بهره برداری از پلت فرم رسانه های اجتماعی برای اندازه گیری ارزش ویژه برند هتل مبتنی بر مشتری

In recent years, there has been an exponential increase in the volume of user-generated content being made available in social media platforms of the Web 2.0 genre. Among the most valuable from a marketing perspective is the prevalence of online reviews of products and services which can serve as vast, up-to-the-minute sources of data for research and marketing management. In this paper, we describe our work on the analysis of the different components of brand equity and their relations in hotels, using data extracted from social media platforms. By using online sources of reviews, we can achieve a greater degree of confidence in our findings as we have access to a far greater quantity of reviews spanning any given timeframe. Additionally we can have greater confidence in the information contained therein, as the reviews reflect the opinions of the customers considered at leisure, usually after their return from the hotel, rather than a hastily completed survey as the customer leaves the hotel.

The brand appears in marketing literature as a powerful tool of differentiation for products and companies (Clifton, 2003). Although tourism is a critical sector for many countries, there are few systematic studies on hotel brands (Hankinson, 2005, Kim and Kim, 2005 and Konecnik and Gartner, 2007). The increased competition between various destinations and hotels with similar characteristics makes the brand a key differentiating factor (Cai, 2002, Fesenmaier, 2007, Morgan et al., 2002 and Pike, 2005). Today it is essential for hotel managers to measure the effectiveness of their brand to remain competitive in the marketplace (Blain, Levy, & Ritchie, 2005). For this to be effective, it must be undertaken from the perspective of the customer (Wang, Hsu, Hsu, & Hsieh, 2011). There are empirical research studies which focus on the experience of travelers and their perception of the brand of destinations and tourist accommodation as key variables to measure the impact of brands on consumer behavior (Blain et al., 2005, Brakus et al., 2009 and Kim and Kim, 2005). Social media forums play an important role for tourists in the exchange of travel experiences (Xiang & Gretzel, 2010). Consumer blogs, which frequently contain product and service reviews, have become one of the most important themes in research on social media in tourism (Pan et al., 2007, Pühringer and Taylor, 2008 and Waldhör and Rind, 2008). These studies show the importance of understanding the roles of blogs to create and share new experiences (Pudliner, 2007), the veracity of the comments of travelers (Mack, Blose, & Pan, 2008), and the use of information in the marketing intelligence system (Pühringer and Taylor, 2008 and Waldhör and Rind, 2008). This is demonstrated by the success of social media sites such as Tripadvisor.com3 and Zagat.com4 as a means of social communication among tourists (Gretzel and Yoo, 2008, O'Connor, 2010 and Vermeulen and Seegers, 2008). From a branding perspective, the analysis of social media forums is especially relevant, because these can be used by individuals to take part in discussions in order to inform and influence consumers about brands or organizations. Additionally, electronic word-of-mouth has been shown to be a powerful influence on whether or not to select a brand (Casaló, Flavián, & Guinalíu, 2010). The overall objective of this study is to analyze the different components of brand equity, through the valuations of the hotels on a digital platform such as Tripadvisor.com. This complements existing work on measuring brand destinations and tourist accommodations from the perspective of customers in the field of Web 2.0 through virtual forums such as TripAdvisor (Au, Law, & Buhalis, 2010). This work is interesting for a number of reasons. Firstly, it allows us to define the concept of brand value for hotels in a virtual environment. Secondly, the study analyzes the components of brand value hotels in a virtual environment and establishes the relationships between them. This paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, we consider social media forums and their importance in the context of current and future tourism. In Section 3 we develop the concept of brand equity and the various dimensions of which it is comprised. In Section 4, we describe the methodology we used in our investigation. In Section 5 we present the main findings and the conclusions are presented in Section 6.

6.1. Summary and findings Hotel clients have changed the way they consume and how to plan their trips (Erdem and Cobanoglu, 2010, Kim and Hardin, 2010 and O'Connor, 2010). Whereas previously people planned their trips in advance through intermediaries, they are now leaving decisions to the last minute. Hoteliers must take account of this new model of consumption and learn to adapt (Erdem & Cobanoglu, 2010). In this paper, we have analyzed the different components of brand equity in relations to hotels. We have used social media data –in our case reviews extracted from the Tripadvisor site –as our source. Our contention is that online reviews have more credibility than review forms, completed at the hotel. Not only do we have access to a far larger number of reviews, but we have a greater degree of confidence in their contents, as the reviews reflect the opinions of the customers considered at leisure. These reviews are not always taken into account by hotel management (O'Connor, 2010). The Euromonitor report of March 2010 notes the rise of technology companies that are setting the change from applications on mobile devices to social networking. In this sense, the impact on the tourism industry is tremendous, especially in making last minute travel plans. It is estimated that by 2015, 55% of travel and tour packages will be hired through the consumer's smartphone (Euromonitor, 2010). Therefore, this study provides detailed information on how hotel managers can take advantage of information made available through social media sites and Web 2.0 forums. This will achieve a better understanding of the motivations for travelers to use this type of media, to read reviews of hotels in which they are considering staying, and to produce reviews of hotels in which they have stayed. We have analyzed the brand value through information obtained from Tripadvisor of the top 10 hotel chains in the top 10 cities in the world, according to A.T. Kearney Global Cities Index 2010. It is noted that there is a clear linkage between the 5 dimensions of brand equity (value, awareness, quality, image and loyalty). Although the initial theoretical model proposed does not fit properly, in our case, in line with previous studies (Kim and Kim, 2005, Lee and Back, 2008 and Oh, 2000), we find that brand awareness (measured by the market share of hotel chains) is the central element of all relationships between the dimensions of brand equity. The sequence of relationships established in the validated model (model 3) was found to be as follows: brand quality → brand image → brand awareness → brand value → brand loyalty. Although in this paper, we have considered five dimensions of brand equity, in future work we will be expanding these to incorporate an analysis of the writing style of reviewers, in order to elicit a deeper analysis of their opinions and personality traits. 6.2. Business implications In tourism, traditional distribution channels must coexist with the emergence of new digital media (Xiang & Gretzel, 2010). To respond adequately to these changes, companies that offer tourist products and especially hotels, need to better understand the dynamics of the technology in order to offer better and promote their businesses and destinations to travelers seeking information or schedule their trips using the Internet (Erdem and Cobanoglu, 2010 and O'Connor, 2010). With changes in the Internet that allow easy and simple means of content generation, consumers are gaining more power over what and how information is distributed and used on the Internet. Forums such as Tripadvisor can increase the relevant knowledge about destinations and tourist accommodations and therefore have become a critical factor in the context of tourism marketing and specifically in the management of the brand and the achievement of future loyalty behaviors. To succeed in the future, hotels need to consider actively the social networking and user generated content and try to exploit these advances to increase its turnover and try to build customer loyalty. A first step in this process would be more actively monitor and manage its reputation in virtual spaces. However, as described by O'Connor (2010), the level of participation by hotels in social media forums such as TripAdvisor is very low. Thus, despite the ease of responding to reviews, few hotels use this option, which calls into question the seriousness and involvement of the hotels in the proper management of user-generated content. Due to the potential influence of websites like Tripadvisor, it seems logical that the hotels should take the time to monitor and respond to information and views appearing in such forums. While a hotel may not modify or delete the negative reviews, sites like TripAdvisor provide a “right of reply” where hotel managers can respond to those criticisms. However, it has been found that this application is used by less than 0.5% of hotels. This is particularly worrying, as although word‐of‐mouth cannot be controlled, comments on Tripadvisor and similar sites can be managed and should not be ignored (Kim et al., 2004 and Locker, Homan, & Bovaird, 2007). Today the internet model is changing, as is the different brand image created by the supplier to that which exists on the Web created by the continuous and active dialogue between consumers (Milan, 2007). E-business marketing and brand managers need to be fully aware of the benefits of observing online customer behavior and comments in order to improve customer satisfaction, new product development and innovation (Khammash & Griffiths, 2011). For this reason, hotels have to be more proactive and establish a continuous dialogue with the customer, in order to protect their brand equity.