Creative Organisations in the Hospitality Industry Assignment 2022
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Running Head:Creative Organisations in the Hospitality Industry: TripAdvisor1 Creative Organisations in the Hospitality Industry: TripAdvisor Name Institution Affiliation
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Creative Organisations in the Hospitality Industry: TripAdvisor2 Executive Summary Creative organisations are those that generate solutions to challenges through innovation. TripAdvisor is an example of such an organisation. Founded by its CEO, Stephen Kafeur, TripAdvisor has grown over the years to become a leading travel platform. The company’s mission is to assist individuals in making their travel plans. Therefore, it specialises in providing authentic travel information to its global users. It achieves this by crowdsourcing travel reviews online. TripAdvisor’s venture has been so successful such that the firm has acquired over 500 million users globally. Additionally, the platform has reviews of over 8 million destinations all across the globe. Following this success, the company has grown financially, with its revenue hitting $7 billion in the year 2018. Thus, this indicates the benefits that firms can acquire if they embraced creativity and innovation.
Creative Organisations in the Hospitality Industry: TripAdvisor3 Contents Executive Summary.....................................................................................................................................2 Introduction.................................................................................................................................................4 Company Background..................................................................................................................................4 Company Founder...................................................................................................................................5 Valuation.................................................................................................................................................5 Creative Processes Behind TripAdvisor........................................................................................................6 Problem TripAdvisor is designed to solve................................................................................................6 How TripAdvisor solved the problem......................................................................................................7 Sources of Information........................................................................................................................7 Medium of Communication.................................................................................................................8 What makes TripAdvisor a genuinely innovative product.......................................................................8 Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................9 References.................................................................................................................................................10
Creative Organisations in the Hospitality Industry: TripAdvisor4 Creative Organisations in the Hospitality Industry Introduction Proctor (2014) identifies creative thinking as a critical strategy in providing solutions to the world. The main reason is that creative thinking allows individuals to critically examine problems and challenge fundamental issues, thus arriving at a practical solution. Creative organizations are those that utilise innovation to develop new solutions to its consumers. One such organisation is TripAdvisor. Over the years, TripAdvisor has emerged to become the world’s leading online platform for travel. As stated in its mission, TripAdvisor’s primary role is to assist individuals all across the globe to plan their travel and also to have the perfect trip (TripAdvisor, 2019). So, how does TripAdvisor achieve this mission? As TripAdvisor (2019) points, TripAdvisor helps individuals in their travel plans by aggregating multiple opinions and reviews of people about accommodations, destinations, restaurant establishments, and various activities all across the globe. Therefore, during the planning stage of their travel, individuals can know what to expect about a particular destination or accommodation by reading other people’s reviews about them. This paper will therefore review TripAdvisor’s creative processes. Company Background TripAdvisor was founded in 2000 by its president and CEO,Stephen Kaufer, and it has been fulfilling its noble mission ever since. Currently, the company helps over 490 million users monthly in their travel plans. There are over 795 million reviews on the platform which cover about 8.4 million travel experiences, destinations, airlines, cruises, and accommodation facilities. These destinations are spread across almost all regions in the globe. Therefore, users can practically access information on any travel destination in the world. Notably, this information is
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Creative Organisations in the Hospitality Industry: TripAdvisor5 varied as it extends to multiple elements regarding the destination such as the experience, available accommodation options, transport network, available cuisines, and many more. Thus, this makes TripAdvisor one of the most effective travel information platform. Company Founder As earlier stated, TripAdvisor was founded by its current CEO and co-president, Stephen Kaufer. Stephen’s primary motivation to start TripAdvisor is based on his travel experience back in 1999. In his admission, most of the information available to him was the marketing materials issues to him by travel agents (Lanthier, 2019). However, Stephen was more determined to find more authentic information from real people before making his booking decisions. In the end, Kaufer accessed an internet blog that provided much more trustworthy information. It is this experience that prompted him to think of a business idea that would provide more authentic travel information. Consequently, that was how TripAdvisor was founded. Valuation TripAdvisor has grown over the years to attain a valuation of $7 billion by the year 2018. Also, the company’s yearly revenue has been steadily increasing. For example, as Team (2018) points, the company made a revenue of over $1.5 billion in the year 2018. Thus, this shows the tremendous growth that the company has experienced, considering that it started as a simple website. However, it is worth noting that the company’s success can also be attributed to two key fundings. The first funding phase was in 2004 when Kaufer sold the firm to InterActive Corporation for $210 million. However, he remained a CEO at the company. The second funding phase was in 2011 when the firm made its IPO with a valuation of $4 billion. Notably, the firm’s revenue and valuation have experienced steady growth, thus showing the enormous potential that TripAdvisor carries.
Creative Organisations in the Hospitality Industry: TripAdvisor6 Creative Processes Behind TripAdvisor Problem TripAdvisor is designed to solve A look at Trip Advisor’s core concept shows significant evidence of creative thinking application. As Proctor (2014) identifies, at the heart of any creative process is a problem or challenge. The creative process is the means to which a solution to the challenge is provided. For TripAdvisor’s instance, the main challenge that the firm solves is in regards to the availability and access to authentic travel information. Travel Information has always been a vital need for travellers. As Kinstler (2018) points, the need for information among travellers dates back to ancient times. Individuals have always wanted to know where they are going and what to expect in their new destination. According to Cantoni & Xiang (2013), travellers have two essential information needs. The first need is referred to as functional informational. This type of information encompasses the fundamental needs that travellers require to have smooth travel experience. It includes information regarding aspects such as available modes of transport, navigation, and how to access a particular location, accommodation options, prices, weather, and many more. Information needs further extend to social and hedonic information needs. This type of information is related to the overall experience a particular destination offers. Customers want to know whether a specific destination guarantees a pleasant and exciting experience that they crave (Wang & Pizam, 2011). Notably, these two information needs are essential in facilitating their decision making during their tourism endeavours.
Creative Organisations in the Hospitality Industry: TripAdvisor7 How TripAdvisor solves the problem. Upon recognizing travellers' need for trustworthy information, TripAdvisor founder, Stephen Kaufer sought to solve the problem in two essential ways. First, was to identify and incorporate credible and useful sources of information that would provide users with the authentic information they needed. The second approach was to find an appropriate medium to relay this information. Sources of Information As earlier stated, a significant challenge for TripAdvisor during its formative years was to establish competent and credible sources of information. Initially, the company depended on expert reviews. Thus, as Kinstler (2018) identifies, the platform would only aggregate reviews from guidebooks and established sources only. The rationale here was that individuals needed information sources that they could trust. However, the real breakthrough for TripAdvisor happened in 2001 when the firm experimented on customer reviews on the platform. The discovery as per Kinstler (2018), was that users appreciated original customers input compared to expert reviews. Therefore, the firm shifted from an expert to a crowdsourced reviews approach. Notably, this action fits Lubart (2018) 's assertion that creative thinking entails critiquing the existing fundamentals and generating new solutions and possibilities. The primary reason as to why the crowdsourced reviews approach worked is because it utilizes the concept of Word of Mouth marketing. As Naz (2014) points, more than before, consumers now need product evaluations that are honest, dependable, and positive. The main reason is that the stiff competition between firms offering various products has led to consumers facing multiple and conflicting information regarding products and services. Notably, it is this
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Creative Organisations in the Hospitality Industry: TripAdvisor8 challenge that led to Kafeur starting up TripAdvisor.Therefore, word of mouth advertising such as TripAdvisor's crowdsourced reviews becomes vital in assisting users in accessing trustworthy and honest product evaluations. This is because such customer reviews are given freely by consumers based on their experience with the product (East, Uncles, Romaniuk & Lomax, 2016). Therefore, users value such type of product feedback compared to paid adverts which are mainly designed to sway a customer's decision towards a particular product. Medium of Communication As earlier stated, TripAdvisor is an online-based platform. Therefore, travel information is primarily relayed through TripAdvisor’s website brands and mobile applications. According to Stafford & Faber (2015), the internet has emerged as a revolutionary communication technology that has brought a new dimension to communication. A noticeable feature of the internet is that it enables access to a broad global audience. The main reason is that internet connectivity is present in almost all regions in the globe. Another feature brought by the internet is interactivity. Stafford & Faber (2015) defines interactivity as the ability of individuals and organizations to communicate regardless of the time and distance between them. This feature has been significantly crucial to TripAdvisor because it allows users to give their reviews on their travel experiences from all across the globe. Thus, this explains why TripAdvisor has aggregated numerous reviews on multiple travel locations from all around the world. Additionally, TripAdvisor utilizes other digital tools such as algorithms which generate ratings based on customer reviews. Thus, this helps users to evaluate the various travel products quickly.
Creative Organisations in the Hospitality Industry: TripAdvisor9 What makes TripAdvisor a genuinely innovative product The aspect that makes TripAdvisor a genuinely innovative product is on how effectively it solves the problem that it was designed to address. TripAdvisor avails the travel information that consumers need effectively and most importantly, to a vast global audience. The platform’s primary source of information is customer reviews. Thus users can trust and depend on the information. Notably, this information is obtained for free since users give their evaluations regarding various travel products willingly. Additionally, the use of algorithms properly organizes the data into a rating system, thus making it easier to interpret for users. The utilization of the internet enables TripAdvisor to access a global audience, and most importantly, obtain travel destination reviews from a worldwide audience. In this way, TripAdvisor has been able to fulfil travel information needs on a global scope. Conclusion In conclusion, TripAdvisor is a creative organisation. The company utilises innovation to deliver solutions to its global users. Led by its CEO, Stephen Kaufer, the firm primarily specialises in enabling access to authentic travel information among its users. The company does this by blending crowdsourced reviews and the power of the internet. In this way, the firm generates and avails useful information to a globally based travel audience.
Creative Organisations in the Hospitality Industry: TripAdvisor10 References Cantoni, L., & Xiang, Z. (2013).Information and communication technologies in tourism 2013. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. East, R., Uncles, M., Romaniuk, J., & Lomax, W. (2016). Measuring the impact of positive and negative word of mouth: A reappraisal.Australasian Marketing Journal (AMJ),24(1), 54-58. doi: 10.1016/j.ausmj.2015.12.003 Kinstler, L. (2018). How TripAdvisor changed travel. Retrieved 21 September 2019, from https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/aug/17/how-tripadvisor-changed-travel Lanthier, K. (2019). TripAdvisor's Stephen Kaufer on Shifting from Founder to CEO · Babson Thought & Action. Retrieved 21 September 2019, from https://entrepreneurship.babson.edu/tripadvisors-stephen-kaufer-on-shifting-from- founder-to-ceo/ Lubart, T. (2018).The creative process: Perspectives from Multiple Domains. Springer. Naz, F. (2014). Word of Mouth and Its Impact on Marketing.International Journal Of Scientific And Research Publications,4(1). Proctor, T. (2014).Creative Problem Solving for Managers: Developing Skills for Decision Making and Innovation. Routledge. Stafford, M., & Faber, R. (2015).Advertising, promotion, and new media. Routledge.
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Creative Organisations in the Hospitality Industry: TripAdvisor11 Team, T. (2018). Is TripAdvisor Fairly Valued?. Retrieved 21 September 2019, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2018/12/14/is-tripadvisor-fairly-valued/ #5667fd64172d TripAdvisor. (2019). TripAdvisor: Read Reviews, Compare Prices & Book. Retrieved 21 September 2019, fromhttps://www.tripadvisor.com/?fid=847218dc-5082-4720-9e4e- 3d2ea2c5a21d TripAdvisor. (2019). US Press Center | About TripAdvisor. Retrieved 21 September 2019, from https://tripadvisor.mediaroom.com/us-about-us Wang, Y., & Pizam, A. (2011).Tourism Destination Marketing and Management: Collaborative Strategies. CABI.