Positioning Analysis with Self-Organizing Maps

Abstract

Various techniques of multivariate analysis are applied to locating hotel chains' positions on perceptual maps based on consumers' views of those chains. Measuring and accounting for the many attributes used to develop positions is intensive and usually the analysis is segment-specific. Instead of complex methods that are hard for managers to apply, the use of self-organizing maps may be appropriate. The self-organizing map is a computer-based application of neural-network models that treat data as nodes with connections. Data are sorted to arbitrarily positioned nodes that represent a map of positions. In the simplest approach, the result is that the positions of hotels that fall on the same node are not different, while those that fall on adjacent nodes are different. In actuality, a hotel's position falls on one node sometimes and other nodes other times, depending on the market segment. The higher the frequency of a hotel's being located on a given node, the more focused its image. A hotel that finds itself widely distributed on many modes has a fuzzy image. An example of luxury hotels in Vienna demonstrates the hotels' positions for different guest segments.

A contrast analysis of online hotel web service purchasers and browsers

“…In the context of tourism, researchers had previously applied SOMs to tourist markets (Bloom, 2004(Bloom, , 2005, position analysis (Mazanec, 1995), image measurement (Mazanec, 1994), senior tourists (Kim et al, 2003), and understanding research articles (Mazanec, 2005). Although Bloom (2004Bloom ( , 2005 studies were somewhat similar to this research, his method was mainly used as a preprocessing step for the feed-forward neural network with an aim to improve a reasonable classification accuracy.…”

Comparison of Grocery Shopping Behaviour of Slovak Residents on the Slovak-Austrian Border: an Empirical Study – Hainburg an der Donau

“…If hypotheses need to be tested, other methods must be applied, either instead of or as a supplement to MDS. Perceptual mapping techniques are common in the diagnostic phase of a positioning studies (Mazanec, 1995). The general goal of MDS is to fi nd relevant hidden dimensions which enable the marketing manager to explain similarities or discrepancies between studied objects (Kita & Grossmanová, 2014).…”

Do upscale restaurant owners use wine lists as a differentiation strategy?

“…In this sense, a series of studies has pointed out the importance of positioning for prioritizing and designing alternative marketing strategies (Burns, 1986). In particular, perceptual maps have been considered highly important for the hotel and catering sector in general (Dev et al, 1995) and especially for restaurants (Mazanec, 1995).…”