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Virtual Experience on Hotel Websites: A Web Analysis

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Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2013

Abstract

Visual presentation formats (VPFs) enable a hotel service offering to be experienced virtually on the web prior to purchase. This study addresses the potential benefit of VPFs for providers, taking the Swiss hotel business as an example. A web analysis examines for the first time the prevalence of individual VPFs in the Swiss online hotel market. While pictures appear on nearly every website, the use of videos and three-dimensional (3D) presentation formats is much less common. These two formats are found primarily on websites of higher-end hotel establishments. Based on the results, implications of VPFs for hoteliers are derived. It has been shown that websites in the Swiss online hotel market can be differentiated from the competition through the use of videos and 3D presentations, and this in turn could have a positive impact on brand awareness, image and confidence in the hotel on the part of the customer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Information Systems, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

    Marcel Grüter, Vanessa Schneider & Thomas Myrach

Authors
  1. Marcel Grüter
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  2. Vanessa Schneider
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  3. Thomas Myrach
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marcel Grüter .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Faculty of Communication Sciences, Università della Svizzera italiana, Via Giuseppe Buffi 13, Lugano, 6904, Switzerland

    Lorenzo Cantoni

  2. , College of Merchandising,, University of North Texas, Union Circle 1155, Denton, 76203-1100, Texas, USA

    Zheng (Phil) Xiang

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Grüter, M., Schneider, V., Myrach, T. (2013). Virtual Experience on Hotel Websites: A Web Analysis. In: Cantoni, L., Xiang, Z. (eds) Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2013. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36309-2_34

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