Hotel Web Site Evaluation And Business Travelers' Preferences

摘要

Although web sites applications are not new in hospitality industry,their evaluations are not well established within hotel sector.While there are no literature has converged on a universal definition,web sites effectiveness that will be referred in this study is on their ability to meet users' preferences,mainly business travelers.Thus,this paper aimed to investigate the business travelers' preferences on web sites attributes and the effectiveness of current hotels web sites in Glasgow in meeting these preferences.The results of a fieldwork and on-line survey were subjected to statistical analysis and these revealed some interesting findings.It was found that business travelers' preferred web sites to present all basic features that will enable them to do secure on-line transaction.Extra features such as on-line forum,employment opportunities,environmental policy and corporate information were least preferred.The study also found that hotel web sites in Glasgow were highly rated in terms of 'web site graphics,'contact information','privacy statement' and 'term and condition' but poorly rated in terms of 'virtual tour','tell a friend feature',on-line forum','what's new','hotel environmental policy' and 'safety and security tips'.