Distribution Channels in the Travel Industry: Using Mystery Shoppers to Understand the Influence of Travel Agency Recommendations

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to understand the factors that influence travel agency recommendations in the U.K. The objectives were achieved using a mixture of focus groups, interviews and Mystery Shoppers. Exploration into the process of choosing a holiday showed that the brochure plays an important role for many consumers.However, for the travel agent the brochure is low priority, and even when the brochure is used, the travel agent often has a considerable amount of influence. Whether or not the agency is vertically integrated has considerable influence on the recommendation process. Based on analysis of the interviews and focus groups, a model was developed, and tested using Mystery Shoppers. Results from investigating 156 travel agents across the U.K. indicate that many travel agents owned by large tour operators, will attempt to push the holidays of their parent company rather than give impartial advise to consumers.Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Younger wine tourists: a study of generational differences in the cellar door experience.

“…The potential of observational methods for investigating service provision is increasingly acknowledged (Grove and Fisk, 1992;Wilson, 1998), and mystery shopping has been used extensively in the services industry to investigate service quality. However, it has rarely been used in academic research on tourism to date (see Hudson et al, 2001). …”

Generation Y as wine tourists: their expectations and experiences at the winery-cellar door.

“…Typically the goal of commercial mystery shopping is to reduce the impact of the shopper"s personal characteristics and subjectivity on the assessment of a service encounter (Hudson et al, 2001;Morrison, Colman, and Preston, 1997;Wilson, 1998), but in the current context the differences in perceptions and expectations of the mystery shoppers based on individual characteristics, particularly as they related to generational groupings, were of central importance. Consequently, the research sought to explore both the supply and the demand sides of the service encounter, using a modified mystery shopping approach that returns the methodology to its qualitative origins, brings a phenomenological emphasis on the consumer"s experience, and prioritises the subjective and affective components of the visitor experience of the winery cellar door (Charters, Fountain, and Fish, forthcoming).…”

“…Most significantly, this approach enables the researcher to get first-hand knowledge of the service environment as it unfolds in a natural and uncontrived setting (Grove and Fisk, 1992;Wilson, 1998). The potential of observational methods, including mystery shopping, for investigating service provision is increasingly acknowledged and has been used extensively in the services industry to investigate service quality (Grove and Fisk, 1992;Jorgensen, 1989;Wilson, 1998), yet it has rarely been used in tourism research to date (Hudson, Snaith, Miller, and Hudson, 2001;Thach, Mason, and Amspacher, 2007).…”

Possibilities of Application of Method of Mystery Shopping in the Assessment of Quality of Tourist. Case Study Termy in Bialka Tatrzanska

“…W literaturze światowej spotkamy przykłady stosowania tej metody w procesie zarządzania zasobami ludzkimi w sektorze HORECA (Anderson, Groves, Lengfelder, 2001; Erstadt, Możliwości zastosowania metody mystery shopping w ocenie jakości usług turystycznych. studium przypadku -termy w Białce Tatrzańskiej 1998; Hudson, Snaith, Miller, Hudson, 2001), transporcie -np. londyńskiego metra (Wilson, Gutman, 1998) oraz przedsiębiorstwach turystycznych -np.…”