Who booked five-star hotels in Macau? A study of hotel guests’ online booking attention.

Abstract

The Internet now serves as a useful tool for suppliers and consumers to communicate information and enable purchasing online. Due to its importance in the travel industry, the Internet has attracted attention from both academic researchers and industrial practitioners. Over the last two decades, various approaches have been taken to investigate travelers' online satisfaction and purchase intention. This research is the one of the first attempts that explores the demographic profile of visitors to five-star hotels in Macau, including their choice of information search channels and hotel booking options, the most frequently used online purchasing channels, and the influence of demographic characteristics on channel selection. The findings indicate a direction for future analysis of the Macau online travel market. The study shows that more than half of the respondents had made their reservations online, and the most popular channel for searching hotel information was individual hotel websites. This paper provides useful information for travel industrial managers not only about hotel guests' propensity to search and book online, but also on why some consumers did not use online channels to purchase.