Developing a performance indicator for hotel websites

This research note presents an information quality evaluation model for measuring the performance of hotel websites. The model is developed on the basis of a conceptual framework which consists of five major hotel website dimensions, including facilities information, customer contact information, reservations information, surrounding area information, and management of websites. The dimensions and their associated attributes were obtained and modified from published articles in the hospitality and tourism literature. A preliminary study was performed with Hong Kong hotel managers to rate the level of importance of the dimensions and attributes. The model was then applied to initially measure the performance of the websites of Hong Kong hotels. The performance result of a website is expressed by the total performance score of the site. Experimental findings show significant differences in performance scores for all dimensions among the luxurious, mid-priced, and budget hotel websites. This research should be of interest to hotel practitioners and researchers as the findings shed light on the further development of quantitative measurements for hotel websites.