Qi, S. at ENTER2016 eTourism Conference

1. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 1
Hotel Website Quality Versus Star
Level: The case of Macau Hotel
Websites
Shanshan Qi
Institute for Tourism Studies, Macau
Shanshan@ift.edu.mo

2. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 2
Macau
In 2014 over 31.5
million tourist arrivals
and 61.75 billion
MOP (7.75 billion
USD) spent.
Tourists spend 1.4
nights in Macau .
(Statistics and Census Service
of Macau, 2015)

3. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 3
Introduction
• The hotel industry has long been recognized as
one of the most “globalized” industries in the
service sector (Whitla, Walters & Davies, 2007).
• Hotel websites as a official platform for hotels.
• Dose the quality of hotel website matches with
its hotel star level?

4. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 4
FrontPage of hotel websites

5. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 5
FrontPage of hotel websites

6. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 6
FrontPage of hotel websites

7. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 7
FrontPage of hotel websites

8. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 8
Errors

9. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 9
Errors

10. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 10
Errors

11. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 11
Payment system

12. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 12
Payment system

13. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 13
Literature review
• Website functionality which relates to the content of a
website.
• The consumer online purchasing intention can be
strongly influenced by the performance of website
functionality (Law & Cheung, 2006; Law & Bai, 2008;).
• Interaction between hoteliers and consumers is a
necessary aspect of online service (O'Connor, 2012).

14. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 14
Literature review
General information Ip, Law and Lee (2012)
Reservations Ip, Law and Lee (2012)
Website management Ip, Law and Lee (2012)
Surrounding area
information
Ip, Law and Lee (2012)
Online interaction
features.
links to social medias; links to
bloggers; online news (e.g. Digg,
Propeller, Reddit); sharing of video
or image content; online forum
function; and hotel responses to
customer requirements.
5dementions and 28 attributes were listed

15. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 15
Research objectives
• Revise hotel website functionality lists
• Assess the functionality performance of
Macau hotel websites
• Detect significant performance-based
variations among star levels

16. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 16
Methodology
• The data was collected from The data collection process began
November 2013 and was completed February 2014.
• A survey was conducted to ascertain the importance of website
functionality. The questionnaire was distributed to Macau locals
by use of a snowball sampling method.
• A qualitative approach was adopted for website evaluation.
• Fuzzy comprehensive evaluation (FCE) method was adopted for
data analysis.

17. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 17
Findings
Demographic categories Number Percentage
Gender Male 52 42.30%
Female 71 57.70%
Education Primary School 1 0.80%
High School 13 10.60%
College diploma 32 26.00%
College degree 64 52.00%
Postgraduate 13 10.60%
Age 18 or less 1 0.80%
19 -24 72 58.50%
25-34 30 24.40%
35-44 10 8.10%
45-54 10 8.10%
Income 10,000 or less 52
42.30%
(in MOP) 10,001 – 12,000 9
7.30%
12,001 – 14,000 5
4.10%
14,001 – 16,000 9 7.30%
16,001 – 18,000 5 4.10%
18,001 – 20,000 5
4.10%
20,001 – 22,000 2
1.60%
24,001 – 26,000 5 4.10%
26,001 or above 13 10.60%
No answer 18 14.60%
Demographics of Respondents

18. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 18
Findings
• 55 accessible websites were evaluated
Importance and performance of Macau hotel websites
1.Hotel descriptions (hotel introduction); 2.Hotel
location (maps, traffic information); 3. Hotel facilities
(guest room, restaurants and meeting facilities);
4.Product promotions (special offers, frequent guest
programs); 5.Availability of virtual tours/video files of
the hotel; 6.Room rate ; 7.Room availability; 8. View or
cancel reservations; 9.Check-in and check-out time;
10.Price ranges of products and services 11.Payment
options; 12.Secured payment systems; 13.Worldwide
reservations phone number; 14.Staff directory search
function; 15.Create or modify personal profile for
customers; 16.Links to related businesses; 17.Product
warranty/legality; 18.Transportation; 19.Airport
information; 20.Main attractions of destination; 21.
General information about destination ; 22.Weather
reports; 23.Online news; 24.Connect to online social
media; 25.Sharing online video or images ; 26.Links to
blogs; 27.Online forum function 28. Hotel response to
customer requirements

19. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 19
Findings
Hotel ID Hotel Star level Overall score Cluster
1 Altira 5 star deluxe 93.8 3
2 Crown Towers 5 star deluxe 93.8 1
3 MGM Macau 5 star deluxe 80.5 4
4 Four Seasons
Hotel 5 star deluxe 93.8 3
5 Grand Lisboa 5 star deluxe 93.8 1
6 Landmark Hotel 5 star deluxe 93.8 1
7 Sands 5 star deluxe 75 3
8 Wynn 5 star deluxe 84.6 5
Average score 88.6

20. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 20
Findings
Hotel ID Hotel Star level Overall
score Cluster
9 Banyan Tree Macau 5 star 80.5 4
10 Beijing Imperial Palace Hotel 5 star 25 2
11 Conrad Macau 5 star 70.4 3
12 Galaxy Hotel 5 star 93.8 4
13 Grand Hyatt Macau 5 star 75 1
14 Grand Lapa 5 star 93.8 4
15 L'Arc Hotel Macau 5 star 85.5 5
16 Lisboa 5 star 85.5 4
17 Mandarin Oriental Macau 5 star 83.8 3
18 Okura Macau 5 star 93.8 3
19 Regency Hotel 5 star 75 2
20 Royal 5 star 84.6 1
21 São Tiago da Barra 5 star 81.2 1
22 Sheraton Macau Hotel 5 star 75 3
23 Sofitel Macau at Ponte 16 5 star 81.2 4
24 StarWorld Hotel Macau 5 star 93.8 4
25 The Venetian Macau 5 star 93.8 3
26 Grand Coloane Resort 5 star 93.8 1
Average score 81.4

21. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 21
Findings
Hotel ID Hotel Star level Overall
score Cluster
27 Golden Crown China Hotel 4 star 93.8 5
28 Golden Dragon 4 star 75 1
29 Grandview Hotel 4 star 75 1
30 Hard Rock Hotel 4 star 84.6 3
31 Holiday Inn Macau 4 star 81.2 4
32 Holiday Inn Macao CotaiCentral 4 star 79.8 3
33 Hotel Beverly Plaza 4 star 83.5 3
34 Hotel Casa Real 4 star 75 1
35 Metropark Hotel Macau 4 star 75 1
36 Pousada de Coloane 4 star 75 5
37 President Hotel 4 star 50 2
38 Rio Hotel Macau 4 star 75 5
39 Royal Infante Harbour ViewHotel 4 star 75 1
40 Taipa Square 4 star 75 5
Average score 76.6

22. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 22
Findings
Hotel ID Hotel Star level Overall
score Cluster
41 Best Western Hotel Taipa Macau 3 star 93.8 1
42 Fortuna 3 star 93.8 5
43 Fu Hua Guangdong Hotel Macau 3 star 75 1
44 Grand Emperor Hotel 3 star 75 2
45 Guia 3 star 93.8 2
46 Hotel Rocks 3 star 70.9 2
47 Lan Kwai Fong 3 star 85.5 1
48 Metrópole 3 star 70.9 1
49 Sintra 3 star 93.8 1
50 Victoria Hotel 3 star 78.4 5
51 Waldo Hotel 3 star 65.8 2
Averagescore 81.5
52 Holiday Hotel Macau budget accommodation 93.8 5
53 Macau Masters Hotel budget accommodation 93.8 5
54 Sun Sun Hotel Macau budget accommodation 70.9 5
55 Hospedaria San Va budget accommodation 75 2
Averagescore 83.3

23. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 23
Findings
Dimensions
Mean of Performance df Sig.
General information 0.65 4 ***
Reservation information 0.58 4 ***
Website management 0.51 4 ***
Surrounding area information 0.43 4 ***
Interactions with customers 0.33 4 ***

24. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 24
Conclusion
• Macau hotel websites perform well on the
most of the functionality attributes.
• Most of the hotels have a list of interaction
functions on their front page for consumer
selection. But the findings imply that
consumers expect immediate interaction
from hotels, as well as product guarantees.

25. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 25
• Despite the 5 star deluxe hotels receiving
the highest average scores for website
functionality, the findings showed that
perceptions of functionality were not
necessarily commensurable with star level.

26. ENTER 2016 Research Track Slide Number 26
Limitation
• The relatively small, non-randomized
sample of participants limits the ability to
draw generalized conclusions.
• A larger sample size recruited from multiple
regions and occupations, and with a larger
age range is suggested for future studies.