International hotel revenue management : Web‐performance effectiveness modelling – research comparative

Purpose – In the hotel industry today, web site marketing and third party distribution metrics are of critical importance in understanding the effectiveness of hotel revenue management objectives. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new model which tests hotel web‐effectiveness using the following variables: reach, content, consistency and price parity (RCO2P). Design/methodology/approach – For the current RCO2P study, the hotel sample was broken down into two segment groupings of five hotels: luxury; and upper‐upscale. The ten full‐service hotels were monitored over a 90‐day period using room rate quotations and ordinal values across 14 dimensions based on three pre‐selected arrival dates. Findings – Results of the RCO2P study indicated preferential display sequencing emerged as a significant factor in the reach category among all hotel properties reviewed. Only six of ten properties were measured as having achieved optimal web‐effectiveness, while poor price‐parity competency reflected the most situation‐critical performance among sampled hotel properties. Originality/value – International comparative research methodologies were examined and determined to be effective models of certain hotel web‐effectiveness dimensions; however, a comprehensive hotel web‐effectiveness measurement model is still lacking which can better inform hotel industry executives. Therefore, future research should incorporate a best practice research approach combining the current RCO2P study elements with other web‐effectiveness measurement criteria based on the collective best practices identified among the research studies reviewed.