Chapter 5 Conclusion
5.3 Limitations and Future Research
There are some limitations in our research. Despite Booking.com only allow those who have made reservations from the website for reviewing hotels, it is possible that some of the travelers’ reviews could be biased comments from the hotel employees itself, or from
60
other competing hotels. No attempt was made to filter out these comments. Further work could identify the impact of these biased comments on the online review systems.
The other limitation is that we only use a relatively small sample size of hotels in Taiwan. Future research is recommended to apply bigger sample sizes and also to explore a diverse pool of geographical areas so that the findings could be more generalizable. For instance, in our thesis we analyze hotels of four cities in Taiwan; future research can study hotels of every city in Taiwan and make comparisons of them. Furthermore, we only focus on one website Booking.com in our thesis, however, the number of online hotels booking website is increasing, and thus future studies can use other websites as the study topic.
This study contributes to knowledge development in tourism and hotel industry by revealing the positive impact of eWOM on the hotel room sales as well as validating a new approach to determine the relationship between eWOM and hotel room sales. The findings of this thesis open up numerous paths for future research on electronic word of mouth and tourism and hotel industry. Hospitality and tourism industry is gaining importance in Taiwan, and there are more and more foreign travelers visit Taiwan every year. However, we have only found a few studies relating to eWOM and hotels in Taiwan. As a result, future research can put more efforts on studying eWOM and hotels in Taiwan.
Hotel managers need to be aware that an increasing number of travelers will make their purchases online, and that the purchase decisions of these travelers will be strongly influenced by online reviews and ratings (eWOM). Another suggestion for future research is to study the impacts of hoteliers replying consumers’ online reviews. For instance, if the hoteliers reply online reviews proactively, will it increase more online room sales and customer satisfaction?
Lastly, hoteliers should motivate consumers to write online reviews. By understanding
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and analyzing user-generated reviews can lead to service quality improvement. This thesis has revealed that eWOM plays an essential role in hospitality and tourism industry, and we have identified most frequently mentioned aspects of hotels in Taiwan. As a result, hotel managers could gain profounder understanding of strategies to create, control and monitor aspects that may affect brand image, service quality, and customer satisfaction, thus provide better service for their customers.
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Appendix
1. Chosen Hotels in Taipei
Hotel Name in Chinese Hotel Name in English
1 Simple + 飯店 Simple + Hotel
2 丰居旅店西門館 Via Hotel
3 丹迪酒店大安森林公園店 Dandy Hotel-Daan Park Branch
4 成旅晶贊飯店 台北蘆洲 Park City Hotel - Luzhou Taipei
5 京站國際酒店式公寓 iTaipei Service Apartment
6 信星青年旅館台北車站館 Star Hostel Taipei Main Station
7 城市商旅南東館 City Suites - Taipei Nandong
8 星辰飯店 Citizen Hotel
9 洛碁商旅建北館 Green World Hotel Jian Pei Suites
10 旅樂序精品旅館站前一館 Hotel Relax I
11 神旺大飯店 San Want Hotel Taipei
12 高絲旅館西門町漢口館 Go Sleep Hotel - Hankou
13 葳皇時尚飯店 V-one Vogue Hotel
14 德立莊 Hotel Midtown Richardson
15 龍蝦先生的秘密巢穴設計青旅 Mr Lobster's Secret Den design hostel
16 大倉久和大飯店 The Okura Prestige Taipei
17 天成大飯店 Cosmos Hotel Taipei
18 台北日記商旅台北車站館 Diary of Taipei Hotel-Main Station
19 王朝大酒店 Sunworld Dynasty Hotel Taipei
20 凱撒大飯店 Caesar Park Hotel Taipei
69
2. Chosen Hotels in Taichung
Hotel Name in Chinese Hotel Name in English
1 中港大飯店 Harbor Hotel
2 巧合大飯店 Chance Hotel
3 成旅晶贊飯店台中民權 Park City Hotel Central Taichung
4 奇異果旅店成功店 Kiwi Express Hotel - Cheng Gung Branch
5 奇異果旅店站前一館 KIWI Express Hotel-Taichung Station Branch 1
6 奇異果旅店站前二館 KIWI Express Hotel-Taichung Station Branch 2
7 昭盛 52 行館 52 Hotel
8 紅點文旅 Reddot Hotel
9 背包 41 青年旅館 Backpacker 41 Hostel - Taichung
10 逢甲商旅 La Vida Hotel
11 博奇大飯店 VIP Hotel Taichung
12 新驛旅店台中車站店 CityInn Hotel Plus - Taichung Station Branch
13 達欣商務精品飯店 Plaza Hotel
14 綠柳町文旅 Reloading Hotel
15 慕戀商旅 Moon Lake Hotel
16 雙星大飯店 Twinstar Hotel
17 寶島 53 行館 53 Hotel
18 公園智選假日飯店 Holiday Inn Express Taichung Park
19 企業家大飯店 The Enterpriser Hotel
20 富信大飯店 Fushin Hotel Taichung
70
3. Chosen Hotels in Kaohsiung
Hotel Name in Chinese Hotel Name in English
1 AHIRUYAH 鴨家青年旅館 Ahiruyah Guesthouse
2 高雄 WO 酒店 Hotel Wo
3 中央商務大飯店 Centre Hotel
4 吉娃娃景觀商旅 Gwawa Hotel
5 艾卡設計旅店 The Icon Hotel
6 住飯店 Hotel Dùa
7 君鴻國際酒店 85 Sky Tower Hotel
8 貝殼窩港都青年旅舍 Backpackers Inn - Kaohsiung
9 佳適旅舍六合館 Jia's Inn-Liouhe
10 城市商旅真愛館 City Suites - Kaohsiung Chenai
11 秝芯旅店六合館 Legend Hotel Kaohsiung Liuhe
12 康橋商旅中正館 Kindness Hotel - Jhong Jheng
13 喜達絲飯店 Starhaus Hotel
14 華宏飯店 Hwa Hong Hotel
15 陽光大飯店 Hotel Sunshine
16 漢來大飯店 Grand Hi Lai Hotel
17 樹屋旅店 The Tree House
18 麗尊酒店 THE LEES Hotel
19 文賓大飯店 Wenpin Hotel Pier 2
20 福華大飯店 The Howard Plaza Hotel Kaohsiung
71
4. Chosen Hotels in Hualien
Hotel Name in Chinese Hotel Name in English
1 小旅行迷你公寓 Mini Voyage Hostel
2 五指山民宿建林館 Hualien 5FM Homestay-Jianlin
3 天璽商務飯店 Cullinan Hotel
4 太魯閣立霧左邨民宿 Li Wu Zuo Cun B&B
5 太魯閣晶英酒店 Silks Place Taroko Hotel
6 白色宮殿民宿 White Palace B&B
7 安堤司海景飯店 Anntiss Ocean View Hotel
8 汎特希公寓 The Fantasy Apartment
9 百事達國際飯店 Best Hotel
10 車站 100 米民宿 Station 100 Meter B&B
11 東城商旅 East Town 26 Hotel
12 城市家園民宿 City Home
13 洄瀾窩青年旅舍 Hualien Wow Hostel
14 美麗晨曦 Pretty Sun B&B
15 島國熊貓青年民宿 Taiwan Panda Hostel
16 浩澐民宿 Hualien Hao Yun B&B
17 晶緻麗景會館 Bravo Ling Jing Hotel
18 紫藤花民宿 Ziteng Hua Homestay
19 麗格休閒飯店 Liga Hotel
20 花蓮窗外民宿 Hostel Window View