Investigating Internet Marketing Strategies among Hotels in Ghana

What is the composition/structure of the hotels’ Internet Marketing Mix?

Which dimensions of the Internet Marketing Mix are being transformed by the Hotels?

What Internet marketing strategies are being pursued by hotels in Ghana?

What is the level of sophistication/transformation of the hotels Internet Marketing Mix dimensions?

Are hotels in Ghana fully exploiting the Internet capabilities and features?

The following describes how the research questions were answered

Research question one is about the structure/composition of hotels internet marketing mix. This question addresses how hotels in Ghana have modeled their internet marketing activities along the five internet marketing mix dimensions adopted from Sigala (2003). In order to provide detail overview of how the surveyed hotels have transformed their traditional marketing mix unto the virtual space enabled by the internet we collected data using the research instrument which was based on the conceptual framework adopted in this study. Based on the data collected, we present in simple frequencies and percentages how the surveyed hotels have designed their web sites to include features listed in each of the five dimensions illustrated in the conceptual framework (table 3.1). Overall development within each dimension will be based on the number of hotels that provide listed features within that dimension.

Research question two is about the dimensions being transformed by the surveyed hotels. Transformation in this context depicts how hotels have modeled their traditional marketing mix unto the virtual space. The amount or degree of transformations of each of the dimension is computed as the ratio of the sum of the aspects/features used to the total number of expected aspects within the dimension. Each aspect carried the same weight. Based on this assumption and the overall achievements along each of the internet marketing mix dimensions we can now come out with the amount/degree of transformation in each of the dimensions and show those attracting the most attention.

Research question three is about the internet marketing strategies being followed by the surveyed hotels. This question will be answered using findings from research question one and two. Specifically, for modelling Internet marketing strategies being followed by hotels in Ghana, the Internet marketing mix model will be used, as it is widely argued to be a useful tool in analyzing Internet marketing strategies. The type and the number of the Internet marketing mix dimensions being transformed as well as the composition of the internet marketing mix is argued to reflect the type of the marketing or business strategy (Angehrn, 1997). Based on the findings from research question one and two, we answered the question making reference to theory.

This question is about the level of sophistication/transformation of the hotels internet marketing mix dimensions. To measure the level of sophistication/transformation of the hotels internet marketing mix, we analysed the responses with respect to the features in each of the five dimensions using the multiple response tool in SPSS. The features in each of the dimensions are characterised as low or high sophistication depending on the extent to which internet enabled capabilities are exploited (Angehrn and Meyer, 1997; Sigala, 2003). Again the overall level of sophistication of each of the five dimensions is calculated using the sum of the aspects that the respondent answered “Yes” and the total number of aspects within the dimension from the multiple response output for each dimension; Where level of sophistication is calculated as the ratio of the sum of the aspects used to the total number of the aspects within the dimension (Sigala, 2003). To clearly answer this question we made the following assumptions to serve as our decision rule: (1) a transformation degree less than 0.5 or 50% indicates a low transformation/sophistications; (2) a transformation degree above 0.5 or 50% indicates high transformation/sophistication.

Research question five is about exploitation of the unique capabilities of the internet. Based on the results in research question four, we present the extent to which hotels are modeling their marketing activities to exploit the capabilities and features of the internet. This is consistent with Sigala (2003) as she argues that the level of the sophistication indicates the level of the exploitation of the Internet’s capabilities that, in turn, determines the effectiveness of the related Internet marketing strategy. Low sophistication value indicates that hotels are under exploiting the capabilities of the internet, whereas high sophistication values indicates that they are more than averagely exploiting the capabilities of the internet.