New thinking

Have you booked your holiday?
Esther Groenendaal, Francis Neijenhof, Jeroen Nawijn, Ondrej Mitas
(NHTV)
Kevin Yeqiang Lin, Deborah Kerstetter (Penn State)
Online booking has spread people’s
booking behavior over time
How, in this new information
environment, do decisions form?
Existing models are not enough to
explain decision formation anno 2013
Old thinking
Motive to travel -> Info search -> Decision
New thinking
Motive to travel + Info search + Decision +
Social relations + Fantasy +………
Now thinking
Social media? Online reviews? Price?
Emotions? Well-being?
We used focus groups to get motives and
info sources/topics
21 travel motives, e.g., “Om er op uit te gaan”
and “Om van het landschap genieten”
16 info sources, e.g., “Satelliet beelden (zoals Google maps, Street view) “ and
“Kantoor van een reisorganisatie (reisbureau of touroperator)”
10 info topics, e.g., “De accommodatie” and
“De prijs van een mogelijke vakantie”
We asked the Leisure Panel to rate
motives and info sources/topics monthly
Six monthly online questionnaires sent to 2000 panel members
200+ filled out all
Items presented in 1-to-5 format from “very much” to “not at all”
Top 5 travel motives changed over time,
focus changes from interest to relaxation
Top 5 information sources did not
change over time
Top 5 info topics also changed rather little
over time
We also wanted to know why and how
these information processes worked
Interviews with a randomly selected subsample of 15 people
Each interviewed 3x over the course of the study
Four themes show a complex relationship
between business & customer
“Het geeft me meer zekerheid als die
mensen het voor me in orde maken.”
“Ja, verrassen en verbazen, dat is natuurlijk
het mooiste van reizen.”
“Hij weet het beter dan wij, want hij
woont hier.”
“Wij laten ons eigenlijk nooit iets
aanraden. Dat zoeken we altijd zelf uit.”
Thus, we recommend travel businesses
to explore a more social role
Measure and plan emotions, including surprise
Bring people and stories together
Be the “insider”
Market early to interest and later to escape