WEB MARKETING FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM ACCOMMODATION PROVIDERS IN GREECE (CURRENT SITUATION, ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES) ABSTRACT

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1 WEB MARKETING FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM ACCOMMODATION PROVIDERS IN GREECE (CURRENT SITUATION, ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES) ABSTRACT Vasilis Mitsios University of Wales, Trinity Saint David Larisa, Greece Nowadays, the information and communication technologies (ICTs) have considerably changed the way people arrange their travel and accommodation. From the marketing perspective, the internet has evolved into a new and very effective communication tool for small and medium sized accommodation providers so that they can offer information about their services to their potential clientele from all over the world, in a direct, cost-minimizing and time-effective way (Inkpen, 1998). Therefore, there is an urgent need for Greek accommodation providers, especially small and medium sized, to identify their capabilities and to choose business models or frameworks that can best support an effective online marketing strategy (Gilbert et al. 1999). Key words: Accommodation Providers, Web Marketing, Internet, Greece, Tourist Attraction, Small and Medium Tourism Enterprises (SMTEs) INTRODUCTION The purpose of this paper is to identify and evaluate the web marketing strategy implemented by Greek small and medium sized lodgings (hotels, guest houses, apartments and rooms to let) and to recommend any possible changes/corrections, where needed, based on the literature review available and global best practices (Sigala, 2003; Zafiropoulos et al. 2006; Doolin et al. 2000, Irvine et al. 2008; Main, 2002; Gratzer, 2003). The main hypothesis of this research is that the vast majority of accommodation providers in Greece don t differentiate from each other in terms of online marketing presence. METHODOLOGY This research attempts to investigate the relationship between small and medium accommodation providers in Greece and their web marketing strategy; hence it is understood that the research approach must comprehend multi-methods, both quantitative and qualitative (Rao et al. 2004). This approach enables triangulation, which refers to the use of different data collection methods within a research study in order to ensure that the findings were similar with the researcher s opinion on the subject. For this purpose the researcher has conducted two parallel surveys, which took place from August to November 2010, (both semi structured interviews and questionnaire based survey) that were used as a data collection method (Saunders et al. 2003). Semi-structured interviews In terms of qualitative research method, semi-structured interviews with ten different Greek Small and Medium lodgings owners or managers were conducted. The reason why the researcher chose this type of interviews was that it gives the opportunity to cover a list of basic themes and questions and on the other hand to add questions or change their order when it is required (Cooper et al. 1995). Those interviews were designed to follow-up on findings from the questionnaire survey in more detail and to enlighten aspects that could not be referred through the questionnaires survey. However there are issues that in some cases could turn into disadvantages regarding this research method. For instance the lack of standardisation may lead to serious concerns on its reliability (Bright, 1991), as the question is whether different researchers would reveal similar information Similarly there various types of bias than need to be considered, with more significant the respondent s bias as well as the interviewer s (Easterby-Smith et al. 2002). Questionnaire based survey The collection of the primary data was facilitated by means of self-administered questionnaires, in terms of quantitative research method and they were structured in order to provide close-questions based on academic theory and examples from similar studies that could be measurable as the aim of this method was to present the reality with numbers and not to uncover constitutive meanings in relation to this research.

2 Electronic mail does offer many notable benefits as it is easy to send, easy for the respondent to reply it costs less compared to mail or phone or in person, can offer speed of response and eliminates geographical differences and time zone (Toepoel et al. 2009). The questionnaire was addressed to SMTEs from all over the country via Greek Travel Pages (GTP), a tourist directory used in previous surveys as well (Zafiropoulos et al. 2006) in was conducted in the English language and it constitutes a continuous source of reference and combines practical, accurate, and complete information on tourism in Greece. Still the answered questionnaires received back and after two reminders sent, were actually 103 tourism enterprises. Nevertheless, these questionnaires were used as probability sample (devaus, 2002), since it is a method of sampling that utilizes some form of random selection as well as the total number of the Greek SMTEs is relatively unknown (Andriotis, 2002). Once the collection of the self-administered was completed, all data were put into SPSS software to conduct the analysis of the findings. The design and structure of the questionnaire plays an important role in the validity and reliability of the data collected (Saunders et al. 2003). In this research, the questions embodied in both questionnaires asked from the participants: to provide information about their business, to inform the researcher with aspects of their marketing strategy, to evaluate web marketing as far as the enterprise is concerned to comprehend the role of the company s website, if exist, along with its features within its marketing strategy and to comment the ICT penetration in the industry and in the enterprise itself Discussion on the findings of the semi structured interviews The analysis of the findings that occurred from the ten semi-structured interviews provided us the opportunity to identify some key characteristics of the e-marketing strategy that Greek lodgings use in order to attract customers. Firstly and regarding the general information surrounding these ten SMTEs, the main findings demonstrate us that the interviewees were either enterprises owners or managers and represent Greek Small and Medium-sized lodgings, which are located in various geographical regions around the country. Secondly, these firms represent four different types of accommodation (hotel, mansion, villas and rooms to let ). Another important fact is that these regions are mostly known for summer vacations. Finally and regarding the recession that has affected not only Greece but the world as well, more than half of the interviewees, have declared themselves affected from the economic crisis but all of them stated that they have taken the appropriate measures to face it effectively, with actions like increasing their offers and reducing or at least retaining the prices compared to However, all of them declared themselves rather unhappy with the state s willingness to help them overcome economic recession. Moving further to the core issue of this research, which is no other than the investigation of the impact of web marketing on Greek accommodation providers; the researcher has identified many key points, according to the answers given. To begin with, when asked to distinguish the three most common customers expectations and questions when approaching these enterprises are, the answers included price, facility s location and distance from possible points of interest. Moving along and in terms of marketing strategy, when asked to identify the most common tools, the interviewees answered website, collaboration with tour operators and word-of-mouth strategy. The next question referred to the expenditure spent during 2010 for marketing from the annual gross revenues and the average percentage was from 1% to 5%. Another finding that needs further discussion regards the implementation and operation of a Customer Relationship Management system or a Return on Investment measurement tool within the SMTEs operation; nevertheless, the interviews showed that almost none of these firms had implemented such systems, while the average period of their marketing strategy s reassessment is once a year for all ten lodgings. Finally, most of those interviewed said that they follow a mass marketing strategy and almost none of them operates an after sales management system. Another issue that occurred from these interviews regarded the lodgings website and its importance within their web marketing presence, which proved to be rather significant. For instance, with the exception of one case, the websites main common functions are the following, even though all interviewees admitted that they have identified functions or elements that should also be implemented in their websites: Online reservation system Up-to-date information regarding the enterprise, in more than one language

3 Links about the enterprise and the general area Different means of communication and Special offers It s worth mentioning that during the discussions, all the interviewees characterized their websites as the most effective and useful internet marketing tool for these firms. In order to strengthen this opinion all ten of them replied that they tend to measure the effectiveness of their websites and the means they use regard the measurement of the number of online bookings and the number of visitors. Similarly all of them collaborate with an external consultant either on regular basis or more rarely. Referring to the interviewees perception towards new technological trends that could be applied to their enterprises operation, such as mobile marketing and marketing applied through social media networks, all of them seemed well informed and keen to implement such innovations, but no one actually consider the Greek tourism industry mature enough to use such applications. Accordingly, when the researcher asked each interviewee to criticize the relationship between his employees and his company s web marketing tools, the vast majority claimed that only the employees, whose work is to communicate with potential clients, have actually been trained or informed about the enterprises marketing strategy, online or offline. Finally, all the respondents, whether they operate a website or not, agreed that web marketing is an important tool that can help Greek Small and Medium-sized Tourism Enterprises to adjust to the market s needs, if they wish to stay competitive and viable, in terms of promotion and services offered. Discussion on the findings of the questionnaire based survey Initially and according to the questionnaires answered, these firms cover a great variety in the types of accommodation within the samples (hotels, rooms to let, apartments and villas), from which the former represents nearly half of the enterprises. Most of these lodgings are located basically in three regions (Crete, Southern Aegean and Central Macedonia), which are considered as famous destinations for summer vacation for both foreign and domestic tourists and based on their answers it seems that their average operational period is six months per year that extends from April until October. The next question referred to the economic crisis and its impact on the hospitality firms and all the respondents agreed that they have been affected by the recession, more or less. Afterwards the researcher tried to find data around those companies e-marketing, through the questionnaire answered, according to which the three major marketing tools used by Greek accommodation providers are: collaboration with tour operators, word-of-mouth strategy and own website presence, while the most frequent questions from potential customers regard service price, the facility s location, room availability and distance from possible spots of interest. Similarly, the average percentage of gross revenues that they have spent on marketing expenses doesn t exceed 5% in the majority of the businesses surveyed, but most of them do not use any specific tool that measures the return on investment. However they characterize the strategy that they follow as fairly effective and they claim that they reassess it just once a year. The key marketing tool they operate is their websites and their common features are: Up to date availability information in multiple languages, Different and efficient means of communication and General links Nevertheless, almost all respondents recognize that there are functions that should be added in their website, which are: online booking system, online transaction system, and accessibility for disabled users Moving further the respondents were asked to characterize the role and importance of web marketing in the Greek hospitality industry and the general opinion is that it is considered as something more than just another promotion tool and as it seems it will play a significant part in the industry s future. In the same spirit, the majority of the interviewees seemed aware of new technological trends in marketing, on the other hand all of them expressed the opinion that Greek tourist industry is rather unready, in terms of business mentality and technology adoption, to implement such innovations Finally and as for those enterprises that do not operate their own website or do not have presence in a third party website, and based on their responses, they were aware of its effectiveness and benefits and they would be interested to built their own website in the near future.

4 THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS This research has implications for both theory development and the small and medium sized hospitality businesses. The main contribution to theory development involves the confirmation of the hypothesized relationship among Greek lodgings and web marketing. While other studies (Buhalis et al. 2003; Sigala, 2003; Zafiropoulos et al. 2005; Doolin et al. 2000, Irvine et al. 2008; Main, 2002; Gratzer, 2003) addressed aspects of ICT and internet adoption as well as website performance in the accommodation sector, this study focused on the web marketing strategy of these tourism enterprises and the means they use to apply it to the market. Based on the results of this research, e-marketing is evident in those firms activities for customer attraction; however it seems not to be fully implemented, as there are various features need to be comprehended and applied. Nevertheless it appears that Information and Communication Technologies assist small and medium sized accommodation providers to enable themselves, in order to apply such innovations into their operational systems. LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH Despite the limitations regarding the research, there are also a number of limitations associated with the study. Firstly, this study is limited to one specific country and industry. Therefore it is not possible to generalise the findings to other countries or relevant industries. Secondly, the study identified whether these firms included specific features in their website, without investigating potential reasons for the inclusion or exclusion of these features. Another aspect that was not fully investigated is whether these enterprises operate the websites inhouse or this function is outsourced to a third party. Fourthly, the body of enterprises studied is not representative since the total number of the Greek SMTEs is relatively unknown (Andriotis, 2002). Fifth, this research focused mainly to firms that already operate a website and gave little attention to companies that don t have web presence and prefer more traditional marketing tools. Accordingly, the study relates to a particular time period, whereas new technologies and marketing constantly change. Moving further, the results of this study could have been further enriched if the survey was conducted in a manner that would allow the respondents to answer to open questions CONCLUSIONS Based on the findings of this research, the relationship between Greek SMTEs and e-marketing could be characterized as rather medium. Even though the vast majority of them have web presence either way, however this relationship is restricted to the minimum each website can offer. According to this research, most of these websites are static, outdated and don t offer any chance of interaction between the enterprise and the customer. Another important finding is that, no matter what type of lodging, the perception towards e-marketing and the actions taken towards this direction remain exactly the same. Small and medium sized tourism enterprises can gain a competitive advantage by ensuring their website reflects their sustainability and belief in development into the digital market. The overall result suggests that the vast majority has applied an e-marketing strategy, of any type, that provides them with the opportunity to gain a bigger share in the global market. Especially for foreign tourists, it is important to offer them services that will differentiate for their quality and their effectiveness. As noted, the implementation of an internet based marketing plan, could be beneficial for the enterprises, since it can promote them globally, open new markets, reduce traditional marketing costs in a way that is measurable and easier to control.

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