The effect of Hotel Ownership Type on Hotel Website Contents

ISLAM SALEM

Hotel Management Department, Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Alexandria University, Egypt

ABSTRACT

This study contributes to the literature on the evaluation of the hotel website contents. It drives to examine the effect of hotel ownership type (chain hotels vs. independent hotels) on hotel website contents by conducting a content analysis. To map the multi-approach research area of hotel website contents, the study draws on literature in the fields of hotel E-Marketing, hotel websites, internet, social media, and mobile applications. The population frame for this study is the list of all five-star hotels in Egypt and Croatia to examine the effect of hotel ownership type on hotel website contents. Although, the findings show that the contents of five-star chain hotels in Egypt significantly vary from five-star chain hotels in Croatia (p<0.00), the contents of five-star independent hotels in Egypt do not significantly vary from five-star independent hotels in Croatia (p<0.05). A natural extension of this research would thus be comparing these results with the importance of the hotel website dimensions from the customers’ perspectives. The nature of this study can be considered as a distinctive research in the ﬁeld of E-Marketing commonly and E-Marketing in chain and independent hotels in both Egypt and Croatia precisely. For practitioners, the checklist of the hotel website content by adding new features to the dimensions like social media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Trip advisor, YouTube... etc.) and mobile applications should be precisely considered into account which it was noted that some of the hotel websites had other contents rather than the checklist. As the first integrative analysis of the hotel websites between Egypt and Croatia, this study tends to understand the current tendency, argues for its wider relevance, and paves the way for its future trends.

Key Words: Chain hotels, Independent hotels, Hotel website, Egypt, Croatia

1. INTRODUCTION

In an ever-changing marketplace, where the only certainty is uncertainty, corporate success comes from consistently creating, distributing and using innovative technologies. Globalization, the renovation of the enterprise, the presence of digital establishment, and transformation of tourism and hospitality fields are four powerful worldwide changes which have altered the business environment (Laudon, 2002; Wu and Lin, 2009).

The importance of information technology in the hospitality industry, principally the World Wide Web, has enhanced enormously in the prior period. As information is the vital spark of the hospitality field, effective use of information technology is fundamental for marketing and promotional actions (Wang and Fesenmaier, 2006). From the viewpoint of customers, the internet permits them to connect directly with hotels, to request information and to obtain services and products without any geographical and time limits. For hoteliers, in specific marketing and sales managers, the successful structures of hotel websites are lower distribution costs, greater profits, and a more market share (O’Connor, 2003). The Internet in the hospitality industry has provided a great chance for independent firms to compete in various markets with the similar opportunities of the big players. Like businesses across the tourism industry, hotels are embracing this technology and working dynamically to use websites to offer customers the ability to search information and book rooms online (O’Connor and Frew, 2002). Hence, the internet is a central communication tool and is very essential for independent hotels to use it as an effective marketing tool.

While the prospects accessible by the Internet in Egypt appear readily apparent, Essawy (2011) clarified that there is still much speculation on exactly what impact it will have on marketing independently owned hotels. Independent hotels in Egypt were not examined cautiously and broadly in prior studies. There is an absence of practical evidence in terms of what hotel managers are actually thinking and more significantly doing in response of the dispersion of the Internet in hotels.

It is auspicious to mention that hospitality more and more needs to embrace innovative methods to improve their competitiveness. It is also crucial to emphasis on the most operative means of marketing, advertising, information services, and allocating goods on hotel websites to both local and universal marketplaces. Moreover, the internet is an important channel of distribution to customers. Progressively, customers can undertake their entire tourism product search and booking online and, therefore, they require flexibility, specialized, accessible, interactive products and to communicate with different hotels. This increases the importance of internet use and the content of hotel websites.

Consequently, the foremost aim of this study is to evaluate the hotel website contents for both chain and independent hotels. Hence, this study exemplifies the current state, investigates the content of hotel websites, and thus contributes to the progress of independent hotels. Therefore, the research problem can be stated mainly in the following question “what is the current situation of analyzing five-star hotel website contents in Egypt and Croatia?” From the main research problem, sub-questions can be stated in the following questions:

1. Are there differences of hotel website contents in chain hotels between Egypt and Croatia?

2. Are there differences of hotel website contents in independent hotels between Egypt and Croatia?

3. Which hotels have more contents on their websites; chain hotel websites or independent hotel websites in Egypt?

4. Which hotels have more contents on their websites; chain hotel websites or independent hotel websites in Croatia?

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Internet

The Internet is a powerful tool for providing product or service information to customers. Customers are individuals with computer knowledge and with willingness to obtain more in-depth information relating to their query through a computer connected to the Internet. Effectiveness of the Web site will determine further consumer actions. The purpose of the website is to motivate customer on purchases. Attracting those customers is an essential to the effectiveness of the Web site (Panian and Jakovic, 2006). The Internet is the most operative when used as marketing and advertising tool. It provides opportunities for an organization to enrich its business in a practical and cost-effective method. Thus, the Internet can be invested to accomplish and conduct marketing research, better serve customers, distribute products faster, extend new markets, communicate more powerfully with corporate buddies, and solve customer’s complications. The Internet is likewise a valuable tool for collecting brainpower on potential markets, clients, and competitors, in addition to linking information about companies and/or products (Buhalis and Law, 2008; Bui et al., 2006; Cai et al., 2004; Garces et al., 2004; Honeycutt et al., 1998; Law and Hsu, 2005; Lee et al., 2006;). In this scope, the Internet has rapidly changed the way enterprises and organizations run as the number of Internet users’ increases second after second.

Around 40% of the world population has an internet connection today. It was less than 1% in 1995.The number of internet users has greater than before tenfold from 1999 to 2016.The 1^st billion was gotten in 2005, the 2^nd billion in 2010, and the 3^rd billion was reached in 2014 (Internet Live Stats, 2016).

In Egypt, the number of Internet users has dramatically increased, growing from 424,111 (18%) in 2000 to 34.8 million in 2016 (38.6%) and ranks 14 in Internet penetration. In Croatia, the number of Internet users represents 3.13 (73.8%) million in 2016. Nevertheless, the use of e-commerce in Egypt, has been disappointing. For instance, a report by the Networked Readiness Index (2016) ranks Egypt 96 while Croatia ranks 54 out of 139 countries with respect to the use of e-commerce.

The prominence of Internet applications in the hospitality industry has been emphasized by academic researchers and practitioners. To hospitality consultants, the Internet provides a means for them to sell their services and products to universal customers without any geographical or time borders (Law and Hsu, 2005). In line for the growing number of websites, it is difﬁcult for hotels attract guests and even convert them to real consumers (Auger, 2005). Furthermore, 56% of the potential customers in the U.S used the Internet to book their hotels, however online hotel reservations in 2004 reached approximately $15 billion (Yesawich, 2005). In a study in Europe, 63% of hotels owns a website with direct access to prices and other services (Knauth, 2006). Thus, the website content richness plays a pivotal role to attract visitors and transform them into real customers.

Among (67%) of the overall online chain hotel reservations comes from brand websites (TIAA, 2005). Concerning effort, chain hotels appear to be more conscious of providing the website facilities (O’Connor, 2003). E-customers are fonder of higher class hotels and thus websites of branded hotel chains are more appealing to them. Although the benefits of online marketing, hotels still have faced extensive challenges since the Online Travel Agent (OTA)’s web site still handles a substantial part of online reservation (Law and Cheung, 2006).

Website evaluation relates to the presence of specific website features/characteristics, irrespective of an evaluation framework is included or not. It encompasses evaluation of (a) website design, (b) website content, and (c) website design and content (Ip et al., 2011). Definitely, this study is to focus on the evaluation of hotel website content.

2.2 Hotel website contents “features”

Numerous studies have evaluated websites in the tourism and hospitality field which can be categorised as either empirical or theoretical research. Theoretical studies develop or modify concepts or approaches (Robbins & Stylianou, 2003; Tong, Duffy, Cross, Tsung, & Yen, 2005), while empirical studies validate or verify hypotheses or approaches through experimental investigations (Chung & Law, 2003; Teo & Pian, 2004; Yeung & Law, 2004; Zafiropoulos et al., 2005; Zafiropoulos and Vrana, 2005; Au Yeung & Law, 2006; Law& Cheung, 2006; Lee & Kozar, 2006; Cheung & Law, 2009; Lin, Zhou, & Guo, 2009; Horng & Tsai, 2010; Tsai et al., 2010; Tang, Jang, & Morrison, 2012; Salavati and Hashim, 2015; Salem and Cavlek, 2016).

Most of first studies were conducted to examine the contents and features of hotel websites. After these studies, many have been conducted to measure the depth and detail of information that can be given to customers as well as the depth of the collected customer information (richness). Richness occurs because data movement is faster, deeper and, greater than it is in the traditional market. As customers have additional product/service information, businesses’ clearness among prices and retailers increase (Sigala, 2003).

One of the first studies, Murphy et al. (1996) conducted a study to investigate the contents and features of hotel websites. They examined 20 chain hotels and 16 independent hotel websites, in the US. They noted that 32 different features that were on those 36 websites. The different features were then positioned into four comprehensive nonexclusive classifications: service and information, promotion and marketing, interactivity and technology and management. A uniformed but personalized e-mail survey was sent to all 36 hotels asking particular questions about their websites experiences. They emphasized that Cyber-hoteliers must, supposed, examine how these features influence or develop the task, margin, procedure, marketing and maintenance of their websites.

Furthermore, Wan (2002) studied the web site content of worldwide tourist hotels and tour suppliers in Taiwan. The assessment system comprised of three general user criteria: user interface, diversity of information and online booking. Respectively, each website was appraised by grading the overall excellence of user interface and, diversity of information on a 5-point rating scale. Outcomes show that “diversity of information” received the lowest score. More customer hotels provide on-line booking systems than do tour suppliers. Findings also indicated that the use of the Internet in Taiwan’s tourism/hospitality industry is mainly for advertising, not marketing. Schegg et al. (2002) examined 125 websites of Swiss hotels using a benchmarking approach that classified website attributes on five factors: trust, cyber marketing, service process, customer relationship and value creation.

Likewise, Baloglu and Pekcan (2006) evaluated the websites of upscale (4- and 5-star) hotels in Turkey based on the following four dimensions: interactivity, navigability, marketing and functionality. They determined that although the websites of 5-star hotels are better developed than those of 4-star hotels, all websites must be developed across all dimensions apart from navigability. These authors also stated that hotel companies should continuously modify the designs of their websites and update their technological capabilities to adapt them to their customers.

Another study in this concern is the results of Zafiropoulos and Vrana (2006), they assessed the framework for hotel websites, which categorized web information services into six information dimensions and also used managers and customers’ perspectives. They determined that a hotel website must provide numerous vital features to stand-in a better online experience and claimed that “weak hotel website design will cause a cost of 50% of prospective sales due to customers being unable to find what they want, and a loss of 40% of prospective repeat visits due to initial negative experience”.

Further, Schmidt et al. (2008) compared the effectiveness of the websites of small and medium-sized Spanish and Brazilian hotels based on the following factors: the existence of price segmentation (price), information on hotel services (product), multimedia availability such as videos of the hotel and its surroundings (multimedia), ease of navigating the website (navigability), the probability of reservation online (reservation system) and the presence of elements for retaining existing customers (customer retention).

Also, Shuai and Wu (2011) evaluated 48 websites of international tourist hotels in Taiwan based on information, communication and executing transactions. The findings show that hotels use their websites for providing information and for transactions, but not for interacting with customers. Given the findings attained, they suggest that hotel managers must have a “more interactive presence” on their websites using the interactive tools available on the Internet

According to PhoCusWright (2012) about 52.3% of all reservations were made online in 2010. On the other hand, the rating of online sales has diminished by 4.7% compared with the previous year. This suggests that hotels need to invest further to improve the quality of their websites to attract new customers and increase online sales. Herrero and San Martin (2012) indicated that given the level of competition in the industry, hotels aim to design their websites to be a marketing tool and use this in an attempt to influence the decision-making of their customers.

Recently, Salavati and Hashim (2015) evaluated the content analysis of each hotel website. They noticed that existing hotels use website predominantly to present their business. Electronic commerce activities are negligible among Iranian hotels; moreover, none of the Iranian hotels in this study offered online reservations, and only half of the 75 evaluated websites offer a multilingual option. Also, the structure of websites that offer information in other languages, such as English and Arabic, can aid customers who are unaware with Iran find required information. Table 1 shows the recent studies that examine website dimensions.

Table 1. Previous studies of hotel website evaluation

Authors	Previous studies that examine hotel website dimensions
Sun et al. (2017)	An updated comprehensive review of website evaluation studies in hospitality and tourism‏
Li et al. (2017)	An empirical study on the influence of economy hotel website quality on online booking intentions‏
Leung et al. (2016)	A Modified Model for Hotel Website Functionality Evaluation‏
Abdullah et al. (2016)	conceptual model of interactive hotel website: The role of perceived website interactivity and customer perceived value toward website revisit intention‏
Li et al. (2015)	Present and future hotel website marketing activities: Change propensity analysis‏
Wang et al. (2015)	Impact of hotel website quality on online booking intentions: eTrust as a mediator
Akincilar & Dagdeviren (2014)	A hybrid multi-criteria decision making model to evaluate hotel websites‏
Correia et al. (2014)	Framework for the characterization of hotel websites
Ting et al. (2013)	Website evaluation of the top 100 hotels using advanced content analysis and eMICA model‏

2.3 Hotel website evaluation in Egypt and Croatia

Research results by Panian and Jakovic (2006) displayed that hotel websites in Croatia have main problems in attracting customers. The outcomes of this study also presented the quality of the hotel Website was not related to hotel classification. The analysis should be repeated from time to time to observe how hotel websites remain to compare to others. Furthermore, hotel managers should always classify other durable hotel websites and tourist websites whose ideas and practices could be adopted to develop their hotel website even further. The utmost substantial feature of the website value was its maintenance, as this frequently permits contact for novel information and new contents for the website customers.

Recently, Jakovic and Galetic (2014) conducted a research and they evaluated the Croatian five-star hotel websites in order to create the magnitude to which electronic business is functional in this segment of Croatian tourism. The utmost shortage is the lack of usage for mobile applications, as 20% of five-star hotel websites in Croatia only have their own mobile application, which could help customers to directly get if there are vacancies and where they can pay for their accommodation directly. Unexpectedly, 80% of the Croatian five-star hotels websites use Facebook profile for additional promotion. Moreover, 70% of the Croatian five-star hotel websites use twitter, an online social networking service and micro blogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters

More significantly, to our knowledge, the existing hospitality literature has no published articles that examined the issue of hotel website dimensions and attributes from the perspective of hoteliers in Egypt for Five-star hotels, either chain or independent hotels. While recent studies by Salem and Cavlek (2016) examined hotel website features in Egypt by conducting a content analysis and it examines customers’ viewpoints about the importance of the contents of hotel websites. The study involved a quantitative method of measurement and evaluation of the information provided by hotel websites. It tried to evaluate the richness of definite and ample information dimensions, which as a whole constitutes the information services offered through the website.

Based on the above, this study has developed a conceptual framework that includes the following main research variables: Hotel website features, chain hotels, and independent hotels (see figure 1)

3.1 Population frame

This study of evaluating hotel website based on exploring the contents of the hotel website which they already exist. Egypt and Croatia are selected as this study is original in this geographic context. It fills the gap between two Mediterranean countries. Moreover, It clarifies if there are differences between hotels in both countries. More specifically, comparing chain vs. independent hotels adds a critical point in this study. As hotel chain, has standardised operating systems, centralised reservation systems, unity in IT for all their hotels. While, this study explores the independent hotels with their procedures to cope with other chain hotels. A researcher counts the number of features present in website by using a standardized checklist. The foremost benefits of this technique are its simplicity in collecting data and diminishing error, and the affluence of analysis. With reference to statistics from the Ministry of Tourism (2016), Egypt, there are 156 five-star hotels in Egypt. Besides, according to statistics from the Ministry of Tourism (2016), Croatia, there are 31 five-star hotels in Croatia. Consequently, the population frame for this study is the list of all five-star hotels in Egypt (113 chain hotels and 43 independent hotels, representing 156 hotels) and Croatia (19 chain hotels and 12 independent hotels, representing 31 hotels) based on complete census technique to scrutinize the effect of hotel ownership type on hotel website contents from analyzing website contents. In Egypt, number of chain hotels with a website 113 hotels represented 100% of chain hotels. While number of independent hotels with a website 34 hotels represented 79% of independent hotels and the others may be under istallation. In Croatia, all five star hotels either independent or chain hotels have a website. Table 2 shows the number of five-star hotels and number of hotels with a website in Egypt and Croatia. The researcher browsed each hotel's website, both chain and independent hotel, to evaluate the website contents by using the hotel evaluation survey. Website evaluation uses inspective procedures and research to thoroughly determine the value of a web-based information system on a reliable base. Hotel website evaluation plays a substantial role in testing website services and activities, structural planning, and in familiarizing objectives and goals. This technique of ‘formative’ evaluation, where the goals and customer needs correlate with the evaluating process, differences with a ‘summative’ procedure of evaluation through which the degree to which the website is meeting set goals and customer needs is identified (Thompson, McClure and Jaeger, 2003).

Table 2. No. of Five-star hotels and no. of hotels with a website in Egypt and Croatia

Country No.	Egypt		website		Croatia		website
Country No.	No. of Hotels	%	No.	%	No. of Hotels	%	No.	%
Chain hotels	113	72	113	100	19	61	19	100
Independent hotels	43	28	34	79	12	39	12	100
Total	156	100	147	90	31	100	31	100

3.2 Measures and questionnaire development

Based on the earlier studies, there are a little of standardized rules or characteristics that cover the real existence of the hotel website content. Thus, the hotel website evaluation form is modified from the standardized website evaluation form developed by prior studies (Law and Chung, 2003; Morrison et al., 2004; Weeks and Crouch, 1999). More precisely, the hotel website evaluation survey was developed by Zafiropoulos et al. (2005). In the current study, the form was modified to explore the existence of the hotel website content. The hotel website evaluation survey is categorized into seven dimensions (Hotel contact information, Surrounding area information, Facilities information, Reservation-price information, Management of the website in terms of maintenance and administration, and web site design, multi-media and finally, Company information) (Law and Chung, 2003; Morrison et al., 2004; Weeks and Crouch, 1999; Zafiropoulos et al., 2004; Zafiropoulos et al., 2005). Table 3 displays the measures used in the study.

Table 3. Measures of the study

Construct	Authors	*Examples of measurement items*
Facilities information	Chung and Law, 2003; Law and Chung, 2003; Morrison et al., 2004; Weeks and Crouch, 1999; Zafiropoulos et al., 2004; Zafiropoulos et al., 2005.	· General description for the site · Description of facilities
Hotel contact information		· Address · Feedback form
Reservation-price information		· Availability of booking online · Availability of special offers
Surrounding area information		· Area short description · Availability of map
Management of the website		· Availability of sign in · The website provides Multilanguage
Company information		· Information about us \ brand · Availability of hotel policy
Multi-media		· Questionnaire · Newsletter

3.3 Reliability and validity analysis

Cronbach’s alpha was calculated to examine the reliability. For the entire questionnaire, the alpha value of overall attributes was 0.846. According to Sekaran (2003) and Spector (1992), an appropriate level of internal consistency reliability is greater than 0.7. Cronbach’s alpha values for the individual constructs indicated a satisfactory level as all seven variables Tabled were well above the expected level of 0.70 (see Table 4).

To attain validity, a number of procedures have been tracked. Such procedures, as suggested by Remenyi et al. (1998), include (a) reviewing a large body of literature to carefully identify concepts, ideas, relationships, and issues under study; (b) developing the questionnaire from existing related studies; and (c) pre-testing the questionnaire formally with executive and academic experts to evaluate whether individual items appear to be appropriate measures of their respective constructs. All suggestions and clarifications concerning construction, phrasing, and questions were considered in the final draft of the questionnaire.

Table 4. Reliability analysis.

Attributes	Number of items	Cronbach's Alpha
Facilities_info	9	.811
Hotel_contact_info	7	.825
Reservation_price_info	9	.843
Surrounding_area_info	8	.826
Company_info	3	.827
Multi-media	7	.809
Management_of_website	9	.829
Overall attributes	51	.846

4. SINDINGS AND DSICUSSION

4.1 Dimensions of Hotel website evaluation

Table five clarifies the analysis of hotel website content in 5-star hotels in both Egypt and Croatia. This study involves a quantitative method of measurement and evaluation of the richness of the information provided by hotel websites. By using a large checklist, when the hotel website provides all information, this means a hotel website with the richest information offered. Moreover, these information services were classified into seven dimensions which are clarified in the same exhibit.

As for facilities information dimensions, it appears that all five-star chain hotel websites in Egypt and Croatia has a general description for the site. All five-star chain hotel websites in Croatia has a description from room facilities, description of dining rooms, and description for bars. More than 90% of five-star chain hotel websites in Egypt has a description of the facilities, description of room facilities, and a description of entertainments activates. It appears that more than 94% of five-star chain hotel websites in Croatia described conference halls. While five-star chain hotel websites in Egypt represented 53%. Less than 30% of five-star chain hotel websites in Croatia has a description of reception facilities, shops, and gifts, while in Egypt, they represented more than 55%. On the other hand, it appears that all five-star independent hotel websites in Egypt and Croatia represented reasonable scores in facilitates information dimension. While, less than 40% of them have a description of reception facilities, shops, and gifts.

Regarding surrounding area information, it looks that all five-star chain hotel websites in Egypt published short area description, while the same types of hotels in Croatia represented 84%. More than 90% of chain hotel websites in Egypt publish the availability of maps and description of the distances. Even though the same type of hotel websites in Croatia represented less than 70%. Description for the shops in the area represented 35.4% in five-star chain hotel websites in Egypt, but it represented 5.3% in the same types of hotels in Croatia. For independent hotels, more than 90% in Croatia has availability of maps, while less than 70% in Egypt have. It is surprising, 21.1% of chain hotels in Croatian published weather information, while more than 60% of independent hotels in Croatia published.

Concerning current hotel contact, it appears that all five-star chain hotel websites in Egypt have address and telephone information. In Croatia, all five-star chain hotel websites have Address, telephone, fax, e-mail, and complaint form. On the other hand, it appears that more than 60% of five-star chain hotel websites in Egypt have feedback form and frequently asked questions (FAQs), while in Croatia represented 10.5%. As for independent hotels, all five-star hotel websites in Croatia have Address, telephone, e-mail, complaint form, and feedback form. While in Egypt, complaint form, feedback form, and FAQs represented 5.9%, 35.3%, and 20.6% respectively. Surprisingly, it appears that 10.5% of chain hotels in Croatia have complaint form, while independent hotels have 100%.

With reference to reservation-price information, it appears all five-star chain hotel websites in Egypt and Croatia have online booking. All five-star hotel chain websites in Croatia provides information about rates and payment for travel agencies, while in Egypt, they provide 61.1%. On the other hand, independent hotels in Croatia and Egypt published 8.3% and 17.6% of information about rates and payment for travel agencies correspondingly.

In relation to multi-media, all five-star chain hotel websites in both Egypt and Croatia have Facebook. While Facebook in independent hotel websites in both Egypt and Croatia represented 52.6%, and 57% correspondingly. Besides, all five-star hotel chain websites in Croatia have questionnaire form, but in Egypt 23.9% have questionnaire form. On the other hand, 14.7% and 16.7% of independent hotel websites in Egypt and Croatia have a questionnaire form respectively. In Croatia, it appeared that 75% of independent hotel websites, published a newsletter, while chain websites published with 52.6%. Moreover, 58.3% of independent hotel websites in Croatia published announcements, whereas chain websites published only 10.5%.

Regarding company information, more than 85% of five-star chain hotels in both Egypt and Croatia have information about the company and brand. Moreover, information about the company and brand is higher in chain hotels than independent hotels in both Egypt and Croatia. It is noticed that all independent hotels in Croatia has availability of hotel policy, while chain hotels represented 15.8%. On the other hand, chain hotels in Egypt represented 63.7% higher than independent hotels (44.1%).

With reference to the management of the website, all five-star chain hotels in Egypt and Croatia have a photo album on their website. Moreover, more than 90% of independent hotels in Egypt and Croatia have also a photo album on their website. On the other hand, all chain and independent hotels in Croatia provide Multilanguage. While in Egypt, chain hotels and independent hotel represented 80.5% and 41.2% respectively. All five-star chain and independent hotel websites in Egypt and Croatia have the availability of help.

By comparing earlier findings, with Salavati and Hashim (2015) study, they examined the content analysis of each hotel website. They found that existing hotels use website primarily to introduce their business. E-commerce activities are minimal among Iranian hotels; in fact, none of the hotels in this study provided online reservations, and only half of the 75 evaluated websites provide a multilingual option. The construction of websites that provide information in other languages, such as English and Arabic, can help tourists who are unfamiliar with Iran find required information.

From a management perspective, Díaza and Koutrab (2013) have identified the major groups of hotel chains in relation to a number of indicators measuring website persuasiveness. The results demonstrated that the content of hotel chain websites is different in relation to hotel category, so investment strategies should also be different.

Moreover, from a survey of 249 leisure travelers, Toh et al. (2011) found that 80 percent of the travelers searched for hotel information using web tools, with more than half, making their bookings through hotels’ host websites or third-party websites (i.e., online travel agencies). Thus, the ﬁndings of studies on customer behavior propose the important role of the online channel as it plays a crucial role in the hospitality industry. Moreover, the findings of this study go in line with the results of Ettestad (2008) study in which he clarified that many hotels have an account on social networking sites like Facebook.com to help increase their web presence and establish high value links back to their home page. It is noted that most of the hotels in the current study has Facebook as a social media to communicate effectively with the customers. Facebook has become a critical tool for each hotel to publish products, services, amenities, promotions… etc.

Other more marginal information can improve a site by including value-added features such as updated exchange rates, destination links and animation. In particular, attention should be given to online guest comments or survey forms, and adapting marketing mix variables of the website regardless of the hotel type. The use of visual features such as photographs (Lee and Gretzel, 2011) or video clips and YouTube (Kim and Mattila, 2011) is relevant customer evaluation. Positive experiences with online services are likely to improve the hotel’s customer base, and should therefore influence positively on the company’s final performance (Sullivan and Walstrom, 2001). All these studies go well in line with the current study as it explored that most of the hotels has lack of animation, YouTube, feedback form, and currency converter.

Table 5. Dimensions of Hotel website evaluation, n= 147, 5-star hotels in Egypt and 31, 5-star hotels in Croatia

untry Dimensions		Egypt				Croatia
		Ch. (113)		Ind. (34)		Ch. (19)		Ind. (12)
		No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Facilities information			79		72.2		78		75
1.	Is there a general description for the site?	113	100	31	91.2	19	100	11	91.7
2.	Description of facilities	105	92.9	33	97.1	16	84.2	11	91.7
3.	Description for room facilities	106	93.	30	88.2	19	100	10	83.3
4.	Description for different activities\ entertainment.	109	96.5	33	97.1	16	84.2	11	91.7
5.	Description for dining room(s)	90	79.6	28	82.4	19	100	12	100
6.	Description for bars	87	77	23	67.6	19	100	11	91.7
7.	Description for conference halls	60	53.1	19	55.9	18	94.7	8	66.7
8.	Description for reception facilities	70	61.9	12	35.3	5	26.3	4	33.3
9.	Description for shops/ Gifts	64	56.6	12	35.3	4	21.1	3	25
surrounding area information			72.2		53.7		51		55
1.	Area short description	113	100	30	88.2	16	84.2	9	75
2.	Availability of map	105	92.9	23	67.6	13	68.4	11	91.7
3.	Description for distances	105	92.9	27	79.4	13	68.4	6	50
4.	Description for area interests	85	75.2	16	47.1	15	75.7	7	58.3
5.	Description for ways of transportation	75	66.4	12	35.3	14	73.7	4	33.3
6.	Availability of weather information	52	46	12	35.3	4	21.1	8	66.7
7.	Description for different dining facilities in area	78	69	17	50	1	5.3	3	25
8.	Description for shops in area	40	35.4	9	26.5	1	5.3	5	41.7
Hotel Contact Information			77		56.3		60		57
1.	Address	113	100	33	97.1	19	100	12	100
2.	Availability of telephone information	113	100	27	79.4	19	100	12	100
3.	Availability of fax information	84	74.3	25	73.5	19	100	11	91.7
4.	Availability of E-Mail address	91	80.5	28	82.4	19	100	12	100
5.	Complaint form	65	57.5	2	5.9	19	100	12	100
6.	Feedback form	69	61.1	12	35.3	2	10.5	12	100
7.	Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q)	74	65.5	7	20.6	2	10.5	1	8.3
Reservation-Price Information			70.1		50.3		63		59
1.	Availability of prices / Rates	90	79.6	17	50	18	94.7	11	91.7
2.	On-line availability	93	82.3	25	73.5	15	78.9	11	91.7
3.	Availability of booking on line	113	100	28	82.4	19	100	11	91.7
4.	Availability of packages / Promotion	89	78.8	20	58.8	13	68.4	8	66.7
5.	Availability of special offers	90	79.6	17	50	8	42.1	5	41.7
6.	Info. about types of cards accepted	66	58.4	15	44.1	18	94.7	10	83.3
7.	Info. about rates & payment for travel agencies	69	61.1	6	17.6	19	100	1	8.3
8.	Availability of currency converter	48	42.5	14	41.2	15	78.9	5	41.7
9.	Availability of group promotions / members special	58	51.3	12	35.3	2	10.5	2	16.7
Multi-media			45.5		33.2		40		51
1.	Newsletter	60	53.1	16	47.1	10	52.6	9	75
2.	Announcements	57	50.4	14	41.2	2	10.5	7	58.3
3.	Awards	43	38.1	14	41.2	12	63.2	7	58.3
4.	Press	40	35.4	5	14.7	11	57.9	4	33.3
5.	Questionnaire	27	23.9	5	14.7	19	100	2	16.7
6.	Recommendations	77	68.1	12	35.3	11	57.9	8	66.7
7.	Social media (Facebook)	113	100	17	50	19	100	9	75
Company Information			72.3		46		54		42
1.	Info. about us \ brand	97	85.8	22	64.7	17	89.5	10	83.3
2.	Info. about employment \ careers	48	42.5	10	29.4	11	57.9	5	41.7
3.	Availability of hotel policy	72	63.7	15	44.1	3	15.8	12	100
Management of the Website			75.3		46		45		50
1.	Is there a photo album \ photos?	113	100	33	97.1	19	100	11	91.7
2.	Does the website provide Multilanguage?	91	80.5	14	41.2	19	100	12	100
3.	Is there a photo video \ virtual tour?	56	49.6	19	55.9	8	42.1	9	75
4.	Availability of sign in	61	54	18	52.9	8	42.1	4	33.3
5.	Possibility of downloading	48	42.5	12	35.3	12	63.2	6	50
6.	Availability of terms of use	98	86.7	13	38.2	5	26.3	4	33.3
7.	Search engines/ Links	77	68.1	17	50	6	31.6	5	41.7
8.	Availability of Help	113	100	12	35.3	19	100	2	16.7

4.2 Ranking and significance of hotel website dimensions

Table six clarifies ranking and significance of hotel website dimensions in five-star chain and independent hotels in Egypt and Croatia. It is noted that facilities information ranked the first dimension in chain hotels in Egypt (79%) and Croatia (78%). This may due to those hoteliers preferred to show all hotel services and facilities to their potential customers. On the other hand, multi-media ranked the last dimension in chain hotels in Egypt (45%) and Croatia (40). This may due to some hoteliers ignored the importance questionnaire, awards, press, and announcements. Of course, loyalty programs play a vibrant role in attracting and transforming potential customers into actual customers. Moreover, the opinions of customers are critical importance to any hospitality industry as any hotel established mainly to serve customer only. There is a significant variance regarding surrounding area information, hotel contact information, and management of the website dimensions in five-star chain hotels in Egypt and Croatia (p<0.00). This finding answered the first question, as it appeared there are differences regarding hotel website contents in chain hotels between Egypt and Croatia. The study results show that the contents of five-star chain hotels in Egypt significantly varies from five-star chain hotels in Croatia (p<0.00). It appeared that the overall evaluation of hotel website contents in five-star chain hotels in Egypt (70.2%) is higher than in Croatia (56%). Even though there is a significant variance and the overall evaluation of hotel website contents in five-star chain hotels in Egypt are higher than in Croatia. However, the difference is little bit and this may be due to the number of chain hotels in Egypt is more than Croatia. This also due to chain hotels in Egypt concerned more with reception facilities, weather information, availability of map, description of distances, description of different dining areas, feedback form, FAQs, special offers and group promotions, availability of hotel policy, and search engines than Chain hotel in Croatia. However, the number of internet users in Egypt vs Croatia have not played a vital role in the difference as most people became using internet globally.

As for independent hotels, it is noted that facilities information also ranked the first dimension in independent hotels in Egypt (72%) and Croatia (75%). On the other hand, multi-media ranked the last dimension in independent hotels in Egypt (32%) but company information in Croatia (42%). There is a significant variance concerning multi-media dimension in five-star independent hotels in Egypt and Croatia (p<0.00). The Table shows that the contents of five-star independent hotels in Egypt do not significantly vary from five-star independent hotels in Croatia (p<0.05). While the overall evaluation of hotel website contents in five-star independent hotels in Egypt (51.1%) is lower than in Croatia (56%). This finding answered the second question, as it appeared there are differences regarding hotel website contents in independent hotels between Egypt and Croatia. This due to independent hotels in Croatia concerned more with weather information, complaint form, feedback, Facebook, recommendation, and Multilanguage’s than independent hotels in Egypt.

This finding is similar to Zafiropoulos et al. (2006) study, which concluded that the richest dimensions are ‘facilities information’ and ‘hotel contact information’ because they both reach 60% of the full capability to offer information services. However, they also recorded the uppermost values of importance rates regarding to managers’ rating. In contrast, multi-media dimension considered as the least occurrence information dimension (17.08%) to make online business.

Moreover, this study’s findings go in line with a study conducted by Law and Chung (2003); they clarified that facilities information and reservation information as the most and second most important dimension. Also, Avcikurt et al. (2010) showed that hotel contact information is the most used dimension in thermal hotel websites. Surrounding area information (53.8%) is the second, hotel facilities information (49.8%) is the third and reservation information (38.9%) is the fourth most used dimension in thermal hotels. The website management dimension (29.3%) is the least used dimension in thermal hotels. On the other hand, Law and Hsu (2005) stated that reservation information and facilities information are the most important dimensions that the customers expect from a hotel website.

Table 6. Evaluating, ranking, and significance of hotel website dimensions
			Chain hotels					Independent hotels
Website dimensions		Egypt			Croatia		Sig.	Egypt		Croatia		Sig.
Website dimensions		%		R.	%	R.		%	R.	%	R.
Reservation-Price Information		70		5	63	2	.22	51	4	59	2	.27
surrounding area information		71		4	51	5	.00**	54	3	55	4	.60
Hotel Contact Information		76		2	60	3	.00**	56	2	57	3	.87
Facilities information		79		1	78	1	.80	72	1	75	1	.60
Management of the Website		72		3	45	6	.00**	50	5	50	6	.90
Multi-media		45		7	40	7	.52	32	7	51	5	.04**
Company Information		64		6	54	4	.18	46	6	42	7	.68
Overall	70.2 56						.00**	51.1		56		.38
** Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). M. = Mean, R. = Rank, Sig= Significant

4.3 Website dimensions' evaluation: chain vs. independent hotels in Egypt and Croatia

It is shown in Table seven that the website dimensions' evaluation: chain vs. independent hotels in Egypt and Croatia. In Egypt, the content of chain five-star hotel website (70%) is higher than independent five-star hotels (51%). The study results show that the contents of five-star chain hotel websites significantly varies from independent hotels (p<0.00). Moreover, there is a significant variance in all dimensions of the hotel website evaluations (p<0.00) except facilities information (p<0.05). This finding answered the third question that indicated that chain hotels have more contents on their websites than independent hotel websites in Egypt. This finding indicated that half of five-star independent hotels in Egypt have a lack of information in their websites which due to lack of; description for reception facilities, description for shops/ Gifts, description for area interests, description for ways of transportation, complaint form, feedback form, FAQs, availability of prices, availability of special offers, information about rates & payment for travel agencies, social media, availability of hotel policy, availability of Multilanguage, and availability of help. For an international chain, it has one master website that can manage other hotels under the same chain all over the world. In Egypt, the privileges of chain hotels appeared in central reservation system, standardized system, loyalty programs … etc. Moreover, almost five-star chain hotels have the organizational structure capability for facilitating the flow of knowledge, which is shaped by an organization’s policies, processes, and system of rewards and incentives, which determine the channels from which knowledge is accessed and how it flows (Salem, 2014).

This finding was in line with the results of (O’Connor, 2003) study, in which he stated that major international hotel chains’ electronics-distribution activities are indicative of industry patterns, as other study has shown that big companies are most active on the web-perhaps because their size often gives them an advantage in terms of technical expertise and financial resources. Moreover, one of the important results of Zafiropoulos et al. (2006) is the correlation coefficients among the chain hotels and the seven information dimensions. Chain membership is also significantly correlated with every one of them.

Besides, the findings of this study were also in line with the results of Yeung and Law (2004) study, they suggested the usability of the hotel websites as a website evaluation criterion. A modiﬁed heuristic model was developed to compare and contrast the usability performance between chain and independent hotel websites. Experimental results indicated that the website usability performance of chain hotels was signiﬁcantly better than independent counterparts.

Moreover, Scaglione et al. (2005) found larger, chain and luxury hotels adopted the domain name earlier than their smaller, budget and independent competitors. Similar findings were also identified in Siguaw et al.'s (2000) study. Drawing on the results from these studies, hotel with brand membership is possible to directly affect a hotel's preference towards IT adoption and chain hotels generally have a longer history of technology adoption than independent hotels.

This study is also in the line with a study carried out in Hong Kong by Law et al. (2011); the results of this study have contributed to better understanding the use of hotel website applications in the hospitality industry. Focused mainly on a content analysis of 109 hotel websites in Hong Kong, a trend of increasing adoption of hotel website was identified among the hotels in Hong Kong. The difference in the adoption rate of hotel websites was found between chain and independent hotels.

In Croatia, it is noted that the content of chain and independent five-star hotel website represented the same proportion (56%). The results also show that the contents of five-star chain hotel websites does not significantly vary from independent hotels (p<0.05). Moreover, there is no significant variance in all dimensions of the hotel website evaluations between chain and independent hotels (p<0.05). This finding answered the fourth question, as it appeared there is no difference between five-star chain hotels and independent hotels in Croatia regarding the contents of the hotel website. It is due to all five-star hotels in Croatia concerned with description for dining room, address, availability of telephone information, availability of E-Mail address, complaint form, availability of prices, availability of booking online, and provide Multilanguage. All hotels either chain or independent concerned with all facilities and services to be published on their website.

Table 7. Website dimensions evaluation: chain vs. independent hotels in Egypt and Croatia)
Website dimensions	Chain (Egypt)		Indp. (Egypt)		P. Value	Chain (Croatia)		Indp.(Croatia)		P. Value
Website dimensions	Mean	S.D	Mean	S.D	P. Value	Mean	S.D	Mean	S.D	P. Value
Facilities information	.79	.2	.72	.1	.14 (.08)	.78	0.1	.75	.2	.104 (.58)
Hotel Contact Info.	.76	.2	.56	.2	.38^**(.00)	.60	0.1	.57	.1	.209 (.26)
Reservation-Price Info.	.70	.2	.51	.2	.34^**(.00)	.63	0.2	.59	.2	.103 (.58)
Surrounding area info.	.71	.2	.54	.2	.39^**(.00)	.51	0.2	.55	.3	.091 (.60)
Company Info.	.64	.3	.46	.3	.24^**(.01)	.54	0.3	.42	.3	.233 (.21)
Multi-media	.45	.3	.32	.3	.18^*(.02)	.40	0.2	.51	.3	.243 (.20)
Management of the Website	.72	.2	.50	.2	.46^**(.00)	.45	0.1	.50	.3	.153 (.41)
Overall website evaluation	.70	.2	.51	.2	.43^(.00)**	.56	0.1	.56	.1		.005 (.99)
** Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). S.D= Standard deviation

4. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Currently, conversely, the Internet is accessible to most everyone as it became one of the priorities and anyone can search for any hotel or tourism destination on their own. Potential customers are able to take a look at hotel websites, as these websites are vibrant advertising and promotional networks. Therefore, the more gorgeous and valuable a hotel website is, the more possibility to turn a potential customer into actual customers. The findings of this study display that the contents of five-star chain hotels in Egypt significantly vary from five-star chain hotels in Croatia. It appeared that the overall evaluation of hotel website contents in five-star chain hotels in Egypt (70.2%) is higher than in Croatia (56%). Besides, the contents of five-star independent hotels in Egypt do not significantly vary from five-star independent hotels in Croatia. While the overall evaluation of hotel website contents in five-star independent hotels in Egypt (51.1%) is lower than in Croatia (56%). The content of chain five-star hotel website (70%) is higher than independent five-star hotels (51%) in Egypt. The study results show that the contents of five-star chain hotel websites significantly vary from independent hotels. Furthermore, there is a significant variance in all dimensions of the hotel website evaluations except facilities information. On the other hand, it is noted that the content of chain and independent five-star hotel website represented the same proportion (56%) in Croatia. The results also show that the contents of five-star chain hotel websites do not significantly vary from independent hotels. Moreover, there is no significant variance in all dimensions of the hotel website evaluations between chain and independent hotels.

A decent web design is a hotel's first impression to the user. That is a vital part of the dilemma, nevertheless not the extreme significant. Concentrated on the purpose of the hotel website (sales and publishing information) may be the content that is more vital, or the site usability that is more imperative. The results of this current study are useful and beneficial to hotel practitioners and academic researchers in terms of being able to better understand the current situation of Egyptian and Croatian hotel websites. Regarding theoretical implications, the nature of this study can be considered as a distinctive research in the ﬁeld of E-Marketing commonly and E-Marketing in chain and independent hotels in both Egypt and Croatia precisely. This is a comparative study which has made a considerable contribution to all different categories and types of hospitality field at a wider broad. The most important implication of the current study is to develop and update theoretical part continually as the event changes in a dramatic way. Practically, the checklist of the hotel website content by adding new features to the dimensions like social media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Trip advisor, YouTube... etc.) and mobile applications should be precisely considered into account which it was noted that some of the hotel websites had other contents rather than the checklist. Therefore, it is crucial to develop, test, and validate this evaluation framework to be coping with the latest innovations. It is essentially more significant for hotels to reform their website to stay up-to-date with the recent trends in hotel website design

As for independent hotels in Egypt, hoteliers should care about the weak points in their hotel websites and revise the content of the website continually specifically; description for reception facilities, description for shops/ Gifts, description for area interests, description for ways of transportation, complaint form, feedback form, FAQs, availability of prices, availability of special offers, information about rates & payment for travel agencies, social media, availability of hotel policy, availability of Multilanguage, and availability of help. In spite of chain hotels is better than independent hotels in Egypt regarding the contents of the website, but these chains should into consideration their website in terms of; availability of weather information, description for shops in area, availability of currency converter, awards, press, questionnaire, information about employment, availability of photo video \ virtual tour, and possibility of downloading

As for independent hotels in Croatia, hoteliers should pay attention to the weak points in their websites like; description for reception facilities, description for shops, description for ways of transportation, description for different dining facilities in area, description for shops in area, frequently asked questions , availability of special offers, information about rates & payment for travel agencies, availability of currency converter, availability of group promotions , press, questionnaire, information about employment , search engines/ Links, and availability of help. In addition, chain hotels in Croatia should pay attention to many of their website contents as; description for reception facilities, description for shops/ gifts, availability of weather information, description for different dining facilities in area, description for shops in area, feedback form, frequently asked questions, availability of group promotions, announcements, availability of hotel policy, availability of a photo video \ virtual tour, and Search engines/ Links.

In general, there are many recommendations which will be fruitful for all hotels; it is imperative to click on a competitor’s website, browse, and then repeat this practice continually. Moreover, Platforms such as Instagram, and YouTube have increased rapidly in popularity, demonstrating customers’ need for a more visual website. For tourists, this facilitates to share and discover information about hotels, destinations, and travel experiences. Furthermore, hoteliers should highlight their guests’ reviews directly on the hotel website, this is why online review sites such as Trip Advisor, Guest Review, and Yelp are so popular amongst tourists who searching for hotels online. These online reviews facilitate for tourists to get numerous, latest, and balanced information about a hotel directly from the perspective of tourists just like them.

Likewise, tablet or smartphone offers a good opportunity to search at any place and at any time. This is why it’s vital for hotels to have a website that’s designed to work through different devices and offer a great experience for desktop, tablet, and smartphone customers. In recent times, with the fabulous growth of demands of mobile phones/devices, swift expansion of wireless Internet, and GPS, hoteliers have started turning to Mobile Hotel Reservation to transport fresh services to existing customers and attract potential ones (Wang and Wang, 2010). Hotel Website and mobile applications will not be only a promotion channel, but also a vigorous generator of the hotel business and growth. All hotels, especially with higher categorization, have to adopt the new technologies, because any potential customer could use new technologies to find more information about the hotel. Only 20.00% of the Croatian five-star hotels have their own mobile application which clients could use directly on their mobile phones and make reservations more easily and comfortably (Jakovic and Galetic, 2014).

5. LIMITATION AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

This study had several limitations. Initially, hotel websites are living, vibrant targets of study that in some cases develop rather rapidly. As a result, the findings may soon become dated; in other words, the data attained on a particular date may rapidly miss its validity. Accordingly, it would be appropriate to regularly monitor the chosen sample. Therefore, future research should take into account of the ongoing changes and updating of websites is one of the major challenges in website content analysis.

Secondly, the data for this investigation came from five-star hotels in Egypt and Croatia only; therefore, it is difficult to generalize these findings to other categories of hotels. More research is needed to evaluate hotel website content analysis in other categories of hotels as well as other types of service contexts such as restaurants and motels.

Thirdly, this study is mainly focused on hotel website content analysis. A natural extension of this research would thus be comparing these results with the importance of the hotel website dimensions from the customers’ perspectives.

Further research may be extended to examine how website persuasiveness influences customer behavior or organizational performance. Finally, an extensive research should emphasize on the scrutiny of different variables that moderate the relationship between website features and customer behavior. Customer characteristics such as demographics and personality traits could act as moderators.

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