A contrast analysis of online hotel web service purchasers and browsers

Ever since the introduction of Internet technology to general business, websites have played an important role in the business and promotional efforts of hotels. However, the existing tourism and hospitality literature contains only a limited number of articles that examine the perceived importance of the different attributes of a hotel website. This paper reports a study that analyzed the different perceptions of specific hotel website attributes between online purchasers and browsers and between Western and Asian users. The empirical findings reveal a set of attributes that are the most important in developing effective hotel websites. The findings also indicate the necessity of designing English- and Chinese-language hotel websites differently, based on the significant differences in the responses obtained from these two groups of online users.