Khalidya Palace Rahyann by Rotana

EWOM GROUP PROJECT

Abstract
This study investigates the top hotels’ numerical data to assess the indicators of eWoM in the
UAE hospitality industry. Totally, five hotels are considered in this survey on eWoM in
hospitality. 50 people are interviewed about the hotels Intercontinental Abu Dhabi, Fairmont
Bab Al Bahr, Khalidya Palace Rahyann by Rotana, Anantara Mangroves, and The St. Regis
Abu Dhabi. The data collected from the survey is analyzed by utilizing the methods such as
correlation, regression and ANNOVA.
Table of Content

1. Introduction.......................................................................................................................1
2. Literature Review & Theoretical Background..............................................................1
Overview................................................................................................................................1
Knowledge Management.......................................................................................................1
Key Performance Indicators.................................................................................................2
eWoM Indicators...................................................................................................................2
Impacts of EWoM in Hospitality Industry...........................................................................2
3. Data Table.........................................................................................................................3
4. Discussion of Result........................................................................................................11
5. Conclusion.......................................................................................................................15
Reference.................................................................................................................................17
Appendix.................................................................................................................................19

1. Introduction
In marketing, word-of-mouth is a strategy used and it has proved to be successful for
most of the organizations. However, it requires people's interest so that they are involved in
talking about it. Thus, the customers’ experience is reflected via word of mouth. Today, 62
percent of consumers take a look at online review and information before purchasing or
taking up any service, for instance, in the social media bound world, people irrespective of
their age share their worst or best experiences either by tweeting or on Instagram. Hence,
there is a lot of dominance of online world, which has changed the word-of-mouth to eWoM
(Electronic word-of-mouth). This shows how important reviewing, rating and
recommendation is in the marketing strategy, which must not be ignored.
A report investigating the top hotels is represented. The numerical data collected from
local hotels (5-star or more) for assessing the indicators of eWoM in the UAE hospitality
industry. The five hotels are considered to conduct a survey on eWoM in hospitality. The
survey sample size is 50 people. The hotels are Intercontinental Abu Dhabi, Fairmont Bab Al
Bahr, Khalidya Palace Rahyann by Rotana, Anantara Mangroves, and The St. Regis Abu
Dhabi. The data collected from the survey is analyzed using appropriate methods like
correlation, regression and ANNOVA to get accurate answers.
2. Literature Review & Theoretical Background
Overview
Literature review will present a set of key factors and indicators that the hospitality
industry must follow to ensure their business’s success.
Knowledge Management
As Ajmal et al. 2010) mentioned, KM (knowledge management) is needed for any
business to flourish. The researchers has put efforts to recognize and examine different
factors which can influence knowledge management’s success or failure in the project-based
companies. Their study identifies the absence of incentives and appropriate information
system, which can turn out to be the biggest barriers, despite of KM initiatives. Additionally,
this study highlights that any project must also be equipped enough to deal with growth of
resources, and finance for any project's survival. This study helps to take care about
formulating attractive incentive package, which ensures to motivate the team, followed by
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indicators of successful KM initiatives. And, it is a fact that if the team is motivated and
satisfied in terms of incentives then they can give their best efforts and take the project to
success.
Key Performance Indicators
According to Srivastava & Maitra (2016), the hospital industry follows a set of key
performance indicators (KPI) to help evaluate its success. Any implemented efforts must be
checked using the key performance indicators. The KPI's differ for each team and
department, and it is essential to have good awareness of these aspects to increase the
potential improvements.
eWoM Indicators
As Arumsari & Ariyanti (2017) mentioned, they believe that along with the rapidly
advancing technology, there are companies that are utilizing the technology to use for
electronic word of mouth about their companies. For their study, E-WOM, variables od E-
WOM, brand image, trust of customers and their satisfaction are said to have high influence
on the intention to buy the service.
According to Yang et al. (2018), the researchers’ investigation is about eWoM as well
as the performance of hotel. Also, the researches have synthesised the existing empirical
results related to the relationship that exists between performance of hotel and eWoM, using
meta-analysis. The results show that the elasticity of eWOM valence is double as the
elasitcity of eWOM volume; and in the low-end hotels the elasticity is extremely lower.
Similarly, in China too there is low elasticity in hotels; but, the elasticity is extremely higher
for the reviews posted by the TripAdvisor. However, with panel data, the elasticity is too low.
Impacts of EWoM in Hospitality Industry
As Muzamil et al. (2018) mentioned, very less empirical studies exists that have
explored the motivating and demotivating aspects for customers to involve in activities of
WOM (word of mouth) related to restaurants. According to the research, and their inspection
on the connections between various hospitality industry attributes that results in creating of
WOM. The results of this research identified that the primary thing notices in the restaurants
is the quality of food and their service, which could leave nice impact and allow the WOM to
take place. The other thing is that cost and atmosphere can hardly have impact to help and
create word of mouth.
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According to Torres & Singh (2016), the researchers and practitioners have realized
the impact of WOM, and what significant role it plays to form an image of the hotel. The
online engagement is analyzed, which allows to provide online reviews and ratings. The
findings of this research shows positive and negative results have direct impact on the total
reviews on a hotel’s TripAdvisor rating. Thus, it is proven that the ratings of the TripAdvisor
has a relationship between the total reviews and comparative ranking given to the hotel.
3. Data Table
The data table for eWoM in Hospitality survey is presented below and this survey is
conducted for five hospitalities listed below (Albright, Winston and Zappe, 2010):
1. Intercontinental Abu Dhabi
2. Fairmont Bab Al Bahr
3. Khalidya Palace Rahyann by Rotana
4. Anantara Mangroves
5. The St. Regis Abu Dhabi
Alpha and Variance information is presented below (Alford and Hill, 2018).
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Data and Reliability for different management in Hospitality is represented below.
For Business Rules and Responsibilities (Berenson, Levine, Szabat and Stephan, 2018),
Business Rules and Responsibilities
BR1 BR2 BR3 BR4 BR5 BR6 BR7 Sum
3 5 5 4 4 4 5 30
4 5 5 4 4 4 5 31
4 5 5 5 5 4 5 33
4 3 4 5 3 3 3 25
5 5 4 4 4 5 4 31
5 5 4 4 4 5 4 31
5 5 4 4 4 5 3 30
5 5 5 5 4 5 3 32
3 4 5 3 3 3 2 23
3 3 2 5 3 3 3 22
4 3 2 4 2 5 3 23
5 4 4 4 5 4 3 29
5 4 4 4 5 4 4 30
5 4 4 4 5 3 3 28
3 4 3 3 4 4 5 26
3 2 4 4 5 5 4 27
4 3 3 3 4 2 3 22
4

3 2 4 4 5 5 3 26
4 3 4 3 3 4 4 25
4 3 2 4 4 5 5 27
4 4 3 3 3 4 2 23
5 3 2 4 4 5 5 28
4 5 4 5 4 5 5 32
3 5 4 4 3 4 4 27
3 5 5 4 4 4 5 30
4 5 5 4 4 4 5 31
4 5 5 5 5 4 5 33
4 3 4 5 3 3 3 25
5 5 4 4 4 5 4 31
5 5 4 4 4 5 4 31
5 5 4 4 4 5 3 30
3 4 3 3 4 4 5 26
4 3 3 3 4 2 3 22
3 2 4 4 5 5 3 26
4 3 4 3 3 4 4 25
4 3 2 4 4 5 5 27
4 4 3 3 3 4 2 23
5 3 2 4 4 5 5 28
4 5 4 5 4 5 5 32
3 5 4 4 3 4 4 27
3 3 2 5 3 3 3 22
4 3 2 4 2 5 3 23
5 4 4 4 5 4 3 29
5 4 4 4 5 4 4 30
5 4 4 4 5 3 3 28
3 4 3 3 4 4 5 26
3 2 4 4 5 5 4 27
4 3 3 3 4 2 3 22
3 2 4 4 5 5 3 26
4 3 3 3 4 2 3 22
For Finance and Costs,
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