HIGH QUALITY TOURIST’S ONLINE CONSUMER BEHAVIOR – BASED ONLINE MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGIES OF LUXURY BOUTIQUE HOTELS IN BANGKOK, THAILAND­

Abstract

This research establishes online marketing communications (OMC) strategies targeting high-quality tourists for luxury boutique hotels in Bangkok, Thailand under four objectives: (1) to investigate characteristics of high-quality tourists who have stayed in luxury boutique hotels; (2) to study high-quality tourists’ online consumer behavior in terms of website usage in terms of searching for hotel information and making an online reservation; (3) to identify hotel website quality factors that significantly influence on high-quality tourists’ online purchasing intention on luxury boutique hotel website; and (4) to propose OMC strategies targeting high-quality tourists for luxury boutique hotels in Bangkok, Thailand.

The study employed a mixed research methodological approach. The questionnaire was used to gather high-quality tourists’ online consumer behavior and the important factors of website quality factors influencing online purchasing intention for luxury boutique hotel websites from 455 high-quality tourists who stayed in luxury boutique hotels in Bangkok, Thailand. Meanwhile, the in-depth interviews gathered data from 13 hotel executives who worked in luxury boutique hotels to investigate high-quality tourists’ characteristics and propose on OMC strategies targeting high-quality tourists. Regarding descriptive and inferential statistics, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were applied to analyze the quantitative data while content analysis was employed to extract the findings from the in-depth interviews.

Senior German tourist are representative of high-quality tourist. Most were between 61-65 years of age and were retired with a monthly income of approximately US$6,000-10,000. They travel aboard more than 3 times a year and spent 2-3 nights per visit with a minimum room rate starting at 6,000 THB. Regarding high-quality tourists’ online consumer behaviors in terms of website usage to search for hotel information and make online reservation, the top five high-quality tourists’ online consumer behavior were online processes, information content, website responsiveness, ease of use, and hotel image followed by website viable substitute, website visual appeal, website interactivity, website design, and innovation of website.

In addition, the importance of hotel website quality factor was divided into two groups termed “Functional” and “Usability.” The functional group consists of information content, website interactivity, website responsiveness, and website design. The usability group consists of ease of use, website viable substitute, and online processes. All seven factors influenced high-quality tourists’ online purchasing intention of luxury boutique hotel websites.

Ultimately, after completing research objectives one, two, and three, four OMC strategies targeting high-quality tourists were proposed: (1) market segmentation strategy; (2) online consumer behavior strategy; (3) website development strategies consisting of online reservation development, online payment development, interactive design development, responsive design development, content marketing, user experience design, and website design development; and (4) online purchasing intention strategy.

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