Business Research: Online Accommodation Choices & Hotel Strategies

This business research project proposal aims to analyze how travelers choose accommodation online, focusing on the marketing strategies employed by hotels in Selangor. The study seeks to understand the thought processes of consumers when booking accommodations online to enhance the tourism industry and provide better facilities. The research will address key questions regarding preferred attributes during online booking and how marketing strategies can boost revenue for the hospitality sector. Utilizing an analytical research design, the study will collect primary data through questionnaires distributed to leisure and business travelers who have stayed in Selangor hotels. Quantitative data analysis techniques will be applied to the collected data, ensuring ethical considerations and data privacy are maintained throughout the research process. The expected outcome of the study is to provide valuable insights for improving the economic condition of the hotel business and tourism industry in Selangor, along with practical marketing strategies and a SWOT analysis of hotels.

Running head: PROPOSAL ON BUSINESS RESEARCH PROJECT
Proposal on Business Research Project
A CRITICAL ANALYSIS ON HOW TRAVELERS CHOOSE ACCOMMODATION ONLINE
WITH DETAIL ANALYSIS OF THE MARKETING STRATEGIES OF THE HOTELS
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1PROPOSAL ON BUSINESS RESEARCH PROJECT
Table of Contents
1. Introduction:.............................................................................................................................2
1.1. Rationale of the research...................................................................................................2
1.2. Objective of the study.......................................................................................................2
1.3. Research questions............................................................................................................2
2. Research Methodology:............................................................................................................3
2.1. Research context...............................................................................................................3
2.2. Research design.................................................................................................................3
2.3. Data collection process.....................................................................................................3
2.4. Methods for data analysis.................................................................................................4
2.5. Ethical consideration.........................................................................................................4
3. Discussion................................................................................................................................5
3.1. Significance of the research..............................................................................................5
3.2. Time table.........................................................................................................................5
4. Conclusion................................................................................................................................6
5. References................................................................................................................................8
6. Appendix..................................................................................................................................9

2PROPOSAL ON BUSINESS RESEARCH PROJECT
1. Introduction:
1.1. Rationale of the research
The research proposal aims to provide a detail analysis of choosing online
accommodation by travelers. The accommodation industry offers various range of
offers and attractive accommodation packages (Naletova 2017). This paper highlights
these points along with the explicit explanation of the marketing strategies various
hotels in Selangor.
1.2. Objective of the study
The core objective of the research is to recognize the thought process of the
consumers at the time of travelling. Studying these consumer behaviors will help to
improvise the tourism industry in terms of profit and tourist-friendly facilities
(Naletova 2017). Moreover, it will also help the travelers to make decisions regarding
lodging.
1.3. Research questions
RQ1. Which attributes are preferred by the travellers during online accommodation
booking?
RQ2. How the marketing strategies will lead to enhance revenue and sales of the
hospitality industry?

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2. Research Methodology:
2.1. Research context
The research study is based on the accommodation industry. Accommodation is
an integral part of the tourism sector (Naletova 2017). Thus the research context is
related to the travel and tourism organizations.
2.2. Research design
Among three types of research designs (Analytical, Exploratory, and
Explanatory), this research proceeds according to the analytical design approach as it
helps to evaluate the research concept in a descriptive way. Moreover, the Analytical
or Descriptive research design will also help the researcher to generate a
comprehensive idea of the topic of interest and also the theory behind it (Flick 2015).
2.3. Data collection process
The procedure through which data will be collected for further research and
inference generation is known a data collection process. The data collection method
can be classified into two types-
i. Primary data collection where data is collected by conducting interviews using
questionnaire or face-to-face interviews and surveys
ii. Secondary data collection where data is already available in journals, articles
and online websites.
In the course of this study, the primary data is used for the analysis and it is collected
by sending questionnaires to the travelers who have boarded in the hotels of Selangor.
These travelers are the participants of the research study and their responses will be

4PROPOSAL ON BUSINESS RESEARCH PROJECT
used for the further analysis. The data is collected for two groups which are leisure
travelers group and business travelers group. This specific division will help to
understand the preferences of the travelers in a better way (Wang et al. 2015). The
number of participants allowed for this research is approximately 50.
2.4. Methods for data analysis
Data are primarily of two types- Quantitative and Qualitative and so are the data
analysis techniques. In qualitative data analysis method, the researcher deals with the
simplification and interpretations of some scenarios of interest which are non-
numeric. On the other hand, the quantitative data analysis technique comprises of
analysing and transforming numeric data (Chevillet et al. 2014).
The present study topic demands to perform a quantitative analysis as the primary
data which will be collected are numeric in nature.
2.5. Ethical consideration
The researcher has to abide by some specific ethical norms in the course of a
research study. The Data Protection Act, 1998, has stated that the privacy of the
collected data should be strictly maintained and should not be published without the
prior concern of the authority who owns the data. Otherwise, there will be breaching
of data and that will be a punishable offense. Moreover, before the beginning of the
research and amendments application, the research needs to be reviewed by an ethics
committee (Harriss and Atkinson 2013).

5PROPOSAL ON BUSINESS RESEARCH PROJECT
3. Discussion
3.1. Significance of the research
The research topic analyses the factors and attributes related with the online
selection of accommodation by travelers. This study particularly focuses on the hotel
business of Selangor as this area had been in bad situation after the economic crisis.
The downturn of economic situation will be benefitted by the outcome of this study.
In addition to this, the thorough research is significant for business purposes as it will
provide a clear insight to the facts that are responsible for the sales and the business
expansion of the travel and tourism industry. Above all, this study will help to adopt
unique marketing strategies of the 3-star and 5-star hotels along with a SWOT
analysis. The online travel agencies should be managed well as these agencies help to
provide good number of travelers through online bookings (Li et al. 2015). Besides,
the guests’ reviews and recommendations in the online platforms should be
maintained cautiously as these reviews are another way to maintain the e-reputation
(Zhao et al. 2015). Another factor to increase revenue is to adopt proper rate strategy
of hotels and accommodations, building sales relationships with the third parties. It is
possible by applying revenue management technique into business scenarios. Lastly,
the professional communication with referents is also vital for growth of revenue and
sales (Marketing Solutions for Tourism Entrepreneurs 2018). A diagram (Fig 2) is
shown in the Appendix to show the clear understanding of the marketing strategy of
the hotels.

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3.2. Time table
The suggested timetable needed for the current research study is 24 weeks. This
timetable is displayed below:
Activities 1st
to 3rd
Week
4th
to 10th
week
11th
to 13th
Week
14th
to 17th
Week
18th
to 21st
Week
22nd
to 23rd
Week
24th
Week
Topic Selection 
Primary data
collection from
the participants
 
Layout creation 
Quantitative
analysis of the
collected data
   
Findings of the
data
 
Conclusion
drawn from the
analysis

Draft formation  
Final work
submission

Fig 1: Gantt chart
(Source: As created by the author)

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4. Conclusion
From the above research study, it can be concluded that this research study holds
an essential role to provide solutions for revenue enhancement and hospitality industry
expansion in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. This will help to improve the poor economic
condition and it will boost the travel and tourism industry. The review of travelers’ online
purchase decision for accommodation will help to answer the proposed research
questions. The analysis of the data after collection will provide logical business solutions.
Starting from online hotel booking to guest reviews, every detail will be included under
the scope of analysis of the researcher.

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5. References
5 Essential Hotel Marketing Strategy Steps - Marketing Solutions for Tourism Entrepreneurs.
[online] Available at: http://www.floriethielin.com/en/5-essential-hotel-marketing-strategy-
steps/ [Accessed 3 Aug. 2018].
Chevillet, J.R., Kang, Q., Ruf, I.K., Briggs, H.A., Vojtech, L.N., Hughes, S.M., Cheng, H.H.,
Arroyo, J.D., Meredith, E.K., Gallichotte, E.N. and Pogosova-Agadjanyan, E.L., 2014.
Quantitative and stoichiometric analysis of the microRNA content of exosomes. Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(41), pp.14888-14893.
Flick, U., 2015. Introducing research methodology: A beginner's guide to doing a research
project. Sage.
Harriss, D.J. and Atkinson, G., 2013. Ethical standards in sport and exercise science research:
2014 update·. International journal of sports medicine, 34(12), pp.1025-1028.
Li, G., Law, R., Vu, H.Q., Rong, J. and Zhao, X.R., 2015. Identifying emerging hotel
preferences using Emerging Pattern Mining technique. Tourism management, 46, pp.311-
321.
Naletova, V., 2017. How Travelers Choose Accommodation online.
Wang, M., Lu, Q., Chi, R.T. and Shi, W., 2015. How word-of-mouth moderates room price
and hotel stars for online hotel booking an empirical investigation with Expedia data.
Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, 16(1), p.72.

9PROPOSAL ON BUSINESS RESEARCH PROJECT
Zhao, X., Wang, L., Guo, X. and Law, R., 2015. The influence of online reviews to online
hotel booking intentions. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management,
27(6), pp.1343-1364.

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6. Appendix
The ethics form is shown below:
SECTION A
Yes No N/A
1 Will you describe the main research procedure to participants in
advance, so that they are informed what to expect?
2 Will you tell participants that their participation is voluntary?
3 Will you obtain written consent from participants? (please include the
consent form with your ethics submission)
4 If the research is observational, will you ask participants for their
consent to being observed.
5 Will you tell participants that they may withdraw from the research at
any time and for any reason?
6 With questionnaires/interviews, will you give participants the option
of omitting questions they do not want to answer?
7 Will you tell participants that their data will be treated with full
confidentiality and that, if published, it should not be identifiable as
theirs?
8 Will you debrief participants at the end of their participation (i.e. give

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them a brief explanation of the study)?
9 Will your project involve deliberately misleading participants in any
way?
10 Is there any realistic risk of any participants experiencing either
physical or psychological distress or discomfort?
11 Will it be possible to link identities or trace information back to
individual participants in any way?
12 Will the study involve discussion of sensitive topics (e.g. sexual
activity, drug use, ethnicity, political behaviour, potentially illegal
activities)?
13 Will financial inducements (other than reasonable expenses,
compensation for time or a lottery / draw ticket) be offered to
participants?
14 Does your project involve work with animals?
15 Do participants fall into any of
the following special groups?
If they do, please outline on page
2 how you will take account of
Schoolchildren
(under 18 years of age)
People with learning or