FULL PROPOSAL

Importance of information technology on

customer choice of hotels.

JUSTIN REBELLO
STUDENT ID: 2158011

Acknowledgement:
I would like to give a special note of thanks to Mr. Robin Hill for guiding me through my entire
research and for the knowledge he has provided us.
A special thanks to Mr. Bill McCallum for giving us the approval for our research and would
like to thank the students for their active participation who guided me to get results of my
findings.

Abstract:
My research is based on Importance of information technology on customer choices of
hotels. I have researched on this topic because to get a clear idea of how information
technology helps consumers choice while choosing a hotel. The hotel industry is booming in
todays world. Hotels are looking for more ways to gain and attract more consumers. In this
case Information technology helps the hoteliers to provide all information online which
becomes more user friendly for all the consumers. I have conducted my research
programme at PIHMS and have gathered data from 20 respondents which were divided into
10 males and 10 females and gathering opinion of 5 different nationalities. The purpose of
this research is to gain knowledge about the importance of Information Technology on
customer choices on hotels how do the online platforms help in changing their decisions on
choosing a hotel.

Purpose
The intention behind doing this research is to get a clear idea of how information
technology helps consumers choice while choosing a hotel. The hotel industry is
booming in todays world. Hotels are looking for more ways to gain and attract more
consumers. In this case Information technology helps the hoteliers to provide all
information online which becomes more user friendly for all the consumers. It helps
everybody to get the right information at right time and right place. Information
Technology saves a lot of time of consumers as they dont have to be physically
present in the hotel to know the details or to book the room, as all information is seen
online and they can plan their travel seating at one place.
INTRODUCTION

Information Technology has more demand in any of the business in todays world, so
does the hospitality industry. From the consumers point of view it is a positive factor,
but form the hoteliers point of view a lot of capital is involved, Also there is more
transparency as now a days using information technology consumers put their
feedback online. It also restricts the consumers to get in touch with the hoteliers face
to face and clear their views. My research will help us to know, and discuss how
information technology affects the consumers and the hoteliers.
METHOD
The research will be conducted in the Pacific International Hotel Management
School and my research will be an applied research where students from PIHMS will
be my participants and primary data will be collected. My research instrument will be
in form of questionnaires. A deductive approach will be undertaken for data
collection and my research will be qualitative.

Expected benefits/ Justification

This research will be helpful to pacific International hotel management school (PIHMS) to
know customer perceptions about what are the important factors in information technology
on customer choices of hotels in the current generation. This research may also help hotels
to understand the customers better and to deliver better services and even transport facilities
for example, In my personal experience Shangri-La Group of Hotels Singapore provide
transport for the guests this makes the customers satisfaction level even higher and feel like
going to the same hotel over and over again. Will help in understanding what customers
think about services and reviews on hotels which will make them have a clear answer on
which hotel they desire to choose.

Introduction:

According to (Law & Jogaratnam, 2005) Information Technology (IT) plays an

important role for the organisation in overseeing hotel strategies and enables
customers not to be physically present as they can access desired details through
the internet. Efficient and timely deployment of new IT applications may offer open
doors for upgraded visitor administrations to meet expanding customer desires,
enhanced expense control, more powerful advertising procedures, and extended
open opportunities for hotels. It is apparent that IT investments will expand hotels
efficiency, lessen their expenses, and in the meantime increase the value of the
administrations and items offered to their clients. IT applications in hotels have
expanded over the previous decades (Armijos, DeFranco, & Hamilton, 2002). There
is a requirement for broad research studies that completely inspect how interests in
IT applications can prompt making a supportable upper hand for hotel organizations.
The current writing on this subject in the accommodation field is not yet convincing
and there have been restricted applied and observational studies into this topic.
Having distinguished the gap, this study intends to talk about how IT speculations
can prompt upper hand in hotel organizations and to propose a hypothetical system
that shows the connections between IT applications and customer choices in hotels.
The rivalry in today's business environment implies that tourism and hospitality
industry need to work hard to keep up and build up their competitiveness and need
customers to provide their views as feedback as per what changes in the
department. The achievement of a business, to a certain extent, relies on upon its
capacity to get and use redesigned data to help its administration and, advertising
procedures. Thus, Information Technology (IT) helps the association to oversee data
powerfully and impacts business competitiveness through helping leaders to settle
on decision making and helping in customer choices. IT serves to meet the requests
for convenient and precise data by clients and the IT dissemination in the tourism
and friendliness commercial enterprises have increased at a remarkable rate
(Connolly & Lee, 2006).

Preamble/Statement of the problem:

Information technology which will help in getting a clear idea about why people are
confused in selecting the hotels due to availability of various online portals. This
research puts a question on the consumer behaviour towards choosing hotels
through information technology (IT). Creating a resulting research question for
further investigation through questionnaires distributed to PIHMS students which will
give out a clear idea about the fact that why people are confused in choosing their
hotels due to availability of various websites.
Thus my research question is
How can information technology help customer to choose their hotel of choice?

This research question will help me investigate to a further level and gain appropriate
results

Literature review
Consumers believe in personal opinions, suggestions, recommendations to make up
their mind to choose a destination and a purchase decision. The personal way of
conveying is defined as electronic word of mouth. According to (Anderson, 1998)
Word of mouth statement has evolved in the recent years word of mouth is defined
as face to face conversation/communication about companys or products between
two people, (Arndt, 1967).According to (Westbrook, 1987) broadly described, word of
mouth includes all informal communication directed at other customers about the
ownership, usage or characteristics of particular goods and services of their sellers.
A favourable word of mouth increases the probability of purchases while negative
has its opposite effects. Gruen, Osmonbekov, & Czaplewski, (2005) studied a
specific form of wom (word of mouth) which is based online and called the know-how
forum and specifies that online word of mouth not only impacted on receivers but
anticipated the value of the companys products and also their loyalty intensions.
Hence the exchange of word of mouth processing though product information
empowers consumers and narrows down producer/consumer information
imbalances (Price, Feick, & Guskey, 1995). In the Internet period, the impact and
distribution of WOM have been further improved as individuals can make their
opinion easily accessible to other internet users (Dellarocas, 2003). The Internet and
data innovations give broad chances to purchasers to share their assessments of
items on the web. With the developing accessibility of electronic assessment stages,
an expanding number of hypothesis stages have been presented that have offers on
online purchases, audits or evaluations. As a result WOM is playing its part on
customers purchase decisions. Likewise with conventional WOM correspondences,
online buyer surveys are vital for driving the activities of shoppers. Be that as it may,
online purchaser audits have distinctive qualities (Reingen, 1986). For example,
dissimilar to WOM interchanges, positive and negative online buyer audits are all the
while displayed together from different sources at the same online spot over the
internet. The effect of online customer analysis can reach a long way past the nearby
group, because of the fact that shoppers everywhere throughout the world can get to
an analysis by means of the Internet. Moreover, customer WOM is not an immediate
choice variable for the vender. In any case, the later improvement of data innovation
permits a merchant to successfully start and telecast shopper online analysis by
means by which it could call their own web site.

In the course of recent years, the world has seen a veritable Internet blast. In mid
1997, the quantity of Internet clients was assessed at under 60 million all around; by
2002 the world aggregate had expanded very nearly tenfold, to by most accounts
580 million.
An audit of the figures for distinctive districts offers a detached yet uncovering picture
of the circumstance: the dissemination of Internet clients is greatly uneven.
Measurements show that somewhat under 200 million of them live in the Unites
States or Canada, a comparative number live in Europe (185 million), and the
aggregate for East Asia and the Pacific locale is just somewhat smaller (170 million).
In Latin America, the quantity of Internet clients is assessed at 33 million. In Africa,
there are about 6 million clients, 50% of who live in South Africa, and the figure for
Western Asia is near 5 million. The instruments of data innovation have given the
cutting edge with appearances and traditions of outsider spots Universities and little
bistros are overflowed with youthful grown-ups endeavouring to discover news not
accessible to them in their city or town. They understand how vital this learning
economy will demonstrate for their future.
To conduct my study, I have created a panel of data from bookings.com using
IT/Publicity information available about hotel prices and hotel reviews. In my data set
I had a different set of hotels belonging to different sections. To be precise we have
the following categories good environment, good location, hotels with good and bad
reviews and hotels with good service (Cooper & Schindler, 2003). From the data I
collected two sets of information hotel prices and review data. The first part of our
data set consists of hotels various aspects collected over time including the list price
of the hotel and the price on the website bookings.com retail price. Second part of
information collected was on hotel reviews which included ratings system. I collected
all reviews of a hotel in sequence since the hotel was released in the market until the
end of the time period of data gathering (Gursoy, 2009). Bookings.com has a voting
system whereby all community users from different parts can provide helpful votes to
rate the reviews of the other community members for every submitted review we can
review the actual textual content of the review, the ratings of the hotel is given by the
reviewer, the total number of important /helpful votes received by the reviewer and
the total number of votes that were posted for that review. Booking .Com site is a
channel that unites potential users with numerous other users. This website features
a variety of filters to help consumers easily can have their selected choices. The
search results in a number of hotels where the consumer can compare and select
what attracts them in selection having a brief overview about the hotel name,
address and overall reviews the hotel has of its locations and environment and a
website is also available of the hotels (Stephen & Ronald, 2008). By viewing the
hotels web page a consumer can get additional information such as transportation
services, location, photos and comments from guests who have already visited the
place and have left their genuine comments. These online remarks give broad
chances to shoppers to share their judgment of lodgings online. Booking.Com

website without a fact that it is one of the world's driving online lodging reservations
organizations, situated in Amsterdam, the Netherlands (Senecal & Nantel, 2004). It
draws in more than 30 million novel guests every month through the Internet from
both relaxation and business markets around the world. The Booking.com site is
accessible in 41 languages and offers more than 105000 inns in 92 nations, which
makes the commitment to more than 150000 room evenings booked consistently. My
data sample consists of two datasets which is sample containing online reviews of
50 Amsterdams hotels which are randomly selected by the website. Each hotel has
its rate and the travellers review it by giving reviews on the location, environment if
the hotel is comfortable and clean and service staffs their behaviour towards a
consumer wow services (Stokes & Lomax, 2002). The second dataset collected was
editors review of each hotel from a famous website or tourism magazines.
Measurement of consumer word of mouth is held based on inference surveys,
questionnaires. In this research I used controlled experiments which were
specifically designed to study the influences of e-wom(electronic word of mouth) and
travellers e-WOM for online bookings.

Current project
This research is proposed to investigate the use of technology over the web and its impacts
on customer choices to select the right hotel for their stay. The method that I will be carrying
out my research is through preparing questionnaires that will be distributed to PIHMS
students as they are the future customers who will have to make decisions on choosing
hotels through various websites. I would carry out my research by browsing databases and
getting statistical data through the topic through prior research and articles. This research
would help me further in getting to know customer perceptions and changing trends of the
information technology through reviewing and giving consumers appropriate filters for their
search.

Research Question
How can information technology help customer to choose their hotel of choice?

Hypothesis or Statement of Expectation:

Through my research I aim to study the Importance of information technology on customer

choices of hotels on customers decision making towards a hotel. Following an investigation
on this topic results expected would be clear and statistical data will be analysed through
questionnaires of different nationalities. A different range of opinions will be gathered through
the use of questionnaires.
According to (Gerhard, 2005) hypotheses derived from a journal relevant to this topic

Innovation, customer signalling, such as internet booking and in-room modems

Enabling employees such as voicemail
Information available on the internet, reviews and type of hotel.
Services provided with technology advancements have positive effects to satisfy a
customer.

Method

Subjects or sampling or source of data

For my research purpose i intend to collect data from the students at Pacific
International Hotel Management School (PIHMS), New Zealand as students are the
future customers who will be experiencing services from different hotels. The
students will be able to give ideas in accordance to a customers point of view of
technology and services in hotels, improving customer satisfaction and loyalty. The
sample size will be derived by using the simple random sampling method where
every student has a probability of getting selected and thus gain data on a qualitative
scale over a period of few weeks.

Materials and equipment/resources

Serial Number
1
2
3
4
5

Research Procedure

Materials and
Equipment/Resources
Laptop
Articles
Library Database
Stationary
Questionnaires

Availability
Available
Collection From Internet
Available At PIHMS
Available at PIHMS
Printed at PIHMS

This Research to be undertaken will be applied research with a deductive approach.

Questionnaires will be used for gathering primary data on my topic I will need to form
a set of questions and distribute it to the PIHMS students to get an accurate data to
answer my research question. The result of my analysis from my questionnaire will
help me answer my research question. I intent to make a statistical table containing
detailed primary data gained by 5 Nationalitys of PIHMS students which is divided
into 20 male and 20 female representatives. I will be distributing questionnaires to
the 5 Nationalitys and getting results of their opinion and the statistical data will be
formed based on their opinion. This research will be conducted in PIHMS and would
require consent permission which will be taken from the management in order to
carry out the research efficiently. During my research i might have problems like the
participants are feeling uncomfortable or have no interest in answering the
questionnaire.

Procedure for gathering informed consent and other ethical considerations:

Informed Consent: The letter of consent fir the distributions of questionnaires and to
carry of the research should be filled.
Confidentiality and anonymity: A written confirmation of confidentiality will be
included with the questionnaire that will be distributed.
Other ethical considerations: Ethics Approval Application Form must be filled after
completion of the final proposal.

Proposed method for analysing results.

The data will be primary collected on the basis of quantitative approaches using research
instruments which are questionnaire. I intend to collect quantitative data and seek to find my
end result from my questionnaire. The data collection process will be quantitative which will
contain statistical data numerical giving us information on the opinions of 40 respondents of
5 nationalities from which 20 are male and 20 are female. With the help of the pilot study i
will be able to get accurate data from my class mates through a pilot study which will get me
the right questions.

Time Schedule
S. No Activity

Date

Final Proposal Submission

09th September, 2015

Research Permission Letter

10th September, 2015

Questionnaire completed
distribute questionnaire to
students

29th September, 2015

Compare Compiled Data with

Collected Secondary Data

19th October 25th October, 2015

Start Inputting Data in the Final

Report Template

26th October 01 November, 2015

Complete and Revised Final

Report

16th November 22nd November, 2015

Submission of Final Report

25th November, 2015

Final and Oral Presentation

09th December, 2015

Expenditure/Budget
Table

Serial Number
1
2
3
4
5

Equipment/item
Stationary
Laptop
Printing
Binding
Library

Cost(NZD)
5$
Available
5$
15$
Available

Total Cost

25$

Pilot Study

Method

The sample size for my pilot test conducted was 5 participants all these participants
are students of PIHMS doing their postgraduate diploma April 2015 Group out of
which 3 were selected according to their convenience during class hours. The pilot
test was conducted on the 1st of September,2015 by getting information from these
participants during class hour. With the help of the pilot test detailed discussions
were performed and data was collected through the pilot test from the participants in
order to get the possible rectifications and changes to be made in the pilot test.
The pilot study was held to test and statistically analyse the questionnaire questions
which have been borrowed for the collection of accurate data.

Results
The pilot test was scheduled to be done during the research class as on the 1 st of
September 2015, the average time taken to distribute the questionnaires was
approximately 25-30 minutes. A set of random questions were prepared for my
current research and distributed to my class mates the participants recommended
that the researcher should use a survey/questionnaire method to conduct the
research . It is also recommended that further questions to be added to the list of
questions for the survey/questionnaire to gain more knowledge from the participants
to achieve the objectives of research and answer the research question. Three more
questions were added to the list of questions for the research questionnaire. It is
highly recommended that the researcher should set up challenging questions which
will make the participants share their in-depth knowledge.

Discussions

1. Due to pilot test conducted on the samples of the participants gave a clear
understanding and building better questionnaires to gather data
2. Least relevant questions were able to be picked out and were deleted which did
not make sense at all.
3. Pilot study made building questionnaires easy and efficient with the ability of
brainstorming building our knowledge even higher.

Results

1. Question
What is your gender?
Out of the 20 respondents who answered the questionnaire 10 respondents are males
and 10 respondents are females.
2. Question
What is your age group?
In the above question out of 20 respondents 3 respondents were Vietnamese 7
respondents were Indians 7 respondents are Chinese 2 respondents are Russians and 1
respondent is a South African.
3. Question
What is your nationality?
In the above question out of 20 respondents 3 respondents were Vietnamese 7 respondents
were Indians 7 respondents are Chinese 2 respondents are Russians and 1 respondent is a
South African

1. What is your gender

Respons Respons
e Percent e Total
1

1.Male

50.00%

10

1. What is your gender

Respons Respons
e Percent e Total

2.Female

50.00%

10

In the above question 20 respondents were analysed and divided into Genders Males and
Females.

Table
Gender
10 Male
10 Female

Response Percent
50%
50%

Response Total
20

Figure 2
2. What is your age group
Respons Respons
e Percent e Total
1

1.18-23

35.00%

2.24-29

60.00%

12

3 30-35

5.00%

4 36-41

0.00%

5 42-47

0.00%

6 48+

0.00%

In the above question out of 20 respondents 7 respondents were coming under the age
group of 18-23, 12 respondents were coming under the age group 24-29 and 1 respondent
was coming under the age group 30-35.

Table
Age Group
18-23
24-29
30-35

Response Percent
35
60
5

Response Total
7
12
1

3. What Is your nationality?

Respons Respons
e Percent e Total
1

1. Vietnamese

15.00%

2. Indian

35.00%

3. Chinese

35.00%

4. New Zealander

0.00%

5. Russian

10.00%

6. South African

5.00%

In the above question out of 20 respondents 3 respondents were Vietnamese 7 respondents

were Indians 7 respondents are Chinese 2 respondents are Russians and 1 respondent is a
South African
Table
Nationality
Vietnamese

Response Percent
15

Response Total
3

Indian
Chinese
Russian
South African

35
35
10
5

7
7
2
1

4. Do you use online platform to plan your travel/vacation?

Respons Respons
e Percent e Total
1

1.Yes

85.00%

17

2. No

15.00%

Do you use online platform to plan your travel/vacation?

15%

85%

In the above figure data collected, 3 respondents (15%) did not agree with the question and
17 of the respondents (85%) agreed that they use online platform to plan their
travel/vacation

Table
Response Percent
17
3

Yes
No

Response Total
85
15

5. What platform do you use to plan your vacation? You can choose more than one.
Respons Respons
e Percent e Total
1

1. Bookings.com

0.00%

2. Xpedia.com

30.00%

3. Trip advisor

35.00%

4. Makemytrip.com

35.00%

5. Others(Please Specify)

0.00%

answered

20

skipped

Analysis

Mean:

3.05

Std. Deviation:

0.8

Variance:

0.65

Std. Error:

0.18

Satisfaction Rate:

51.25

Number of responses
bookings.com

Xpedia.com

Trip Advisor

Makemytrip.com

Others

Total Responses

15%

18%

50%

18%

In the above figure 20 respondents were asked, What platform do you use to plan your
vacation 6 respondents view Xpedia.com, 7 respondents use Tripadvisor.com and 7
respondents use Makemytrip.com.

Platforms
Bookings.com
Xpedia.com
Trip Advisor
Makemytrip

Response Percent

Response Total

30
35
35

6
7
7

6. Do you think Information Technology helps you to choose your choice of hotels?
Response
Percent

Response
Total

1.Yes

95.00%

19

2. No

5.00%

Do you think Information Technology helps you to choose your choice of hotels?
No; 5%

Yes; 95%

In the above figure a pie chart is analysed of the 20 respondents from which 19 respondents
agreed to the question and 1 respondent did not agree with the question

Response Percentage
95
5

Yes
No

Response Total
19
1

7. Does information technology provide you with all the details related to your travel?
Respons Respons
e Percent e Total
1

1. Yes

85.00%

17

2. No

15.00%

3. If "No" in what way is it lacking ?

0.00%

Does information technology provide you with all the details related to your travel?
Yes No

15%

85%

In the above pie chart 17 respondents agreed with technology providing with all the details
related to the travel where as 3 respondents did not agree to the question.
Response Percent
85
15

Yes
No

Response Total
17
3

8. Does Information Technology help consumers present their point of view

Respons Respons
e Percent e Total
1

1. Yes

85.00%

17

2. No

15.00%

Table

Response Percent
85
15

Yes
No

Response Total
17
3

Does Information Technology help consumers present their point of view

No; 15%

Yes; 85%

From the above pie chart 20 respondents were asked if Information Technology helps
consumers present their point of view and 17 out of the 20 respondents agreed that
consumers can present their point of view through information technology and 3 respondents
did not agree to the question

9. Does Information Technology bring any major difference to the consumer's decision?
Response Response
Percent
Total
1

1. Yes

95.00%

19

2. No

5.00%

3. If "Yes", in what way?

0.00%

9. Does Information Technology bring any major difference to the consumer's decision?
Response Response
Percent
Total
Answer (19)
1

03/12/15 6:17A
M
ID: 26270718

helps the consumers choose their hotel.

03/12/15 6:19A
M
ID: 26270743

helps them to analyse hotels in terms of service quality

03/12/15 6:34A
M
ID: 26270756

To understand the services provided by the hotel and knowing about their attractions

03/12/15 6:36A
M
ID: 26270866

understanding the speciality of the hotel

03/12/15 6:38A
M
ID: 26270884

Cultural differences

03/12/15 6:46A
M
ID: 26270943

Better communication

03/12/15 6:47A
M
ID: 26270942

Faster service, Time saving

03/12/15 6:48A
M
ID: 26270941

Faster response time

03/12/15 6:49A
M
ID: 26270940

Flexible and faster work

1
0

03/12/15 6:50A
M
ID: 26270939

time saving

11

03/12/15 6:51A
M
ID: 26270937

complete detail of hotels

1
2

03/12/15 6:53A
M
ID: 26270935

Quick response time

1
3

03/12/15 6:54A
M
ID: 26270933

flexible work

1
4

03/12/15 6:54A
M
ID: 26270929

better communication

9. Does Information Technology bring any major difference to the consumer's decision?
Response Response
Percent
Total
1
5

03/12/15 6:55A
M
ID: 26271037

changing their mind towards hotel

1
6

03/12/15 6:57A
M
ID: 26271046

Finding their desired hotel.

1
7

03/12/15 6:59A
M
ID: 26271060

Time Saving

1
8

03/12/15 7:01A
M
ID: 26271077

Exact information is provided

1
9

03/12/15 7:03A
M
ID: 26271130

Better communication can lead to lound results

Table
Yes
No

Response Percent
95
5

Response Total
19
1

Does Information Technology bring any major difference to the consumer's decision?

No; 5%

Yes; 95%

From the above pie chart 19 respondents agreed to the question and 1 respondent did not
agree with the question

10. Does Information Technology help consumers to make a choice of hotels?

Respons Respons
e Percent e Total
1

1. Yes

100.00%

20

2. No

0.00%

In the above question from the 20 respondents data collected all the 20 respondents from 5
nationalities agree to the fact that Information Technology help consumers to make a choice
of hotels.

Table
Yes
No

Response Percent
100
0

Response Total
20
0

Does Information Technology help consumers to make a choice of hotels?

Yes; 100%

Discussion
This research was conducted to know the customers perception towards information
technology in regards to hotel choice selection through online hotel room booking portals
and websites. The population sample size used to gather primary data are the students of
various nationalities from worldwide countries studying at Pacific International Hotel
Management School (PIHMS) selected based upon their gender, nationalities and different
age groups. The researcher targeted students from Vietnam, India, Chinese, New
Zealander, Russia and South Africa. Through these results the researcher needs to describe
the impacts of information technology on customers mind while choosing/ booking hotels for
their stay.

The above mentioned results gathered through primary data clearly describes the research
question which tells about online channels used by the customers for hotel booking/ choices

such as Booking.com, Xpedia.com, Trip Advisor and Makemytrip. And also how information
of several hotels provided on these channels through advance technologies help consumers
in selecting a particular hotel for their stay. The results gives a fair idea about the customers
point of views/ feedbacks which can be freely shared with other worldwide consumers by the
help of innovative technologies used by the hotels and online hotel booking portal
organisations. According to the results found through primary data overall answered and
support the research question/ objective.

In past research studies the researchers came up with several useful conclusion about the
information technology impact on customers to choose their hotel of choice. Gruen et al.
(2005) and Price et al. (1995) in their research studies concluded that a specific form of wom
(word of mouth) based on feedback shared on online hotel booking portal can impact the
value of the companys product as well as the perception of the customers towards a specific
hotel. Means advance information technology used by hotels for the customers for giving
their feedbacks can bring major difference to others consumers decision of selecting hotel of
their choices. The similar kind of findings are supported by the results of this research study
through question numbers 8, 9 and 10 mentioned in the results section.

The another study conducted by Stokes and Lomax (2002) desrcibes that the advance
technology of online hotel bookings portals and worldwide hotels websites help customers
to book a hotel in few simple steps which makes life easier of the consumers who wants to
search some specific information related to a particular hotel. The researcher concluded that
by providing/ sharing the views of different customers online, the technology helps them in
making hotel choices comfortably while visiting different places. Furthermore, adding to this
the researcher brifely describes how online hotel booking portals such as Booking.com and
Expedia collect and share data through voting system installed on their websites. And if we
talk about the present research results analysed by the reseacher also explains the same
findings through the research survey question numbers 5, 6 and 7. So, the overall findings
from the past research studies mentioned in the historical background section of literature
review fully supports the results of present research or can be called vice-versa where both
past and present study gives the similar kinds of results.

The method use by the researcher to conduct the study was quantitative based research
process. In order to do so survey questionnaire consists of 10 questions related to research

question/ objective were asked from the participants to gather the primary data. The sample
size use in this research was 20 students (50% Males and 50% Females) belongs to five
different nationalities which was useful to do a gender based research. Later on the primary
data collected was analysed with the help of statistics figures, graphs and pie charts.
Overall, the research method used approximately answered main obejctives of the research
study but while conducting this research, the researcher came across with few challenges/
problems which shows limitations to research and that are:The sample size was too small due to the unavailability of males and females of different
nationalities.
Some of the participants were in a rush to reach home after the classes and some
participants were busy with exams preparation studies. This affected the authenticity of the
information they gave to the researcher.
My research confined only to PIHMS Institute, New Plymouth so the researcher was did not
get the chance to gather sufficient primary data through the research survey.
The major limitation to this research was related to researchers experience related to such
kind of innovative technologies used by the online hotel booking portal as well by the hotel
on their websites as the researcher not well aware about these technologies.
The researcher also want to do some implications in this research if he gets a chance to do
the same by deep analysis of primary data gathered in result section. In that the researcher
wants to apply the results of this research study practically in the hospitality industry and
through his own experience he will going to conduct this research study at more wider level.
Conclusion:- Through this research the researcher came to a conclusion consumers that
believe in personal opinion, suggestions, recommendations to make their mind to choose a
hotel and purchase decision to book the same. However, all these things can be possible if
the third party hotel booking portals and hotel websites are well equipped with advance
technologies. Hotels has to modify their technology in terms of information updating and
access to the customers worldwide. And atlast researcher also concluded that by applying
these strategies organisations of hospitality industry can help customers to choose their
hotel of choice.
The researcher suggested some useful key points to the future researchers such as:Increasing the sample size of the research. As the researcher was only confined to New
Plymouth so I could run only 20 questionnaires. If this research would have been done

outside PIHMS then possibly the researcher could have gathered a good number of data
from the respondents.
Keep timing of running your questionnaire such that you dont spoil their mood or be a
hindrance to their work. Focus should be on gathering good quality data than on quantity.
Give plenty of time to the participant to fill the questionnaire.
My recommendation to future researcher would be to take permission well in advance to run
questionnaires inside the stadium. This will help you to gather more data.
As the researcher did not got much of secondary data on information technologies used by
customers to book/ select the hotels of their choice so it is recommend that future
researchers should try to gather a lot of secondary data as much they can. This secondary
data will be helpful in comparing with your primary data from your observations.

Recommendation
To Stakeholders
Creating live chat portals for online customers who ever are confused with the room
rates, Hotel reservations, Discounts offered.
The daily guests should get discount vouchers for their next visit or should have a
points system in which they can redeem the points for some good accessories from
their company partners or get discounts on petrol.
Seasonal offers should be advertised through the television and ads on the web.
Improvements in web sites (online portals) should be created to be simple and sweet
to the customers