Online Travel Marketing for Web 2.0 | MA project

CENTRE FOR CULTURAL POLICY STUDIES

Online Travel Marketing for Web 2.0:
Investigating strategy in a digital SME
MA Global Media & Communication | Major Project

Student: 1160350
Supervised by Dr. Jonathan Vickery
Submitted: October 2012 (extension granted)

12,158 words

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Table of Contents
Acknowledgements....................................................................................................................................... 4
1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 5
Background ............................................................................................................................................... 5
Online marketing and the travel industry ............................................................................................. 5
Web 2.0 ................................................................................................................................................. 6
Open House Group ................................................................................................................................... 6
Research questions ................................................................................................................................... 7
2 Literature Review .................................................................................................................................. 8
Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 8
The early Internet: optimism and pessimism ....................................................................................... 8
Web 2.0 and ‘Travel 2.0’ ..................................................................................................................... 11
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 14
3. Methodology ........................................................................................................................................... 16
Research approach, challenges and limitations...................................................................................... 16
4. Online Marketing at Open House Group ............................................................................................... 19
A Strategic Shift ....................................................................................................................................... 19
Traditional search engine strategy ..................................................................................................... 19
“SEO 2.0” ............................................................................................................................................. 20
Inbound & Content Marketing (ICM) ...................................................................................................... 21
Social Media ............................................................................................................................................ 23
Social networking sites........................................................................................................................ 24
Blogger relations ................................................................................................................................. 25
5. How should OH meet the challenges of Web 2.0? ............................................................................. 27
Adding commercial value........................................................................................................................ 27
ICM strategy ........................................................................................................................................ 27
Social media ........................................................................................................................................ 28
Boosting engagement and interaction ................................................................................................... 29
User-generated content (UGC) ........................................................................................................... 29
Community-building ........................................................................................................................... 30

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Expanding global horizons ...................................................................................................................... 31
Content creation and targeting .......................................................................................................... 31
Going beyond Europe ......................................................................................................................... 32
6. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 34
Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................ 36
Appendix ..................................................................................................................................................... 42

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to acknowledge and extend my thanks to the following people, whose input has
been crucial in bringing this project to fruition.

My supervisor Dr. Jonathan Vickery, who has provided precious constructive criticism and academic
insight throughout.

Paul Anderson and the other members of the marketing team at Open House Group SL, who not only
participated as interviewees in the research process, but also provided support and encouragement
during the progress of the project.

Nathalie Laurent, Marketing Projects Manager at Open House Group SL, for offering me the job
opportunity that inspired this investigation.

Dr Eleonora Belfiore and Dr Christopher Bilton for their initial assistance in working out the logistics of
conducting a project, and submitting it on time, while working full-time overseas.

And finally, my family and friends for their continued support during my studies at the excellent
University of Warwick.

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1 INTRODUCTION
The internet is well-established as a marketing medium (Shankar 2009). However, its changing nature
presents many challenges and opportunities to businesses using it as such. One major recent change is
the emergence of the so-called Web 2.0, a term widely used to denote a shift in internet culture marked
by high interactivity, social networking, user-generated content and information transparency (O’Reilly
2005), all of which are increasingly global in scope. But has Web 2.0 really affected online marketing or
is it just a social phenomenon? As the internet’s second-largest industry (Kilion 2009), travel is an ideal
sector to study for the effects of this online trend.

This project takes the opportunity to look in depth at whether and how the new Web 2.0 environment
affects the marketing strategy of one travel SME (small to medium enterprise). Open House Group (OH)
is a valuable subject for a number of reasons. The company is typical of a new wave of travel businesses
made possible by the rise of online marketing (Buhalis 2007), offering a service somewhere between
that of a simple listings site and an online travel agency. It relies almost exclusively on the Internet to
communicate with potential clients and attract business. Therefore the company is forced to react and
adapt its online marketing strategy to changes and developments as they occur, providing plenty of
scope for analysis. Finally, studies show that accommodation, OH’s product, is one of the major topics of
online investigation by travel consumers (Conrady 2007; Gretzel 2008). Gaining an understanding of
how the business markets online in the Web 2.0 environment will not only contribute empirical
evidence on evolving new media marketing techniques; it will also give rise to Web 2.0 marketing
strategy recommendations for the business and others like it. Furthermore, it can provide a basis for
future research on how travel providers are responding to the current online environment.

Background

Online marketing and the travel industry
Online marketing, which means using the Internet to promote goods and services, has expanded rapidly
during the last ten to fifteen years. (Shankar 2009) Initially limited to websites and email, the online
marketing sector has grown with the emergence of new internet technologies including social media
platforms and mobile applications (Winer 2009). By the end of 2012, the online media spending of US
businesses is expected to exceed $60 billion: 18% of all money spent on advertising (Advertising Age
2007).

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In the travel industry, the Internet had a disruptive impact on traditional intermediary travel agencies,
increasing competition and enabling consumers to go direct to suppliers (Barnett 2001). Now, travel
organisations from private accommodation providers (Hudson 2002; Leong 2001) to national tourist
boards (Burgess 2002; Kozak 2006) are increasingly focusing on online marketing. The nature of the
Internet is well-suited to the sector’s needs, as it provides a platform to easily and cheaply attract
visitors from different geographical locations. OH is just one of many holiday accommodation companies
taking advantage of this; a recent study showed that internet bookings make up 21% of the European
vacation rental market, while online sales have grown to represent over 24% of the European travel
market as a whole (Cowen 2008). These trends suggest that travel companies can gain a significant
advantage by developing effective online marketing strategy.

Web 2.0
Since the mid-2000s, researchers and commentators have observed a change in the culture and
technology of the Internet, associated with the rise of social networks like MySpace, and user-generated
information libraries like Wikipedia (Madden 2006). The nature of the web is now believed to be more
interactive, social and transparent than in its earlier days, with greater global interconnectivity. The term
‘Web 2.0’ was coined early on to refer to this phenomenon (O’Reilly 2005). In the online travel domain,
there are indications that it has had a significant effect, fuelling the emergence of travel forums, blogs
and review sites uniting potential travel consumers from across the globe (Conrady 2007). Exploring the
implications of this cultural shift for online travel marketing forms an integral part of this investigation.

Open House Group
Open House Group SL (hereafter known as OH) is a vacation rental management company based in
Spain, which manages holiday accommodation in ten major European cities. These are Barcelona,
Dublin, London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Prague, Venice, Florence and Rome. These destinations represent
key tourist attractions, each receiving millions of international visitors annually (Bremner 2007). Since its
founding in 1997, the company has used the Internet as the primary platform for its evolving marketing
and communications strategy. Currently, the following activities are conducted online:

 E-commerce: Properties are featured and bookings are processed.
 After-sales communication: Confirmation and the discount package.

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 Search Engine Optimisation (SEO): Driving traffic towards the e-commerce sites by aiming to
understand Google’s ranking algorithms and to gain an advantage through them.
 Inbound/Content marketing (ICM): Creating online content (written, photographic and video)
designed to attract the target audience.
 Social media: Connecting directly with audiences via social media (Facebook, Twitter, bloggers).
 Online Reputation Management (ORM): Largely consists of monitoring forums and blogs to identify
and deal with negative reviews and comments.

Research questions
The project sets out to critically explore the online marketing strategy at OH, to gain insight into how the
shifts in internet culture and behaviour are affecting it, and to evaluate to what extent it meets the
demands and challenges of the interactive web, or Web 2.0. Finally, the aim is to make
recommendations about how the company could improve its strategy. With these objectives in mind,
the following research questions have been formulated:

1. How has the increasingly interactive and social web – the so-called Web 2.0 – affected the online
travel domain?
2. What is Open House Group’s current online marketing strategy?
3. What challenges and opportunities face a medium-sized travel enterprise like Open House Group
trying to market in the Web 2.0 environment?
4. How should an internet travel enterprise like Open House Group adapt its online marketing strategy
to meet these challenges and opportunities?

These research questions will be answered by conducting primary research in the form of employee
interviews and analysis of company strategy, as well as through secondary sources on online marketing
and the travel industry. The literature review will first consider the background data relevant to the
topic, and is followed by a detailed description of the research methodology applied.

The final research question is perhaps the most important, as it aims to set out how OH can progress in
the evolving Web 2.0 environment. Although this company will be the main focus of any conclusions
drawn, it is expected that ideas and recommendations will be applicable to similar travel organisations
using the internet as a marketing communications medium.

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2 LITERATURE REVIEW

Introduction
As discussed previously, the arrival of the internet had major implications for the traditional functioning
of the tourist industry (Buhalis 2007), and so naturally gave rise to a significant body of industry
research. This literature review investigates existing research into the relationship between the
development of the internet, and the marketing approaches of travel organisations. Although there has
been a great deal of study in the field of online travel marketing, the studies are overwhelmingly general
in scope and so there has been no choice but to review papers which deal with a broad range of travel
organisations. The few papers identified that do focus on accommodation providers are generally a
simple resume of the activities of a hotel or a group of hotels. Leong’s (2001) review of Internet
marketing practices among hotels in Singapore being a classic example.

Much of the research identified focuses on the effects of the Internet on travel businesses, rather than
on the actual Internet marketing strategies applied by them. It makes sense to review the literature
chronologically, as the research mirrors the development of the Internet itself. The evolution towards an
interactive web is a key theme, particularly in the later literature. (Conrady 2007; Kilion 2009) During the
early Internet stage (approximately mid-1990s – 2005), the medium was new, and information storage
and access were its major functions. The second phase (Web 2.0) saw the development of the web as an
interactive medium, the rise of user-generated content (UGC) and the breaking down of communication
barriers between the traditional supplier and consumer (Wilson 2012). A number of useful sources
discussing the implications of Web 2.0 for travel marketing have been included for review.

The early Internet: optimism and pessimism
Early discussions of the implications of the web on the travel industry tend to focus on its implications
for the established structure of the sector. Barnett (2001) represents a recurring concern in the
literature of this period when he writes: “The characteristics of traditional travel agencies are not yet
aligned with the demands of the new travel economy.” The paper recognises that the internet could
alter the market structure, touching on the “disintermediation of retail agencies...and the emergence of
new virtual intermediaries.” However, the general argument is still situated within the traditional
understanding of the travel industry as a three-way game between supplier, consumer and intermediary

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(travel agency). Thus Barnett’s main discourse is about the technological possibilities of the Internet for
traditional travel agencies. There is little discussion of its promotional opportunities beyond the
recommendation that travel organisations be ‘more creative with their marketing.’

By focusing on the workings of the industry rather than its communication with consumers, Barnett
missed a point that emerges in two region-specific studies reviewed. Both Hudson (2001) and Doolin
(2002) take a far more audience-centred focus, revealing a growing understanding that one of the
Internet’s key effects has been to shift the balance of power from the supplier to the consumer. Doolin’s
New Zealand case study of online tourism marketing echoes Barnett (above) in recognising that ‘the
Internet, which offers global reach and multimedia capability, is an increasingly important means of
promoting and distributing tourism services.’ However, it goes a step further by highlighting a vital sea
change:

Moving from simply broadcasting information to letting consumers interact with the Website
content allows the tourism organisation to engage consumers’ interest and participation
(increasing the likelihood that they will return to the site), to capture information about their
preferences, and to use that information to provide personalised communication and services.
(Doolin 2007; 557)

This highlighting of ‘consumer’s interest and participation’ foreshadows the future Web 2.0
developments of the online travel domain, and represents a move away from the more technical
discussions of online marketing in other contemporary studies, which tend to focus chiefly on issues of
functionality and e-commerce features for travel providers). Burgess and Cooper’s (2000) extended
model of Internet Commerce Adoption (eMICA) similarly recommended ‘medium to high interactivity’ as
an important aspect of online business. However, it defines this as increased communication from the
business to the customer (e.g. in the form of updates or newsletters), with little discussion of the
consumer-sourced input that we begin to see as we move towards the Web 2.0 era.

The other regional case study mentioned also reflects an understanding of the centrality of consumer.
Hudson (2001) examines the online marketing of the tourism sector in Banff, a rural resort in Canada.
Like the other studies already discussed, it observes an increasing pace in online bookings but, crucially,
notes that the local holiday accommodation providers were responding to this by spending more and
more of their advertising budgets online. The study thus clearly draws the link between the Internet-

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triggered changes in consumer behaviour, and the adjustments the travel industry was making as a
result. In this it escapes the simplicity of research like Barnett’s, for example, which highlights new
features provided by travel organisations using Internet technology, but fails to explain the link between
these and the changes in online behaviour.

This consumer-Internet-industry link is even clearer when we consider the information factor, so central
to both the Internet and tourism. As noted by the World Tourism Organisation Business Council (1999),
travel and tourism consumers thirst for information, in the absence of any tangible experience of the
product prior to purchase. Hudson found that potential visitors to Banff were increasingly exploiting the
Internet’s ability to fulfil this need by searching for information on the same destination from different
online sources prior to making bookings. While traditionally the sources of information had been
commercially-interested parties such as travel agents and accommodation providers, consumers were
now turning to online destination guides, which were unaffiliated with any commercial booking sites or
local businesses. While dispensing with the necessity for the distribution ‘middle man’ (the travel agent)
by availing themselves of direct online bookings, it was apparent that consumers were beginning to seek
an ‘information middle man,’ presumably considered to be neutral, to help inform bookings and choices.
This effect, to become more pronounced with the advent of Web 2.0, was also noted by Buhalis and
Zoge (2007), whose literature review revealed that customers researching travel ‘would check an
average of five sites before booking.’ In Banff, the response of local service providers was to place paid
links – online advertising – on these hitherto unaffiliated information pages. The industry was forced to
find new ways to market itself in the face of increasing consumer self-sufficiency, brought on by the
Internet.

Xiang (2008) agrees that power in the form of information provision is being taken away from the
industry, but it proposes that the new wielder of power is not necessarily the consumer, but instead the
online search engine. These portals, Google in particular (Xiang 2009) are the means by which most
Internet users access travel sites when looking for information. As early as 2005, 64% of Americans were
planning their travel using online search engines. Xiang questions the ability of these intermediaries to
accurately or fairly represent the online tourism domain, citing the fact that while millions of results are
theoretically found, most users will not look beyond the third page (Spink 2004), resulting in low
visibility ratios. The concern is not misplaced. The rise of search engine optimisation (SEO) as a
professional sub-specialty of its own within online marketing (SEMPO 2012), proves that ranking on

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search engine result pages (SERPs) is of high importance to businesses operating online. However, the
very thorough investigation of numerical results in this paper comes at the expense of deeper,
potentially more valuable data about how and why Google and the other search engines choose to rank
information. It is asserted that ‘a huge amount of potentially useful information has been filtered out,’
of search results, but without a closer look at the unpresented results, or at search engine strategies, it
is difficult for the paper to make any conclusions about online marketing strategy that travel companies
should adopt in order to improve visibility and avoid being filtered out.

Web 2.0 and ‘Travel 2.0’
The second generation of Internet development (c. 2005 –), known as Web 2.0, refers to the widely
noted shift towards consumer interactivity, the proliferation of user-generated content (UGC) and the
trend towards personalisation of online information and services. (O’Reilly 2005) Information is
increasingly sought from non-traditional sources; the rise of user-edited data libraries like Wikipedia and
Yahoo! Answers exemplifies this trend. Unlike during the pre- and early Internet days of marketing,
interactivity is no longer simply from business to consumer, but inexorably from consumer-to-consumer
(Kozak 2006) as the popularity of online consumer blogs and forums such as NetMums.com shows.
These consumer interactions are increasingly international, unlimited by geographical boundaries. No
longer able to control the conversation, businesses must now instead trying to find ways to influence it,
which presents a new set of challenges, as shall be seen.

Another integral feature of Web 2.0 is the rise of the social network (Li 2008). Although online
chatrooms and instant messenger services were present during the early days of the web, only in the
last 5 or 6 years has the Internet become a major platform for social interaction, information-sharing
and identity-building. The largest of the numerous social networks, Facebook and Twitter, count in
excess of 900 million and 200 million users respectively (Hachman 2012; Dugan 2012). Unsurprisingly,
social media is now an area of intense focus for marketing activity, attracting $3.4 billion of investment
globally in 2010 (Shah 2011), up from $2 billion in 2008 (eMarketer 2009).

The term, ‘Travel 2.0’ refers to the application and effects of the Web 2.0 phenomenon within the travel
and tourism industry. Conrady’s 2007 study identifies ‘web services that let people collaborate and
share information online’ as a central component. This paper is one of the most significant and

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comprehensive analyses of Travel 2.0, incorporating research from major industry organisations
including PhocusWright and the International Tourism Exchange. The authors establish a clear departure
from the ‘Travel 1.0’ online environment, which was industry-led and commodity-focused, to a more
user-led, experience-focused one. They highlight four key features of Travel 2.0: transparency,
community, personalisation and experience. As a largely consumer-focused sector with a significant
online stake (Kilion 2009), the industry has been directly affected by the rise of travel blogs, online
reviews, consumer forums and social networks. The effects of these and the possibilities they present
for online travel marketing is the subject of a substantial body of research literature.

The Internet makes vast amounts of information available to travel consumers with just a few clicks of a
mouse. Previously, it was noted how search engines act as a key mediator in the investigation and
selection of travel options online, as researched by Xiang (2008). Conrady (2007) argues that Travel 2.0
has added a new dimension to this, pointing to a wave of aggregators, comparison sites and metasearch
engines. These platforms, examples being Kayak.co.uk, Tazzoo (now www.Sprice.fr) and
TripAdvisor.com, do more than simply return results for travel-related search terms. They offer
additional information, often including both positive and negative reviews by other travellers.
Photographs of accommodation and destinations are often freely available. The significance lies in the
fact that a large body of information travel consumers use to inform their decisions comes from sources
outside the providers’ control. This user-generated content promises more transparency than could
traditionally be expected from an official source such as an online travel agent. The raison d’etre of the
new collaborative platforms is the free sharing of information, rather than the promotion of a particular
business or destination. This is certainly recognised by consumers; studies consistently show that they
regard such data as far more credible than that provided by marketers (Precourt 2009; Li 2009). It is also
apparent that marketers themselves are being forced to adapt their approach in response to the
increased transparency of information, by incorporating user reviews into their websites, for example.
Conrady’s (2007) study identifies luxury hotel brand Sheraton as one of the earliest providers to do this.

As a broad overview, Conrady’s study is a valuable source of information, but the scope of the project –
covering all aspects of online technology from search to social networks to rich media, places limitations
on its capacity to provide real insight into the effects of greater transparency, and indeed to what extent
the wider information sharing is beneficial or genuine. For example, online forums and consumer sites
are often open to abuse by unethical individuals or companies; a problem that goes hand in hand with

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the freedom and anonymity offered by these platforms (Savolainen 2007). It would have been useful to
temper the study’s enthusiasm for Web 2.0 with a look at some of these negative issues, which actually
compromise transparency and reliability of information.

Like Conrady (2007), Gretzel (2008) also emphasises the impact of greater information availability on the
online travel arena. This paper focuses on online travel reviews as part of online community, a key
feature of Travel 2.0 as identified by Conrady. However, Gretzel’s narrower scope of study allows a more
detailed analysis. She cites many figures underlining the widespread practice among travel buyers of
referring to consumer opinion online, including the following:

Compete, Inc (2006) found that nearly 50% of travel purchasers visited a message board, forum, or online community
for their online travel purchasing and one in three of these buyers said that consumer reviews helped with their
purchase decision.

Compete (2006) in Gretzel (2008)

The same study also found that 25% of the buyers then shared their opinions on a consumer review site
after making their purchase, suggesting a reciprocal cycle of information gathering and sharing within
the virtual community. This feature of the Internet has been widely commented on. The capacity to
interact with users of similar interests has fuelled the emergence of diverse online communities who
share opinions and advice on a range of topics, from gaming, to current affairs, to travel (Li 2008; Wilson
2012). Gretzel argues that the influence of word of mouth (WOM), already considered a powerful force
in traditional marketing, (Li 2009) has been not only replicated but expanded, in the world of online
communities. The differences highlighted are that ‘electronic word of mouth’ (eWOM) involves the
sharing of opinions between people without social ties, and on a much larger volume. Both of these are
accounted for by the nature of the Internet itself, which connects users regardless of geographical
distance, and being a non-physical forum, has the capacity to include many more actors than a
traditional social circle. The study investigated the role of eWOM sources, especially travel reviews, in
travel planning and decisions. Although the sample was restricted to users of TripAdvisor, this limitation
is offset somewhat by the universality of the platform; TripAdvisor is the most popular travel forum and
had 24 million visitors and 5 million registered users at the time the research was undertaken. It was
discovered that among a range of questions including where to eat and which attractions to visit,

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readers of online travel reviews relied most heavily on them when it came to choosing holiday
accommodation: 78% of respondents rated it as ‘very or extremely important.’

Xiang and Gretzel’s 2010 study went still further by honing in on social networks, a specific breed of
online community. While sharing similarities to Gretzel’s (2008) review sites – particularly the volume of
participants which she emphasised as central to eWOM – the key difference is that social networks like
Facebook are more likely to include contacts who are known to the user. This reduces the anonymity
feature that Gretzel’s 2008 paper makes much of. Referrals and recommendations often come from
known people, and so the concept of eWOM loses some of its distinction in this context; it becomes
more or less the same basic phenomenon already known to marketers – word of mouth. On one key
point, however, both papers agree: holiday accommodation is an overwhelmingly important topic in
online travel information search, returning many results from virtual community sites and review
platforms. The 2010 study found that that users looking for travel-related terms like ‘hotel’ will be
presented with many social network and user-generated results, an important point missed by Xiang’s
(2008) investigation into search engines’ representation of the travel domain. Once again it indicates the
rising influence of consumer-generated information in Travel 2.0.

Conclusion
This review of literature has shown that there is a substantial body of research into the effects of the
Internet on the travel industry. Studies show that the arrival of the Internet had a marked change on the
behaviour of consumers in the travel industry. They began to seek information from sources other than
the traditional providers, using the new medium to consult less interested parties including other
consumers. This only expanded as the Web 2.0 phenomenon emerged. Travel consumers are now
routinely using the internet to interact with each other, get recommendations and make decisions about
purchasing. Research has established that the online community is both vociferous and influential,
having a direct impact on sales in the travel industry (Compete 2006; Wilson 2012). One of the most
salient features of this new phase is its globality; information and opinion sharing takes place across
international boundaries.

What the research currently lacks, however, is real insight into how businesses in the travel industry are
responding to the new challenges and opportunities presented by Web 2.0, specifically in the field of
marketing. Studies overwhelmingly focus on the numbers of consumers referring to the Internet

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(Compete 2006), the popularity of online reviews (Gretzel 2008) or the importance of social networks
(Xiang 2010). While it is clear that the marketing environment has changed, it is far less clear how the
industry is responding: how marketing is affected, what tactics and strategies are employed, and how
these work in practice.

With these questions in mind, this project undertakes an investigation of Open House Group (OH), an
internet-reliant small to medium enterprise (SME) in the travel industry. With the advantage of having
spent four months working in the company, I have set out to evaluate to what extent the new web
culture has affected OH’s online marketing strategy, and what developments should be made in order to
market more successfully in the interactive and international Web 2.0 environment.

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3. METHODOLOGY
Working as an online marketing intern at Open House Group’s (OH) Barcelona headquarters from April
to August 2012, I was actively involved with the spectrum of activities it conducts in this area. Through
taking an active role in ICM, social media, ORM and progression of the e-commerce sites, I began to
appreciate the strategies and tactics employed by the company in its efforts to market the product –
vacation rentals in ten European cities – and the brand online. It seemed that the business was adapting
its approach in order to keep up with the interactive web, or Web 2.0. Traditionally, the focus of the
online presence had been on the e-commerce sites, through which sales were processed. Now,
however, there was increasing focus on developing brand personality and consumer interaction via
social media platforms, building online reputation by collaborating with travel bloggers, relaunching the
e-commerce sites and creating high quality content for the online destination guides.

It was fascinating to be part of the team during this apparent evolution in strategy, as it became clear
that there were many factors at play, often beyond the organisation’s control. One example is the
question of increased information transparency, highlighted in the previous chapter. As a provider of
holiday accommodation, OH occasionally finds itself the subject of negative reviews posted by users of
popular online forums such as TripAdvisor. Developing effective ways to monitor and deal with these
very public customer service complaints without alienating the users of travel forums (a key market) is
just one of the many challenges faced by the marketing team. OH also has numerous competitors, all
offering short-stay rental accommodation and using the internet to market to consumers. AirBnB.com,
Casamundo.com, Wimdu.com and Rentalia.com are just a few examples. This means that a study of the
company’s marketing activities and factors affecting it will be relevant not only to business itself, but
also within the wider context of how the new online environment and technologies are affecting
marketing for travel accommodation providers.

Research approach, challenges and limitations
Information-finding was conducted as a combination of primary and secondary research. The Internet
has been an indispensable resource not only for the background literature on online marketing strategy,
but also for accessing the company’s online marketing output, including webpages, social media
interaction and forum comments. Industry-specific peer-reviewed journals such as The Journal of
Interactive Marketing and Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism were a major source

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of information. I used theoretical sources for analysis on the trends and changing online landscape
associated with Web 2.0, how the travel sector globally is responding to these, and how its online
marketing has been affected. This contextual background is complemented by specific first-hand
research into how one typical online travel business is approaching the shifting marketing environment.

A look at the literature in this area revealed that there is an established tradition of researchers in travel
and tourism conducting in-depth interviews to investigate qualitative factors and ideas. In order to gain
a fuller understanding of online marketing at OH, I have taken an approach very similar to that of Buhalis
and Zoge (2007). Their study, ‘The Strategic Impact on the Tourism Industry’ is one of the few projects
identified that conducted interviews with industry professionals, as opposed to surveying industry
consumers. Their goal was to assess how the Internet had affected distribution and competition within
the travel sector, and they undertook ‘standardised in-depth semi-structured interviews’ as part of this:

Non probability, purposeful judgmental sampling was employed and a small number of experts of the travel industry
were targeted for in-depth interviews. The sampling criteria were the respondents’ experience of online travel, their
responsibilities and knowledge with regards to their company’s operations on the Internet as well as their overall
understanding of the industry.
Buhalis and Zoge (2007); p486

In this present study, each of the five members of staff I selected for interview (See Appendix table 1)
represents a key function of the marketing department, and their status as marketing professionals
increases the likelihood of eliciting valuable information and well-informed discussion; they can be
regarded as experts both on the company and on the industry. The structure of the interviews was
roughly standardised (see Appendix Table 2), while still allowing flexibility to facilitate unplanned topics
of discussion relevant to the research. The insight from theoretical research, combined with observation
and first-hand experience of the company, were keys that helped to guide the interview questioning. An
open approach was vital as a major aim of the interviews was to discover issues and factors experienced
by the marketing team that were unknown to the researcher. In the words of Buhalis and Zoge (2007),
“Interviewees were prompted for further information when they raised interesting issues.”

Many topics and strands of investigation were uncovered, and these have been fully integrated into the
case study and analysis. But while the aforementioned authors chose to group their data under themes
emerging from content analysis, I take a more department-based approach, first considering the

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findings under the different sub-divisions of online marketing team, before identifying the key themes
and challenges that emerge across the board.

A number of limitations affected the conducting of the project. Issues of confidentiality mean that the
staff may well have been less open to sharing all information possible. Concerns were expressed,
particularly with regards to future strategy. Although the interviewing was very fruitful, we cannot
discount the possibility that there may have been concerns about conveying the right impression of the
company, restricting the frankness of discussion. This is particularly probable with respect to
shortcomings and uncertainties; many of the negative issues explored emerged from my own
observations, rather than from the interviews.

In a similar vein, there was quite limited access to quantitative data – I was told that the competitive
nature of the industry makes the company guarded about revealing such things, to avoid the possibility
of its getting into the wrong hands. Thus the study is unable to assess effectiveness of strategy in terms
of sales figures, for example. It would have been interesting to look at correlations between activities
and web traffic/sales conversions, but in the absence of such data, the focus is restricted to qualitative
evaluations of performance. Levels of interaction on social media sites are one such barometer.
Another challenge, although small, was the issue of time. When conducting primary research in the
work environment, the daily functions of the business environment naturally take precedence over
investigative activities. Interviews often had to be postponed to accommodate staff schedules. Overall,
however, these factors only had the effect of adding a slight delay. The advantages of being an
employee within the organisation being studied were considerable. Aside from ease of access to staff,
spending months working with the marketing team helped to build a rich understanding of the
strategies employed and the challenges faced. These will be explored in the following chapters.

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4. ONLINE MARKETING AT OPEN HOUSE GROUP
Marketing at Open House Group (OH) consists more or less exclusively of online activities. The business
was established in 1997, and has evolved its online marketing approach as the Internet itself has
evolved. The company has an in-house marketing team dedicated to creating and implementing
strategies that will work in the ever more interactive and information-rich internet environment. This
chapter will consider these strategies in detail, examining the rationale behind them and analysing how
they work in practice, with particular focus on the challenges and opportunities presented by Web 2.0.
The company’s various online platforms are listed in Table 3 of the Appendix.

A Strategic Shift
Traditionally, the overreaching aim of all online marketing activity at OH is to enhance the brand’s
search engine rankings. In effect, this means ensuring that the various websites (one for each
destination) where apartments can be browsed and booked, are discovered by potential customers
searching for accommodation using Google, the largest search engine (Xiang 2009). As noted in the
research reviewed, search engine optimisation (SEO) is a major consideration for online businesses in
the travel industry as searches typically return thousands of results, with users rarely looking beyond the
first three pages (Spink 2004). The strategies employed by the department to achieve high rankings have
always been subject to change. In order to rank websites, Google uses algorithms that are constantly
being altered, sometimes on a weekly basis. Basic factors affecting a site’s rank include its age, quantity
of visitors and number of external links. (Google Webmaster Guidelines 2012) Over time, the
sophistication of these algorithms has increased, with more and different factors being taken into
account when assigning ranking value. The technical intricacies of the system are beyond the scope of
this project, and in any case are not completely at the command of even SEO professionals, due to
Google’s secrecy about its methods (Evans 2007). However, this uncertainty does not prevent
companies like OH, dependent as they are on internet traffic, from devoting considerable time and
resources to activities designed to raise their rankings. There is evidence of a shift, however, in the
strategies used, which reflects the already-mentioned shift in the character of the Internet.

Traditional search engine strategy
Initially, two of the major SEO activities undertaken by the company were link-building and creating
keyword-rich content. Through buying or exchanging hyperlinks with well-ranked pages, the company’s
own pages received a boost – known as ‘link juice’ – in the Google rankings. These links were often

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placed in travel directories – lists of sites – or in lists on travel-related websites and blogs. They also
appear in text and posts supplied to such websites for link building purposes. The use of keywords has
been for a long time the golden rule of SEO; companies identifying popular search terms and
incorporating them into their own content for their own sites, and hyperlinked content to be seeded on
other sites. (Appleton 2010) OH is no exception to this trend; terms like ‘holiday apartment rental’ and
‘apartment in Berlin’ appear repeatedly in its content. The rationale behind keyword use (known
pejoratively as ‘keyword stuffing’ when regarded as excessive) is that Google traditionally judged a
website’s area of relevance based partly on its use of such terms (Evans 2007). Therefore if Oh-
Berlin.com used the term ‘holiday apartment in Berlin’ several times, it would be judged as highly
relevant to a search for accommodation there, and be highly ranked in the results seen by the Internet
user, increasing the flow of traffic and ultimately of possible conversions. Of course, keywords were
never the only factor Google considered, and their importance has diminished as the system of assigning
ranking has become increasingly complex (Google 2010).

“SEO 2.0”
Both link-building and keyword placement continue to be part of the company’s SEO strategy. However,
over the past 3 years, there has been a new focus on developing online content around the company’s
destinations, in the form of articles and increasingly video content as well. The launch of social media
activity on Facebook, Twitter and other platforms has also taken place. I believe these developments
reflect attempts to take the brand in a more interactive and informative direction, reacting to the
evolution of the internet from a commercial and technical platform into a more interactive and social
one (Conrady 2007; Kilion 2009). However, the move does not reflect a reduced focus on SEO; the
business is as dependent as ever on being discovered through searches. Instead, it reflects the fact that
Web 2.0 is not merely a cultural trend, but now a commercial reality. Google’s recent algorithm updates,
particularly ‘PANDA’ and ‘PENGUIN,’ magnified the importance of the quality of content provided, and
user experience in the factors affecting ranking (Kumar 2012). There are also increasing indications that
the level of social network activity associated with a brand also affects its position in the search engine
results pages (SERPs) (SEOMoz 2011; Dyer 2012). Presence in directories and lists of links have
diminished in Google ranking value, probably reflecting their falling popularity, while heavy keyword use
is now penalised in rankings (Google Webmaster Guidelines 2012). OH has adjusted its link-building
strategy to exclude directories, and more recently abandoned keyword-rich hyperlinks like ‘Prague
apartments’ for branded ones like ‘Oh-Prague.com.’ Conrady’s (2007) values of transparency,

20

experience and community can be seen at play, as rankings are increasingly based on the quality of user
experience provided by websites, and the amount of ‘social buzz’ they generate with the online
community. It is clear that OH has had to adapt its strategy to reflect the values of Web 2.0. In addition
to the rise of content marketing and social networking by OH, the nature of its online reputation
management (ORM) has also changed, in response to the rise in information transparency, another key
feature of the new online environment.

Inbound & Content Marketing (ICM)
One major aspect of OH’s developing Web 2.0 strategy is the growing emphasis on content. In addition
to the browse-and-book e-commerce sites (for example, www.oh-barcelona.com), the company has
invested considerable resources over the past two years in creating an extensive online destination
guide for Barcelona (www.oh-barcelona.com/en/blog/), which features hundreds of articles about the
city’s cultural attractions and activities. More recently, new city guides for Berlin and Rome were
launched. Interviews with staff revealed that the purpose behind these guides is linked to a relatively
new phenomenon: inbound marketing.

Inbound marketing is currently something of a ‘buzzword’ in the online marketing industry (Basu 2011).
Although coined as early as 2005 (Halligan 2009), it has only begun to take off recently as a new
approach to attracting customers via the internet, and is closely linked to the user-centric Web 2.0
ethos. Digital marketing company HubSpot, widely credited with originating the trend, defines it simply:
‘Inbound marketing is marketing focused on getting found by customers.’ (Burnes/Hubspot 2008) It is
often contrasted with ‘outbound’ marketing, which is sometimes used to describe traditional marketing
techniques:

Inbound Marketers flip outbound marketing on its head. Instead of interrupting people with television ads,
they create videos that potential customers want to see. Instead of buying display ads in print publications, they
create their own business blog that people subscribe to and look forward to reading. Instead of cold calling,
they create useful content and tools so that prospects contact them looking for more information.
(Burnes/Hubspot 2008)

In essence, the goal of ICM is to create content, whether in the form of articles, or multimedia, that will
attract interest from potential customers. The belief is that marketing to a small, interested and
invested group is more profitable than spreading a wide net in the hope of converting a proportion of

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those reached (Halligan 2009). This ‘build it and they will come’ approach is behind OH’s strategy of
providing detailed city guides. The articles, photographs and videos used are all produced by the
company’s employees, in the cities. This approach enables brand-building in line with the organisation’s
slogan: ‘Your Trusted Host in the City.’ In that respect, the content strategy is beneficial, as it positions
the company as not only an accommodation provider, but also as a ‘local expert’ and source of travel
information.

It is unclear, however, how much this added value benefits the company from a commercial point of
view. The problem with providing useful information for free is that it does not necessarily lead to sales.
In fact, more than one member of staff interviewed admitted that there was no appreciable level of
traffic driven to the e-commerce sites from the city guides. This is despite the inclusion of links to the
apartment booking pages within the articles. The guides also fail to provide significant SEO benefit, not
improving ranking values according to insight from the company’s head of search marketing.

Other issues affecting the effectiveness of the ICM strategy are linked to the company’s international
dimension. While the original city guide articles are written in English by a professional copywriter or
journalist, they are sent to external translators to be translated for the five other European language
sites the company operates. Questions of quality are frequently raised by native speakers within the
team, and it is almost certain that the brand-building value is not recreated across the various language
platforms. In addition to this, there was no evidence of research or targeting of content according to
audience interest, a point I develop further in chapter 5.

While the basis of an inbound, content-focused strategy is in place at OH, there is plenty of scope for
refining and improving the approach. The premise of building quality content around the destinations is
cleverly targeted to exploit the considerable appetite for online travel information (Kozak 2006; Kilion
2009), while the company’s emphasis on local sources and – more recently – established travel writers
gives it an edge over competitor sites adopting the same approach (Apartment Barcelona 2012).
However, more work needs to be done to ensure the content provides a sustainable commercial
advantage. In the next chapter, recommendations for a more effective inbound marketing strategy will
be made.

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Social Media
In 2010, OH launched the first Oh-Barcelona Facebook page (www.facebook.com/oh_barcelona). The
company now has a presence on five social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, WAYN and
Pinterest), using these to communicate directly with online audiences. The other, linked, facet of its
social media strategy is the blogger relations; identifying and building relationships with online travel
writers, in hopes of creating positive exposure and reputation.

The previous chapter touched on the rise of social networking online. From circa 2005 onwards, there
has been a consistent growth in the use and influence of the so-called social media platforms, which
now claim billions of users worldwide (Hachman 2012; Dugan 2012). Kaplan and Haenlein define these
modern platforms as:

A group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web
2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content.
Kaplan (2010)

These ‘ideological’ Web 2.0 foundations on which social media are built are those of personal
experience and user-based creation. Once again there is clear evidence of the move away from ‘official’
sources of information and the rise in collaborative, community and identity-building activity. The
‘applications’ range from personal profile platforms like Facebook, to professional networks such as
LinkedIn. They also include the wide range of travel-related forums such as TripAdvisor, where
consumers discuss purchasing options and make decisions based on feedback from their peers (Gretzel
2008). Blogs, regularly updated sites often sharing personal experiences, have also proliferated. It is
estimated that in 2011, there were over 181 million blogs online, compared with just 36 million in 2006
(NielsenWire 2012).

Travel is one of the most popular blogging topics, with hundreds of thousands of sites devoted to this
subject. These are social media platforms because they began as a form of personal expression, and are
built to encourage commenting and user feedback. Research has found them to be highly influential
with travel purchasers (Pan 2007; Schmallegger 2008). This is beginning to be exploited commercially by
both bloggers and travel organisations, including OH.

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Social networking sites
The aims of the company’s social media activity were described to me as both brand-building and
selling. The primary approach seems to be establishing a relationship and dialogue with online
audiences, and this is in line with existing social media theory, which generally holds that the social
nature of these platforms makes them unsuitable for overtly commercial language or activity (Webber
2012; Akalp 2012). From this emerges one of the key challenges faced by OH in its social media strategy.
Using a destination-focused approach, as for ICM, the company’s social media platforms are updated on
a daily basis with eye-catching images and interesting facts aimed at creating positive associations, and
positioning the brand as a travel expert. Based on the increasing levels of interaction (in the form of
comments, approvals and shares from the community) and the growing size of the fan base, there
seems to be success in this brand-building drive. The more problematic question is how to convert the
social goodwill and interaction into business. While it was clear that the activity on OH’s social platforms
generated responses and engagement, it was far from clear how these platforms contributed to the e-
commerce side of the business. OH is not alone in this predicament; it has often been said that the
benefits of social media marketing are qualitative rather than quantitative, particularly in the short-
term. However, this non-quantifiability is beginning to be challenged by experts (Pouros 2012). Like the
industry in general, the social media team seems convinced that users would not tolerate a ‘pushy’
marketing approach, and steers well clear, only mentioning rental apartments – the product – very
occasionally. Again, however, there are indications that a certain degree of commercial interaction on
social media is not only tolerated but appreciated, particularly by younger users (Webtrends 2009). In
the next chapter, I will look at ways in which OH’s encouraging social media response could be leveraged
to give measurable results for the company.

To implement a social media strategy can place considerable demand on time and resources (Wasing
2012). With a total of 13 social media sites to update and monitor on Facebook, Twitter, Google+,
Pinterest and WAYN, OH’s social presence is more fragmented and cumbersome than necessary. The
instantaneous nature of the platforms means that someone has to be available to respond to comments
and questions from fans at almost any time. The company aims to reply within 6-10 hours, and on
Facebook and Twitter at least, there is plenty of evidence of swift and meaningful interaction with users,
who sometimes ask for advice on travel in the destinations. However, streamlining would make this
process more efficient and manageable. There is also talk of plans to integrate customer service for
existing clients into the social media platforms, particularly Facebook. This could not only benefit client

24

care, but would also help the social media strategy contribute more to the business as a commercial
entity, which is discussed in the next chapter.

Blogger relations
The second part of OH’s social media strategy aims to exploit the power of travel blogging and travel
bloggers. Initially, the travel industry was wary of the influence that these independent users wielded
among their target audience, particularly in the form of negative word of mouth, which could have a
negative impact on organisations criticized (Conrady 2007). Now, however, researchers like
Schmallegger (2008) believe that sponsored ‘professional blogging’ has become an industry norm in
travel, replicating to some degree the traditional relationship between the newspaper travel editor and
the resort or hotel chain. There is now even a semi-professional international community of travel
bloggers – The Travel Bloggers’ Exchange (TBEX) – whose activities and conferences are sponsored by
big travel organizations, such as Expedia and Canada Tourism (TBEX 2012). Aside from establishing a
presence at TBEX, OH’s strategy involves identifying influential travel bloggers; those with a significantly
large and engaged online following (largely as indicated by social media metrics such as number of
Twitter followers). These are generally bloggers already making money from reviewing and hosting
advertisements. The company offers to host them free-of-charge in a rental apartment in return for
coverage, most often in the form of photos of the apartment, mentions of the brand and links to the
company’s sites. In this way, OH seeks to build a reputation for its product among highly-engaged and
travel-focused audiences.

The challenges that face the company in this field are linked to the recurring issue of reconciling social
with commercial activity. Despite the undeniable commercialization of the travel blogosphere (Cowper
2011), the bloggers OH deals with tend to strongly value their independence, cultivating their image as
global explorers discovering the world, rather than as brand promoters or publicists. The latter image, in
all likelihood, would damage their influence, given that readers of blogs place a great value on their
objectivity (Pan 2007). Thus from the bloggers’ point of view the challenge is an ethical one; how can
they remain objective while accepting complimentary services in return for granting exposure? This
worry can limit the extent of positive word of mouth bestowed on the company by the writers. The
ambiguity created by an essentially commercial exchange masquerading as a spontaneous social output
can also make it difficult for OH to be sure of its return on investment. One blogging couple was
provided with free accommodation in multiple cities on the understanding that they would share photos
and brand mentions with their social media fans, but in the end their output was disappointingly low.

25

The company is now tentatively trying to avoid these scenarios by drafting written agreements
specifying, for example, a required number of mentions, but there is always the fear of a backlash. With
users so concerned about objectivity, it could only take one disgruntled blogger to damage the
company’s reputation.

It is clear that OH’s online marketing strategy is evolving and developing in response to the trends and
challenges of Web 2.0. The company’s application of emerging industry strategies like inbound
marketing reflects its commitment to an approach increasingly built on user engagement, interactivity
and experience. The social media strategy mirrors the content strategy with its emphasis on destination
marketing, but also seeks to build conversation and reputation by engaging users and unofficial industry
influencers: the travel bloggers. But the company faces significant challenges in the Web 2.0
environment, not least of which is trying to convey a commercial message without alienating a ‘social’
audience. Also, I suggest that there is a need to more fully exploit the interactive potential of Web 2.0,
as well as its very international scope. The next chapter sets out some ways in which these hurdles could
be overcome. It also recommends ways in which the existing strategy can be adjusted and improved to
make better use of the opportunities presented by the current online climate.

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5. HOW SHOULD OH MEET THE CHALLENGES OF WEB 2.0?
I have identified three major challenges facing Open House Group (OH) in its attempts to develop an
online marketing strategy that fully exploits the web 2.0 environment. This chapter presents three
corresponding sets of recommendations suggesting how the company can deal with these issues. Firstly,
there is often no clear commercial advantage created by its current activities, chiefly the inbound (ICM)
and social media aspects, which focus on building brand but could also be leveraged for more tangible
results. Secondly, the levels of engagement and interaction from the audience, although positive and
growing, need to be further enhanced in order to build a truly engaged and eventually lucrative
community. Thirdly, the company is failing to take advantage of the global opportunities presented by
today’s Internet, and particularly given the current economic climate, I will suggest that the time is ripe
to develop a strategy that is targeted, and actively seeks to go beyond the borders of Europe.

Adding commercial value

ICM strategy
As outlined previously, the company employs a strategy of destination marketing, developing written
and video content around each of the cities in order to create interest and develop the brand as a
source of expert local knowledge. Unfortunately, the benefits do not go far beyond this, as there is no
linked increase in traffic or apartment bookings. In order to make the content work commercially, there
needs to be a shift in the way it is created, managed and shared.

Currently, there is no evidence of research done into demand for content. Instead, the articles on the
city guides are created based on specific tourist attractions, or aspects of local culture that the authors
deem interesting. One of the basic principles of content marketing is that content needs to be of
interest and use to the viewer, as this will encourage traffic and sharing (Defren 2012; Kramer 2012).
Therefore it would be useful to conduct research into the kind of information that the audience is
looking for. It is also vital to get a better understanding of who that audience is. Although traffic figures
are available for the city guides, it is not really known who the readers are nor at what stage in the sales
funnel (ProBlogger 2010) they are when they read them. A better understanding of this would also help
to guide the content. One way to assess this would be to analyse the traffic sources, a component of the
Google Analytics package which shows which sites visitors are coming from. In the case of search engine

27

referrals, it also reveals which search terms lead them to the company website. If a certain term is
popular at one time, for example, ‘city beach Berlin,’ OH could meet this demand by creating a new
piece of content on that theme, boosting search engine rankings at the same time.

Another problem with the content strategy is that currently, too much information is available for free.
For example, it is entirely possible for a prospective traveller to research and plan a trip to Barcelona
using the Oh-Barcelona city guide, creating an itinerary of top attractions and gaining useful insider tips
and local information from the website, without making a single contribution to the company.
Eventually, the decision to travel being made, accommodation could be booked from an entirely
different website that offers no destination information, but rock-bottom prices. This kind of low-fidelity
behaviour is very normal among Internet travel consumers (Buhalis 2007). I would suggest that the
amount of free information on the city guides be streamlined down to a few useful but basic articles and
video, perhaps twenty or thirty instead of the hundreds that are now available. The full city guide can
then be provided in exchange for value, not necessarily money, but data, recognised as a vital
commodity in online marketing (Accela 2005). Increasingly, company websites are offering useful
content – often in the form of a PDF download – in exchange for an email address, which they can use
for direct marketing in future. Such an approach would be one way for OH to extract more value from its
content. Similarly, a short questionnaire in exchange for access to the full city guide would allow OH to
gather more information about, for example, what travellers would like to know before they go on
holiday. This data would then help to inform future content creation.

It has been noted already that personalisation and customisation is integral to the Web 2.0 ethos.
Another way that OH could utilise its destination-based content would be to provide it to consumers
after booking an apartment, and allow them to select and deselect different articles and videos to build
a personalised itinerary or guidebook, based on their own interests. Enhancing the after-sales offering in
this way would be likely to improve customer loyalty, while monitoring the popularity of different
articles and videos would provide more useful data to guide content planning.

Social media
The social media strategy so far focuses on building relationships and interactions with the audience.
This is showing increasing signs of success. Many techniques have been developed for initiating
discussions, and attracting approval ratings (‘Likes’ and ‘Shares’ on Facebook, for example), not least of

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which is publishing attractive photos of the various destinations. Now, however, there needs to be more
emphasis on the commercial side of the business. Many travel organisations have effectively integrated
booking services and special deals into their Facebook pages, for example Vueling (2012) and STA Travel
(2012). While continuing to engage their fans with destination-focused updates, the Vueling airline and
STA Travel pages also function as commercial platforms. I suggest OH needs to adopt a similar approach.
Currently, it is not immediately clear from any of the social media platforms that they are linked to an
accommodation provider.1

Boosting engagement and interaction

User-generated content (UGC)
As discussed in previous chapters, UGC is one of the most salient features of Web 2.0. Internet users are
no longer content to be passive absorbers of information, but instead have come to expect
opportunities for input and sharing (Wilson 2012), largely as a result of the interactive web with its
culture of social media, blogging and discussion platforms (O’Reilly 2005; Kozak 2006). Travel companies
are tapping into this phenomenon, OH among them. In spring 2012 the company ran very successful
UGC campaign: ‘Go with Oh,’ inviting travel bloggers to enter a competition for an accommodation-paid
trip around Europe. The entries were made in the form of articles, published on the bloggers’ own sites,
featuring the Go with Oh logo, links to the company site and social media platforms. The result was a
huge surge in brand exposure; OH effectively created 140 brand ambassadors, each spreading the word
with their own audience of travel enthusiasts. Such is the potential of user-generated content; it saves
the company’s own resources while at the same time opening up broader access for the brand message.

I strongly recommend that the company invest more in similar incentivised competitions, but with wider
appeal. One criticism of the ‘Go with Oh’ campaign is that it was limiting in its requirements: not
everyone has a travel blog, after all. It also required a time commitment in the form of writing and
illustrating the articles. This meant that the target was a relatively small group of internet users;
research shows that most users are viewers or curators. Although 77% of internet users read blogs, only
19 million people are believed to write their own original content, compared with the 3.46 billion who
1
In fact since the time of writing, a ‘Plan Your Trip’ application has been integrated into the Oh-Barcelona
Facebook page, linking users to the apartments booking page. There is also a dedicated discount code provided for
users of the page. Both of these developments represent steps towards making the social media strategy more
commercially beneficial. In time, I would recommend similar changes be rolled out across all the destinations.

29

read them (Singer 2009; NielsenWire 2012). Considering that 46% of adult internet users now share
their own photos and videos online (Rainie 2012), a photography competition, for example, would
potentially attract many more entries. Travel by its nature as a personal and social experience is very
conducive to the taking and sharing of photos, which are quickly and easily created and require no
professional expertise. The rise of digital photography and the Web 2.0 social sharing culture now makes
it even easier for people to enter such competitions. Using Twitter, for instance, OH could call for users
to enter by ‘tweeting’ (uploading and publishing) their image and tagging the ‘Go with Oh’ account. This
tagging creates a link to the company profile page, thus publicising the brand to each entrant’s network
of followers. Such a campaign would also provide a bank of user-generated images that could be used
promotionally by OH in future, potentially increasing audience investment in the brand by allowing them
to directly shape its output.

Community-building
Chapter 2 included a detailed look at the popularity of online travel forums as a source of information to
travel bookers. According to its own data, TripAdvisor, the largest travel forum, now hosts 75 million
consumer-created reviews and has 32 million members (TripAdvisor 2012) OH is one of the 1.6 million
businesses mentioned by users of the platform, and so the company employs a policy of monitoring the
forums regularly for mentions, responding to complaints where necessary with a message of apology or
explanation from a senior member of staff. This minimal intervention approach has become by and large
an industry standard; the company’s own experience show that involvement beyond this, for example in
the form of self-promotion, causes a backlash, as forum users react negatively to commercialisation of
what they deem a social and objective space (Pan 2007).

But this does not mean that travel forums hold no commercial benefit for the company. On the
contrary, I would suggest that the enthusiasm that forum users have for contributing to and curating
such platforms (TripAdvisor receives 50 new contributions per minute) is a force that OH could harness,
by creating its own travel community. Already, on the social networks Facebook and Twitter, there is
evidence of an involved and engaged fan base. I suggest that if OH were to create an online forum
where it was easy and simple to share photos and opinions, on travel topics, an interactive community
could be built. Such a community would be a valuable source of consumer insight for the company, who
could initiate discussions about key topics such as which destinations people want to visit or what
facilities they consider indispensable in holiday accommodation. The challenge, as always, would be to

30

avoid over-commercialization and encourage organic social interaction, while still conveying the brand
message. Done right, this forum would allow a deeper connection to be made between the brand and
its audience. Other businesses, alert to the possibilities of this conversation-driven approach, are
beginning to use services such as Ning.com to set up their own social spaces (Mashable 2012).

Expanding global horizons
As discussed in Chapter 2, one of the vital aspects of Web 2.0 is its growing international scope. It was
originally anticipated that a large part of this project would deal with the strategies that OH uses to
market online to global audiences; the nature of the business as both an online enterprise and a travel
accommodation provider means that a large proportion of its traffic and business comes from outside
its base country of Spain. However, the research conducted through observation, interviews and
analysis of the online content revealed very little evidence of an international strategy beyond
multilingual output. Each of the e-commerce sites and destination guides is available in English, Spanish,
German, French, Italian and Dutch. These choices were not based particularly on initial research into the
market, but represent the main European languages. This reflects the fact that when the company
started in 1997, it was expected that European tourists would be the major, if not the only, market.
Fifteen years on, the multilingual approach has allowed the company to grow by attracting traffic from
different countries in Europe, but it is not doing enough to exploit the potential offered by the
increasingly global nature of the web.

Content creation and targeting
As mentioned in the previous chapter, there is a problem of translation quality that has been noted by
many within the workforce. The texts produced for the websites are marketing communications, and so
are written to a high grammatical standard, in a persuasive tone, neither of which is necessarily
reproduced by the translations. The importance of good translations and local language is an important
element in establishing trust from foreign language audiences online (Gracia 2011; King 2012).
Therefore this would be the first issue to tackle; ensuring that the quality of the brand message as it is
communicated in English is replicated effectively across the board.

Secondly, the current strategy of replicating web copy, destination articles, and social media updates,
seems to reflect an assumption that the needs of all the different market groups can be met with the
same communication. There is plenty of evidence to suggest, however, that adopting a more culturally-

31

nuanced approach to online marketing yields better results. Studies have shown that there are national
and cultural variations in general online behaviour and attitudes (Chau 2002), what kind of web content
audiences are interested in, and how they go about searching for it online (Flomenbaum 2012; Chung
2008). One recent investigation revealed intra-European cultural differences in the reasons motivating
travellers to share their experiences online, and in the platforms where they choose to do so (Wilson
2012). This is particularly relevant to OH as a European company trying to develop a more interactive
and user-generated strategy. The company should take an analytical look at the characteristics and
demands of its different markets and develop a more targeted communications offering. For example,
interviews revealed that popularity of its destinations varied from market to market, with Barcelona
performing best in French. A small insight like this might be used to inform a particular push towards
that destination on the French website, a Francophone social media campaign, or perhaps a discount
offering for other cities in that market, to try and boost French bookings in the less popular destinations.

Going beyond Europe
While today’s internet offers the possibility to market to international audiences, my research indicates
that OH’s online marketing is Eurocentric and thus not exploiting the wider opportunities now available.
The vast majority of its bookings currently come from within Europe, and there was a downplaying of
the importance of other markets when I explored this topic during the interviews. Plans for new
directions were hinted at but concerned further European languages – Portuguese or Swedish.

Although the travel industry by its very nature might suggest a long tradition of international horizons,
the famous globalisation phenomenon has had as much of an impact on the sector in the past two
decades as on other, more local industries (Horner 2005). The reason is twofold: traditionally, Europeans
travelled overwhelmingly within the continent, and the dominance of travel agents meant that most
businesses in the industry dealt mainly with local customers, although they were sending them abroad
on holiday (Buhalis 2007; Kilion 2009). The international business boom of the 1980s and the arrival of
the internet in the 1990s each played a part in bringing travel businesses and consumers from different
parts of the world into contact (Horner 2005). Breakdown of political barriers and increasing prosperity
in traditionally poorer regions have also fuelled this trend. Tourists from Asia, Russia, the Middle East
and Latin America are travelling internationally in unprecedented numbers (Risi/UNWTO 2011; Jing
2011) and use of Internet as a gateway to travel services is increasing in countries like India and China
(Kilion 2009). As Horner (2005) warns in his study of globalisation in the leisure industry, companies like

32

OH can no longer afford to simply focus on the European tourist market. This is especially true given the
current economic recession from which the continent’s travel market is still struggling to recover
(UNWTO 2011). I believe that OH’s global approach needs to go beyond simply operating in six different
European languages. There should be a concerted effort to develop understanding of demand,
behaviour and attitudes of travellers from potentially lucrative tourist markets such as China and Russia
(Jing 2011), with the aim of creating a targeted online marketing strategy to attract bookings from these
regions. This would necessarily require adding new languages, but more importantly, different tactics.
If, for example, it was found that most visitors from China travel for business, the tone, content and
platforms chosen for the Chinese online marketing would reflect this. I agree with Thomas (2008) that
‘firms using Internet marketing in the international arena should use localization of language and
content to effectively serve foreign markets.’

33

6. CONCLUSION
This project has generated many useful insights into the implications of the ‘second generation’ of
internet – Web 2.0 – for marketing online in the travel industry. As the literature review revealed, there
is a lack of specific research into how exactly businesses in this sector are reacting to the phenomenon.
The first of the four research questions asked: ‘How has the increasingly interactive and social web – the
so-called Web 2.0 – affected the online travel domain?’ Through exploration of industry literature, and
observation of company practice at OH, it has become evident that the effect on the sector is significant.
Consumers of travel across the world are keen and active users of the internet, embracing and shaping
the interactive and social ethos of Web 2.0 by sharing their experiences in blogs and online travel
forums, turning away from industry sources and seeking advice and information from each other
(Compete 2006; Wilson 2012). The rise of consumer-fed platforms such as TripAdvisor is a key indicator
of this cultural shift. While slow to react initially, businesses in the travel industry are now recognising
the importance of these changes in relation to their online marketing strategy. The business-consumer
broadcasting approaches that once worked have to be adapted, and in many cases, swept aside.

The second and third research questions sought to investigate in depth the effects of this trend on one
travel organisation. In answering ‘What is Open House Group’s current online marketing strategy?’ it
became clear that this strategy was fluid and evolving, in response to Web 2.0. OH increasingly relies on
social networking, inbound marketing and the blogosphere to maintain and increase its appeal to
potential customers. There is evidence of a move from a sales-focused approach to one that is more
focused on building interaction and relationships with the audience. OH adopted a destination
marketing approach, using its ten cities as topics around which to develop multimedia content and
conversation, via online city guides and social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter. The
company is also attempting to leverage the power of travel bloggers, unofficial industry experts with
high online influence, in order to build a positive brand reputation. This echoes wider developments in
the online marketing arena; as the Internet has become more user-led and experience-focused,
companies have been forced to react by offering more to users than a mere sales platform, and to court
the favour of the travel bloggers (Schmallegger 2008).

The project then investigated: ‘What challenges and opportunities face a medium-sized travel enterprise
like Open House Group trying to market in the Web 2.0 environment?’ One of the major challenges faced
by companies is reconciling the commercial aims of the business with the increasingly social and

34

community-based approach demanded by the new web culture. This culture also presents the challenge
of how to boost interaction and engagement among potential customers, and harness the power of the
online community, which is a major marketing opportunity. A third issue identified was the absence of a
strategy for targeting the different global audiences now emerging as important and active users of
online travel services.

Finally, the fourth research question asked: ‘How should a medium-sized travel enterprise like Open
House Group adapt its online marketing strategy to meet these challenges and opportunities?’ Through
analysing OH’s online marketing strategy, I have identified a number of areas for development in Web
2.0 marketing. I have recommended that OH increase commercial return by following other travel
providers in beginning to integrate e-commerce into their social media platforms. I also suggested that a
more demand-based content strategy should be adopted, and that more travel information be
exchanged for contact data and consumer insights rather than made freely available.

Travel businesses marketing online must also fully exploit the travel consumer’s appetite for opinion-
sharing and content generation. The popularity of photo-sharing and travel forums provide
opportunities to create and manage interactive communities of brand ambassadors. Finally, the
company’s current approach to global marketing is inadequate given its position as a travel provider,
and the market opportunities available. Instead of remaining stuck in an early web model of simply
replicating offering across different languages, internet travel providers like OH need to apply the Web
2.0 values of customisation and user experience, developing a targeted and localised marketing strategy
for different international markets, especially those in the emerging tourist economies.

This project has built on earlier research which established the foundation premise: that a wave of
increasingly social, interactive and opinionated internet users have made Web 2.0 very relevant to the
travel industry, by using the new platforms as a tool for research, service reviewing (Gretzel 2008), peer-
to-peer consultation (Xiang 2010) and purchase decisions (Compete 2006). The present study has
approached this phenomenon from the industry point of view, conducting a detailed investigation into
how online marketing practices are evolving in response to it, and recommending strategies based on
the current internet environment. Building on this project, future research into the qualitative and
quantitative effectiveness of the marketing techniques explored would provide further valuable insight.
It is vital that service providers in the travel sector discover and apply the most effective methods of
online communication, given the meteoric rise of the internet as a forum, information resource and
marketplace for travel products.

35

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Online Travel Marketing for Web 2.0 | MA project

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