The revolution that the Internet has brought about in tourism marketing continues, the so-called Web 2.0 is a motor of change, it places customers in control, making it an opinion prescriber. Consequently, the positioning and sales power of hotels is increasingly conditioned by the evaluations that their clients publish in the so-called travel and tourism social networks and determine their online reputation, consequently they represent an important quality index. Positioning influence analysis increases the possibility on social networks to visualize the prominent places that hotels occupy.
Introduction
Currently, tourist destinations are facing a series of changes in the forms of tourism production and consumption that are conditioning their competitive environment and that require significant efforts from all the agents involved in redefining their marketing strategies; promotion and marketing.
The world tourism industry will take another four years to regain pre-crisis levels, according to a report by Euromonitor International consultancy. This report also points out that recovery will occur at different speeds in different regions of the world. (Hosteltur.com, 06.17.2010)
Social networks have created a tourist cycle in which the traveler looks for inspiration in the comments of other travelers to choose his destination, and then plan and book his own. The third step in this cycle would be the journey itself, giving way to the fourth point in which the traveler shares his experiences that in turn become an inspiration for other travelers, thus closing the wheel. (Hosteltur, Nov. 2007)
El análisis de la influencia del posicionamiento de los hoteles en las redes sociales, de viajes y turismo, en los casos de estudio de los hoteles Iberostar Varadero e Iberostar Taínos en el Polo turístico de Varadero, Cuba en TripAdvisor.com, portal de viajes que ha sobrepasado los 35 millones de opiniones y comentarios, está evidenciando la influencia positiva de las opiniones y comentarios de clientes en TripAdvisor.com y que atendiendo posicionamiento y visibilidad de TripAdvisor.com en Google, aumenta la posibilidad de un número superior de visitas a su página web, y por consiguiente, de visualizar los lugares prominentes que ocupan los hoteles, contribuyendo a una mejor reputación online de los mismos tomados como referencia y al incremento de sus reservas.
In this context, Cuba is experiencing an accumulated growth of 1.2% in international visitor arrivals until the end of May compared to the same period of the previous year. (ONE (2010a). However, the 6 main source markets decreased compared to the previous year.
According to Marrero (2010), Cuban Minister of Tourism -in his presentation on the trends and perspectives of the development of the sphere in the country, at the International Tourism Fair FITCUBA 2010- in the last 20 years, Cuba received 29 million tourists from more than 70 countries, a stage in which the nation implemented its development policy, which, despite factors against it inside and outside borders, is today among the most important and dynamic destinations in the Americas and the Caribbean. Varadero, its main sun and beach destination, surpassed in 2009 for the second time the figure of one million international tourists staying at its hotel floor.
It is a fact that the evolution of information adapts to the changes that are taking place in technologies, and that these changes are giving the consumer a growing decision-making capacity. It is not about manipulating the client, but relating to him to know his needs.
In the network there has been an evolution from Web 1.0, which was limited to offering information, to the current Web 2.0 (or Travel 2.0, adapted to the tourism sector), a tool that is based on collaboration, the socialization of information, where the company loses control of the information that appears on the network about its product, because it is created, modified, disseminated and verified by the clients themselves through blogs, traveler communities, evaluation pages, among other interactive means.
The use of Web 2.0 applications in tourism is causing changes in the way tourists approach their trips. Social networks have created a tourist cycle in which the traveler looks for inspiration in the comments of other travelers to choose his destination, to then plan and book his own, the third step of this cycle would be the trip itself, the fourth step the traveler shares his experiences that in turn become an inspiration for other travelers, thus closing the wheel. (Hosteltur, Nov. 2007).
In Asia search engines have a strong social content. According to Insites Consulting, Latin America is the leader when it comes to penetration of social networks. According to their statistics, 95% of Latin American Internet users have an account on at least one social network. An important growth if one considers that a year ago eMarketer considered that 87% of Latin American Internet users used social networks. (Cuen, 2010b)
The use of social media users / clients / citizens has driven change in the company, both in its way of acting and in the focus of its action. The tourism sector is no stranger to this, and social media is showing itself as an opportunity rather than a threat, as long as the company is capable of managing them properly. Talking with users / customers is what they are asking for and what social media allows companies to do. (Hosteltur.com, 08.24.2009).
The use of these tools in the tourism industry is still very incipient and there does not seem to be any in Cuba that has integrated them into its internal management tools. However, due to the nature of the business, very close to the client and with a high risk of exposure to opinions, it is being accepted as an external management tool. The integration of these two dimensions and their exploitation to improve productivity and knowledge of the company itself seems the next step in the acceptance of social tools.
The recommendation made by customers for certain segments is valued, showing in both hotels the predominance of the recommendation for "couples" and "family" (82% of customers recommend hotels for these two segments), constituting a point cardinal reference, which contributes to making business decisions in line with the perspective of its customers.
Analysis of the positioning of TripAdvisor.com in Google
Google, on each page of results, orders the natural search results ten by ten, and according to their importance (from most to least). Obviously, the higher a Web page appears in these results, the more likely it is that Internet users will click on its link and therefore, a better positioning, greater visibility and, consequently, a higher number of visits to a Web page.
The natural search results are those that Google considers most important and relevant for this search and that are found in the middle-left part of the results page. As can be seen, the link with TripAdvisor.com is in the first or second position in 7 of the 9 keywords in 2010.
Sponsored search results are the sponsored ads that appear in columns on the right margin of the results page (and sometimes above the natural search results, in a blue box), for which the advertiser pays to appear when they search for certain keywords. As can be seen, the link with TripAdvisor.com was in 2007 in 7 of the keywords, occupying the first link that appears at the top in 3 of them.
This situation changed with the purchase of TripAdvisor by Expedia, which belongs to the same business group.
Taking into account the positioning and visibility of TripAdvisor.com on Google, you increase the possibility of a higher number of visits to your website, and consequently, of viewing the first place occupied by the Iberostar Varadero and Iberostar Taínos hotels, contributing to a better online reputation, understood as the first impression that an Internet user receives from the hotel through the comments and opinions of travelers and professionals in the sector on the Internet.
Positioning on TripAdvisor.com. Positioning of Iberostar Varadero on TripAdvisor.com
The Iberostar Varadero hotel, based on the opinions and comments expressed on the TripAdvisor.com website, ranked first among hotels in Cuba from January 2006 to 2008, when it was displaced by the Paradisus Río de Oro hotel, located in Guardalavaca Beach, Holguín, managed and marketed by the Sol Meliá hotel chain under the Paradisus brand, including itself among the 10 hotels in the Caribbean in the 2006-2007 period (without considering hotels in the Mexican Caribbean), meritorious given by the fact that Most of the facilities included were small, highly personalized hotels; the hotel with the largest capacity had 74 rooms, far from the 386 rooms that Iberostar Varadero has.
Position occupied by Iberostar Varadero in the period 2005-2008
Figure 1. Position of Iberostar Varadero in the period 2005-2008
The hotel was the winner of the Travelers'Choice award in the category of hotels for families in the 2010 edition of the awards, as shown in the following figure:
Position held by Iberostar Varadero and where the Travelers' Choice award has been awarded.
Figure 2. Position held by Iberostar Varadero and where the Travelers' Choice award has been awarded.
Positioning of Iberostar Taínos on TripAdvisor.com
The Iberostar Taínos hotel in recent years has consolidated its position on TripAd visor.com, including itself among the 10 best hotels in Cuba and Varadero, being a 4-star hotel, as can be seen:
Positioning of the Iberostar Taínos hotel on TripAdvisor, June 2010
Figure 3. Positioning of the Iberostar Taínos hotel on TripAdvisor, June 2010
The most interesting results that confirm this positioning analysis are referred to below:
1. More than 98% of the customers contacted know about the position of the hotel on TripAdvisor.com, of which 68% have known it for more than a year, which shows a high level of knowledge of the customers about this website and its increasing use to plan your trips.
2. The positive influence of the hotel's positioning on TripAdvisor.com is corroborated by the fact that 75% of those surveyed visited the website, learned about the position of hotels in the ranking and read the evaluations and comments expressed by customers before to make the reservation. In the study, differences were observed in the magnitudes in the three cases studied: Iberostar Varadero, July 2007 (IV07), Iberostar Varadero, 2010 (IV010) and Iberostar Taínos, 2010 (IT010). The lowest value is obtained at the Iberostar Taínos hotel.
3. The position that hotels occupy in the TripAdvisor.com ranking and the reading of ratings and comments expressed by customers, influenced the decision to book at the hotel for 90% of respondents. Of this percentage, high values are obtained where it greatly influenced (IV07: 57%; IV010: 44%; IT010: 38%). The result shows how the market has been democratized, consumers are now actors and not only objects of marketing and blogs and consumer generated content on the Internet (CGM) are becoming a reliable source of information.
4. In fact, TripAdvisor.com is the second most influential medium (22%) in the decision to book at the hotel, slightly behind the recommendations of friends and family (23%).
5. On the other hand, in values higher than 51% of those surveyed changed a previous choice of another hotel after having visited TripAdvisor.com and read the ratings and comments expressed by customers about the hotels.
6. In addition, if the positioning of the hotel on TripAdvisor.com were different, 81% of customers could have changed the decision to book at the hotel. It is remarkable that 70% of those surveyed at the Iberostar Varadero hotel in 2010 state that they would surely have changed the decision to book at the hotel, as evidenced in the study.
7. The valuations that are published on the Internet about the hotel represent an important quality index for the people who consult them and their value influences the price that they are willing to pay to stay in it. The study shows that 66% of those surveyed at the Iberostar Varadero hotel and 42.5% at Iberostar Taínos, 2010, would be willing to justify a higher price than they paid for the hotel's positioning, which shows the influence of the online reputation of the hotel.
8. It is observed that 29% of respondents would be willing to justify a price increase of up to 5% for the place that hotels occupy on TripAdvisor, and 20% would accept a price increase between 21-30%.
9. The positive radiation of the positioning is evidenced by the fact that 56% of those surveyed have commented on the hotel's position on TripAdvisor to more than 5 people, of which 14.5% have commented on it to more than 10 people.
This result is very favorable for online reputation, considering that the most impactful (most valuable) comments for an individual are those of the reference group with which he identifies.
10. The growing use of sites such as TripAdvisor.com or blogs, travel forums, etc., is evidenced by the fact that 49% of customers will express their evaluations about their experience at the hotel upon returning to their country, and 40, 5% probably will.
11. The main motivations for expressing their evaluations and comments are to share their experiences with other people (35%) and help other people to make good decisions (32%), as shown.
12. The direct connection between the content generated by the users themselves and the purchase intentions of a product or service is evident in the study, according to which 57% affirm that they decided not to buy a product after reading the comments posted on Internet by consumers or individuals. On the other hand, 59% of those surveyed affirm that they have bought a product, service, hotel reservation or tourist trip after having read comments about them in blogs, travel forums, web pages of online travel agencies or sites such as TripAdvisor.com.
13. The positive influence of positioning on TripAdvisor would also favor the possibility of making reservations directly on the hotel's website for 90% of those surveyed.
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