No abstract

Many hotel managers and hotel-operating companies are attempting to use the internet and worldwide web as an effective management and marketing tool. An exploratory survey finds thousands of hotel-related sites. Most such sites are hotel guides, chain hotels, and individual hotels, in that order. Current WWW hotel sites vary tremendously. Available functions of a web page include: travel information, reservations and payment, special promotions, links to partners, direct consumer feedback, employment opportunities, audio and video ads, gift certificates, shareholder information, newsletters, frequently asked questions, and a list of and links to individual hotels. The costs of establishing and maintaining a web site vary considerably, depending on the site-owner's commitment and objectives. The most effective hotel sites are those that give the consumer the easiest, most rewarding access to relevant and related information. For any web site, there are five important considerations for its successful management: defining the mission, calculating the margins, addressing the mechanics, planning the marketing, and performing the maintenance.

The study &lops aframework to exnmine the communication goals ofinteractingpmtners and how these affect media choice. The study hypothesizes that in communication situations when the relational dimension of communication goals is competitive, relational mtml would affect media choice. Personal interviews were conducted among a nonrandom sample of 70 persons. The q w n d e n t s were presented with d i f m t communication situations and asked ifand why they would select one mode of communication over another. A wntent analysis of the mponses supported the main argument of the study that in situations ofrelationnl competitiveness relational m t m l would be a sign@cantfactor affecthg media choice.ith the emergence of new communication technologies, there is an increasing number of media through which a person may W choose to communicate. Why a person chooses a certain medium over others has been an engaging research issue for more than a decade. Some of the early media choice models were what Culnan and Markus (1987) labeled the "cues-filtered-out" models because they based their schema essentially on the potential, or rather the inability, of the medium to transmit nonverbal cues. Media choice models based on such classifications predicted that "rich" media-those that transmit higher levels of nonverbal cues-were more appropriate in ambiguous (Daft & Joseph M . Kayany (Ph.D., Florida State University, 1993) is an assistant professor at the Department of Communication, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo. C. Edward Wotring (Ph.D., Michigan State University, 1971) and Edward J. Forrest (PbD., 1981, University of Wisconsin) are associate professors at the

A large portion of the so-called information superhighway is the internet, which allows people to communicate through computers using electronic mail, bulletin boards, and news groups, among other means. One section of the internet, the worldwide web (WWW), is a network of computers carrying information for public dissemination. Many companies, institutions, and individuals have created WWW "home pages," which are computer files with text, graphics, and links to other, related pages. "Visitors" to web pages are said to be "surfing the net," checking new sites for interesting information or graphics. The WWW now has many commercial sites that seek to get companies' messages to the public in a new and untested medium. While some hospitality companies have WWW sites, most do not, and restaurants are under-represented. Existing restaurant sites, however, make reasonably sophisticated use of the web's capabilities (e.g., text, graphics, sound, and interactive screens). The technology of the internet may allow marketers to take the ultimate step in mass customization, which is to create a distinct message (and package of product and services) for each customer. It almost certainly will allow personal interaction between restaurateurs and customers.