Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A.A. Ahmad, M.N.I. Ismail & S.M. Radzi
Faculty of Hotel and Tourism Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Malaysia
ABSTRACT: The expansion of information technology is leading the online marketplace, thus affect-
ing the marketing industry. Information technology has also contributed to the progression of Malaysia
as a tourist destination. Henceforth, there are greater increments in revenue and occupancy rate in the
hotel sector, particularly boutique hotels. Generation Y represents the digital natives that is concerned
on information technology. Thus, generation Y favors comprehensive application that meets their needs
as information seekers. The accessibility of the internet has led the SoLoMo as a feature in marketing
strategies. SoLoMo trends have been changing the way of generation Y behaves as consumers. Moreover,
SoLoMo offers a unique opportunity for companies to gain a competitive edge. Therefore, this paper will
explore on awareness of SoLoMo trends, whilst focusing on each element in SoLoMo, which includes
social, local and mobile as having online trust as moderating factors that result in intention of visiting a
boutique hotel.
Keywords
:
SoLoMo, intention of visiting, boutique hotel
1 INTRODUCTION
64 percent between ages of 15-34, followed by 3
percent for those aged 35-44 and the least about 13
percent of aged 45-55. Furthermore, generation Y
has greater disposable income rather than their
past generation. Nowadays, patrons can retrieve
information anywhere and every time through
information platform which is the Internet. Inter-
net has influenced the generation Y in making a
purchase decision. Besides, Maswera, Edwards
and Dawson (2009) mentioned that online trust
also has influenced generation Y's behavior and
lead as a contributor to the growth of e-commerce
business for the hotel industry.
Information technology is defined as a process of
obtaining and gathering data by using software
and hardware in order to generate the informa-
tion required. Nowadays, information technology
and tourism are some of the major contributor in
today's economy (Buhalis & Law, 2008). In Malay-
sia, this connection has given strategic opportunities
and powerful components in the economic growth.
There are 17,723,000 internet users in Malaysia.
The expansions in the hospitality industry are
leading to fierce competition in targeting the mar-
ket sector. Recently, boutique hotel is in trend and
also is one of the growth contributors to the hotel
industry. As stated by Horner and Swarbrooke
(2005), boutique hotel rapidly grows in the indus-
try because its targeted audience is generation Y. It
was discovered that generation Y met and suited
the characteristics as the target market for boutique
hotel (Olga, 2009). However, the peak competition
in the industry has led the marketers to find differ-
ent marketing channel in order to introduce and
convey their products and excellent services to the
customers. Thus, Thakran and Verma (2013) sug-
gested that digital marketing is the best medium
for reaching potential consumers and retain cus-
tomer relationships.
According to a statistic, generation Y is the
highest internet user's ranking which represents
2 RESEARCH GAP
According to Buhalis and Law (2008), the research
on SoLoMo trends is still at infancy and needs to
be discovered thoroughly for the greater oppor-
tunities in return. SoLoMo is not only a growing
trend but it is giving the momentum on a global
basis for each industry. As mentioned by Dimitro-
vski, Todorović, and Valjarević (2012), the inter-
section of SoLoMo should be explored more since
there is little exposure about these. This is because
SoLoMo helps the industry to deal with engage-
ments with digital natives and rivals. By this time,
SoLoMo grants the advantages for retailer, market-
ers, campaigners, ambassadors and consumer that
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