Online Information Search Strategies: A Focus On Flights and Accommodations

Abstract

The problem of the research was to understand information search strategies that individuals utilized in online travel product purchases. Two products, flights and accommodations, were selected to examine each product's explanatory variables in online purchase behaviors. The results indicate online flight purchasers utilize direct information sources and focus on transactional attributes. Online accommodation purchasers utilize various types of sources; and they focus not only on transactional, but also informational and branding attributes. The study results support the constructive consumer choice processes theory and suggest some marketing tips for the airline and lodging industries.

Impacto de las redes sociales en los ingresos de los hoteles en Colombia, Ecuador y Perú

“…Las reservas en el sector hotelero se encuentran influenciadas por la marca y los comentarios realizados por otros usuarios (Jun, Vogt, & MacKay, 2010).…”

Online Search Behavior in the Air Travel Market: Reconsidering the Consideration Set and Customer Journey Concepts

“…long-and shorthaul flights, and search criteria such as origin, destination, date and time of flight, preferred carrier, class of travel, total journey time, seat and luggage options all make the search and booking process a complex and time consuming activity [19]. Due to the complexity of the airline market [21], customers face an information intensive process where they need to make extensive decisions [27].…”

“…Multiple characteristics of this service, such as origin, destination, date and time of flight, preferred carrier, class of travel, total journey time, seat and luggage options all make the search and booking process a complex and time consuming activity [19,21], in particular if they are carried out online by the consumers themselves [22]. This leads us to the second research question: How do consumers search online, given the specifics of the market and the product characteristics?…”

“…Proceedings of the 50th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences | 2017 URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10125/41636 ISBN: 978-0-9981331-0-2 CC-BY-NC-ND parency [4,32] and an easy and efficient way for consumers to compare airline brands, product characteristics and other search criteria related to the flight options available [8,10,15,19]. Consequently, ATIs have established a dominant position in the online travel market [34].…”

A customer-focused approach to distribution: The case of SANparks

“…Security of payment process (Cheyne et al, 2006) Security of payment process Lack of queues (Dean, 2004) Time taken to answer your call (call centre); Time taken to make the reservation (website) Perceived price (Golmohammadi, Jahandideh & O'Gorman, 2012) Price of accommodation charged Reliability (Cheyne et al, 2006) Reputation (credibility of reservation channel) Friendly manner (Dean, 2004) Overall professionalism Perceived risk (Golmohammadi, Jahandideh & O'Gorman, 2012) Reputation (credibility of reservation channel) Assurance (Cheyne et al, 2006) Reputation (credibility of reservation channel) Provision of information (Jaiswal, 2008) Knowledge of reservation staff Convenience (Jun, Vogt & Mackay, 2010) Ease of payment process Someone to contact when things go wrong (Cheyne et al, 2006) Personal contact provided by reservation staff Quality of information (Jaiswal, 2008) Knowledge of reservation staff (Kim & Lee, 2004) Website design (Musante, Bojanic & Zhang, 2009) Recognition of your personal details Local knowledge (Cheyne et al, 2006) Knowledge of reservation staff Navigation (Kim, Chung & Lee, 2011) Ease of finding the SANParks online booking facility Saving time (Cheyne et al, 2006) Time taken to make the reservation; Waiting time in queue It should be noted that certain variables might influence the way in which customers view some of the channel requirements, as shown in Table 1. These variables could include culture, gender, age, income level, regional differences, the level of skill in using the internet and the frequency of travel, to name but a few.…”