Online Marketing

Trip Advisor, Virtual Tourist and Consumer Generated Marketing
The tourism industry has benefited from the growth of the internet. Whereas in the past tourists needed to find a travel agency in order to find the best deals for their trip, today, consumers can book their tickets and create their itinerary on their own. Travel websites like Trip Advisor and Virtual Tourist have been invaluable in this process.
Trip Advisor (Tripadvisor.com) is described by Mark Hodson, founder of 101holidays.co.uk, and 101honeymoons.co.uk as "the daddy of hotel review websites" (Barrell, 2013). Through Trip Advisor, travellers can learn about actual experiences of hotel guests and be able to gauge whether the services of the hotel fit their needs. Moreover, Trip Advisor allows tourists to see top hotels based on consumer ratings, as well as book their room from the Trip Advisor website itself. In a white paper by Pasi Tuominen (2011), he discovered that customer reviews had a huge effect on hotel bookings – the better the reviews, the more customers book for a hotel. I can personally attest to this – before booking for a hotel, I read customer reviews (not just look at the number of stars) and there, I discover answers to questions that are not often discussed on the hotel websites – Is the hotel pet-friendly? Are the amenities featured on the website as good as advertised? Is the hotel well kept? Is it near or far landmarks? Through consumer reviews, I have found cheap hotels in accessible locations, and offers grea...