This document summarizes a study that examined why travelers unlike travel-related organizations on Facebook. The study found that 14.1% of travelers who liked an organization had also unliked one. Reasons for unliking included bad experiences, lack of interest, and social media behaviors like high post frequencies. Travelers who unliked engaged more with social media for trip planning and traveled more frequently. The study concludes companies should engage customers through social media without relying on sales and monitor both engagement and disengagement to prevent unlikes related to their social media presence.

1. Breaking Up Is Hard To Do:
Why Do Travellers Unlike
Travel-Related Organizations?
Ulrike Gretzel and Anja Dinhopl
University of Wollongong, Australia
ENTER 2014 Research Track
Slide Number 1

2. Web 2.0 Marketing
• Engaged and empowered consumers (Sigala,
2007; Chung & Buhalis, 2008; Schmalleger & Carson, 2008; Constantinides &
Foundtain, 2008; Shao, Davila Rodriguez & Gretzel, 2012)
• Emphasis on customer relationship
management (Gupta, Jones & Coleman, 2004; Niininen, Buhalis &
March 2007; Li & Petrick, 2008; Niininen, March & Buhalis, 2006)
• Emphasis on social networking sites as a
central communication tool for CRM (Yoo &
Gretzel, 2010; Gretzel, Fesenmaier, Formica & O’Leary, 2006)
ENTER 2014 Research Track
Slide Number 2

3. From CRM to CRM 2.0 (Yoo & Gretzel, 2010)
CRM
CRM 2.0
• One-way communication
• Offline customer service
center
• Limited customer data
• Limited C2C communication
• Delayed response
• Feedback from customer
• Online customer service
• Customer identification
with data mining
• Virtual customer
communities
• Real-time communication
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Slide Number 3

4. Previous Research
Relationship Creation
Relationship Maintenance
× Relationship Termination
– Who unlikes?
– Why do they unlike?
– Implications for CRM?
ENTER 2014 Research Track
Slide Number 4

5. Method
• Online survey through panel provider during
01/2013 in Australia, UK, US, Canada, and
India.
• Sample of 3,635 Travellers (= respondents
who generally take at least one domestic or
international vacation each year)
– N = 898 have ever liked a travel-related company
or destination on facebook
– N = 127 have ever unliked a travel-related
company or destination on facebook
ENTER 2014 Research Track
Slide Number 5

6. Analysis
Describing differences among those who have unliked a travel-related
organization and those who have liked, but never unliked, a travel-related
organization
Quantitative Analysis
Qualitative Analysis
• Results for both travel-related
companies and destinations will
be presented together (referring
to travellers who have unliked a
travel-related company and/or
destination as travellers who
have unliked a travel-related
organization)
• Statistically significant Chi Square
results (at p<0.05 level)
• Two open-ended questions for
respondents to elaborate on their
motivations for unliking
• Inductive approach
ENTER 2014 Research Track
Slide Number 6

7. Results
• Unliking travel-related businesses is not
often reported
– 14.1% of travellers who have liked a travelrelated organization on facebook have also
unliked – equivalent to 3.5% of all travellers in
the sample.
• Overlap between unlikers
– 51.2% have only unliked a travel-related
company, 32.3% have only unliked a destination,
and 16.5% have unliked both.
ENTER 2014 Research Track
Slide Number 7

8. Dating Profiles
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/02/10_rules_for_re.php
ENTER 2014 Research Track
Slide Number 8

9. It’s Not
It’s Not
You,
You,
It’s Me
It’s Me
Demographic Differences
Gender
Male
Female
Age
Gender
18 – 24
Male34
25 –
Female
35 – 44
Age – 54
45
18 – 24
55+
25 – 34
Education
35 – 44have a university degree
Do not
45 – 54
Undergraduate degree
55+
Postgraduate degree
Education Status
Relationship
Do nota relationship
Not in have a university degree
Undergraduate degree
Uncommitted relationship (not living together)
Postgraduate degree (living together/married)
Committed relationship
Relationship Status
Employment Status
Not in a relationship part-time
Working full-time or
Uncommitted relationship (not living together)
Unemployed/Retired
Committed relationship (living together/married)
Country
Employment Status
Australia
Working full-time or part-time
Canada
Unemployed/Retired
United Kingdom
Country States
United
Australia
India
Canada
Social Media/Vacation Planning Behaviour
United Kingdom media to ENTER about destination
Typically use social
learn 2014 Research Track
Have
Unliked
Have Not
Unliked
52.8
Have
47.2
Unliked
11.0
52.8
33.1
47.2
22.0
18.9
11.0
15.0
33.1
22.0
29.2
18.9
34.6
15.0
36.2
45.7
Have Not
54.3
Unliked
14.8
45.7
25.8
54.3
22.4
17.9
14.8
19.1
25.8
22.4
38.5
17.9
29.2
19.1
32.3
29.2
22.0
34.6
15.0
36.2
61.4
38.5
23.3
29.2
8.7
32.3
66.4
22.0
76.4
15.0
7.9
61.4
18.9
76.4
20.5
7.9
11.0
10.2
18.9
39.4
20.5
11.0
66.9
23.3
57.5
8.7
25.0
66.4
21.6
57.5
21.0
25.0
22.8
19.6
21.6
15.0
21.0
22.8 Number 9
Slide
60.7

10. I’m not good
I’m Gender
not good
Male
at
at
Female
Age
relationships
relationships
Have
Unliked
Have Not
Unliked
52.8
47.2
45.7
54.3
11.0
33.1
22.0
18.9
15.0
14.8
25.8
22.4
17.9
19.1
29.2
Have
34.6
Unliked
36.2
38.5
Have Not
29.2
Unliked
32.3
52.8
22.0
47.2
15.0
61.4
11.0
33.1
76.4
22.0
7.9
18.9
15.0
18.9
20.5
29.2
11.0
34.6
10.2
36.2
39.4
45.7
23.3
54.3
8.7
66.4
14.8
25.8
57.5
22.4
25.0
17.9
19.1
21.6
21.0
38.5
22.8
29.2
19.6
32.3
15.0
Psychographic Differences
18 – 24
25 – 34
35 – 44
45 – 54
55+
Education
Do not have a university degree
Undergraduate degree
Postgraduate degree
Gender
Relationship Status
Male
Not in a relationship
Female
Uncommitted relationship (not living together)
Age
Committed relationship (living together/married)
18 – 24
Employment Status
25 – 34
Working full-time or part-time
35 – 44
Unemployed/Retired
45 – 54
Country
55+
Australia
Education
Canada
Do not have a university degree
United Kingdom
Undergraduate
United States degree
Postgraduate degree
India
Relationship Status
Social Media/Vacation Planning ENTER 2014 Research Track
Behaviour
Not in a use social media to learn about destination
Typically relationship
• Less likely to commit
• Less likely to be conscientious, more likely
to be extraverted
22.0
66.9
Slide Number 10
23.3
60.7

11. I’m not
I’m not
ready to
ready to
settle
settle
down
down
Differences in
Vacation Planning Behavior
• More likely to plan vacations online (49.6% vs. 29.1%)
• More likely to use social media for vacation planning
(66.9% vs. 60.7%)
• More likely to interact with travel-related companies on
facebook (86.4% vs. 79.7%)
Gender on a travel-related company or destination
Activity
Male
timeline
Female
Commented on a post
Age
Shared a post with others
18 – 24a post
‘Liked’
25 – 34 others to become fans
Invited
35 – 44
Downloaded an application
45 – 54
Participated in a discussion
55+ a private message to the company/destination
Sent
Education
ENTER
Do not have a university degree 2014 Research Track
Have
Unliked
86.4
52.8
47.2
31.5
29.9
11.0
35.4
33.1
20.5
22.0
14.2
18.9
21.3
15.0
21.3
29.2
Have Not
Unliked
79.7
45.7
54.3
19.5
21.6
14.8
31.0
25.8
11.9
22.4
8.6
17.9
13.5
19.1
9.5
Slide
38.5 Number 11

12. We
We
should
should
see other
see other
people
people
Differences
in Vacation Behavior
• Travel more frequently
– 5+ in-country vacations/year: 26.0% vs. 18.4%
– 5+ international vacations/year: 6.3% vs. 3.4%
• More likely to visit different destinations
ENTER 2014 Research Track
Slide Number 12

13. Reasons for Breaking Up
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/02/10_rules_for_re.php
ENTER 2014 Research Track
Slide Number 13

14. Reasons for Breaking Up
Travel-related company
• Company-related
Destination
• Destination-related
– bad experience
– lack of interest in purchasing
from the company
– change in promotional offers
• Social media-related
– bad experience
– lack of interest in visiting the
destination
– spill-over of a destination’s
bad reputation to one’s own
• Social-media related
– too high or too low frequency
of posts
– lack of information provided
by the company’s posts
– high frequency of posts
ENTER 2014 Research Track
Slide Number 14

15. Bad experience
Travel-related company
• Bad customer service
• Failure to live up to
travellers’ expectations
“I had a bad experience when
renting a car at a local
Enterprise location and
wanted nothing further to
do with that company
ever.”
Destination
• Wider range,more specific,
more consideration
• Beyond scope of DMO
–
–
–
–
–
encounters with local people
insufficient infrastructure
lack of cleanliness
high costs
bad experiences with other
travel-related companies
“It was somewhere that I had
travelled to that I did not
like – I would not dislike a
place unless I have been
ENTER 2014 Research Track
there.” Slide Number 15

16. Lack of interest
Travel-related company
Destination
• Promotional period or
contest over
“It wasn’t an airline I used, I
liked it for the promotion,
then unliked it later.”
• Safety concerns
“Warfare being active there, or
highly probably (sic) to
occure (sic) soon.”
• Spillover of bad reputation
to one’s own
“The location had a bad
reputation like Dachau.”
ENTER 2014 Research Track
Slide Number 16

17. Social-media related
Travel-related company
Destination
• High frequency of posts
• Frequency of posts less
consistently mentioned as
“They started filling up my
reasons for unliking
newsfeed.”
• Destinations NOT seen as
• Sell push only, otherwise
businesses wanting to sell a
lack of information in posts
product
“If any company doesnt (sic)
– Extension of own reputation
have much to say or is [a]
– Experiential CV
hard sell all the time then i
(sic) dont (sic) see the point
in being with them […] they
need to talk to us in other
ways and create shared
Slide Number 17
interests with us.”ENTER 2014 Research Track

18. Conclusions
• Differences between travellers
• Different motivations for unliking between
travel-related companies and destinations
– Company: functional and tenuous
– Destination: deeper emotional attachment
ENTER 2014 Research Track
Slide Number 18

19. Implications
• Engage customers on social media without
relying on traditional sales approaches
– Consumer as a co-creator of value and a co-manager of
conversations
• Need to not only monitor customer
engagement but also disengagement
– Companies: breakup related to social media behaviour
– Implement a strategic social media marketing plan:
prevent losing customers for reasons related to the
company’s social media presence
ENTER 2014 Research Track
Slide Number 19

20. Limitations and future research
• Limitations
– Small sample size
– Respondents from 5 different countries (may not capture
or overstate differences/similarities)
• Future Research
– Emotional experience of the act of unliking
– Travellers who never establish a relationship
– Which communication strategies are appropriate for
which audience?
– How selective are travellers in establishing relationships?
Impact on unliking?
ENTER 2014 Research Track
Slide Number 20

21. Thank you!
ugretzel@uow.edu.au
ENTER 2014 Research Track
Slide Number 21