insights for hoteliers in
less performing counterparts around the world so as to better exploit the advantages of Internet
technologies within their own constraints. Using Northern Cyprus and Hong Kong as examples,
this study attempts first to find out the typical issues and usage of Internet marketing in a less
developed tourist destination—Northern Cyprus, and compare the Internet-related practices
carried out by hotels in another well developed tourist destination—Hong Kong. A set of self administered
questionnaires were mailed to members of major hotel associations in both
locations. Results revealed that hoteliers in Hong Kong used the services of professionals in
designing their websites and launched their websites before their Cypriot counterparts. A
discussion of the findings, implications, and limitations are also given.
KEYWORDS. Internet marketing, websites, developing countries, hotels, Hong Kong,
Northern Cyprus
LikeFactors Influencing Organizational Responses to Guest Complaints: Cases of Hong Kong and Northern Cyprus
6. Ekiz, H. E. (2009), “Factors Influencing Organizational Responses to Guest Complaints: Cases of Hong Kong and Northern Cyprus”, Journal of Hospitality Marketing and Management, Volume 18, Number 6, pp. 539-573.
Every business aims at providing perfect service and satisfying
their customers to the fullest extent. However, mistakes and failures
are frequent occurrences in service businesses as is the case in
hospitality industry. Customers’ evaluations of organizations’
responses to their complaints in service encounters are important
elements of customer satisfaction and long-term loyalty. Thus, this
study attempts first to find out the current complaint-handling
practices in the hotel industries of two tourist destinations, namely
Hong Kong, an internationally recognized tourism and business
center, and Northern Cyprus, a developing island state. Then, factors
influencing organizational responses to guest complaints in
these two locations are highlighted. Expectantly, this study will
provide some useful insights about the important phenomenon that
is mostly studied from the customers’ point of view. To do so, self administrated
questionnaires were sent to all members of major
hotel associations in both locations. Results revealed that “guest
focus and commitment” is found to be the most influential variable
over the organizational responses. Furthermore, the “prejudgments
towards guest complaints” variable was found to have a significant
negative relationship with organizational responses in both
locations. Discussion of the findings, implications, and limitations
are given.
KEYWORDS Complaint management, current practices, hotels,
Hong Kong, Northern Cyprus
Add Comment