Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Luck and Lancaster (2003) report that many hotel groups tend to use their websites for little
more than posting information and have failed to achieve any real gains in this area. An Amadeus
report on social media (Frary 2005: 4) urges the travel industry to 'recognize that the traveller is
“social” and expects brands to be listening to what they want, and to provide informational,
supportive, relevant, and valuable communications through their choice of communication
channels'. In other words, travel organizations need to communicate, to interact and to understand
their customers.
Customers relate to interpersonal elements such as self-image, status, information and money
(Morais, Backman and Dorsch 2003; Richard and Zhang 2012) while evidence of reciprocal
commitment reinforces customer loyalty (Vatanasombut
et al
. 2004). Reciprocity is judged in
terms of contribution matching that of the customer's through evidence of friendship, loyalty
and commitment that creates emotional bonds that cannot be substituted by discounts and
perks (Morais
et al
. 2003; Richard and Zhang 2012). Customers want accurate and complete
information, good access, information searching facilities, prompt system response and reliable
service (Hsu, Chiu and Ju 2004). The perception of reciprocity is particularly important for
social media users who expect higher levels of interaction. The arrival of new highly visible
intermediaries such as TripAdvisor enhances such interaction and gratifi es consumers' desire
to share travel experiences (Xiang and Gretzel 2010). Tourism marketers therefore need to be
careful to integrate social media and develop customer-centric strategies into their planning of
relationship marketing.
Developing customer relationships in an SST environment
In the apparently paradoxical themes of pushing customers towards self-service technologies and
maintaining good customer relationships, there is a complementary thread of placing customers
within a partnership rather than regarding them as marketing targets (Meuter
et al
. 2005;
The
Economist
2002). Meuter
et al
. (2005) argue that such is the value of the customer as a co-producer
that truly customer-centric organizations will extend internal practices to include customers
with the resulting benefi ts of increasing services and improving relationships. Customers become
stakeholders and their commitment to the relationship is reinforced (Wynne, Berthon, Pitt,
Ewing and Napoli 2001). This argument has been strengthened as technologies have developed
that facilitate co-production activities and also promote customer-to-customer interaction that
affects the way organizations are perceived by their market. This section discusses the constructs
of relationship building within the context of a customer-centric business offering SST facilities.
Design factors in building relationships
It has been argued that design and functionality of customer interfaces, together with some
evidence of innovativeness, can 'enhance perceptions of quality, encourage repeat patronage, and
result in increased loyalty to the fi rm' (Curran and Meuter 2007: 2830). Therefore, while the
technicalities of SSTs or websites are not discussed here, there are design considerations that
affect the ability of organizations to maximize their CRM strategies.
The travel industry is very highly Web-based, which is key to supporting many of the SSTs
available. Travel customers are known to be prone to site hopping and have been likened to
'empowered fruit fl ies' with attention spans estimated to be as low as ten seconds (Lueg 2001).
This type of behaviour calls for simplicity of website design in preference to an organization's
desire for artistry, novelty or fashion. In other words, design priorities should be to enable
customers to have a good online experience and fi nd what they need quickly and effi ciently
