The website design and Internet site marketing practices of upscale and luxury hotels in Turkey

Internet with current and emerging multimedia features provides ample opportunities and particularly useful for dealing with intangible nature of the service, and transforming marketing mix variables to capitalize on the informational and transactional potential of the Internet, and to gain a competitive advantage. This study utilizes content analysis to analyze the websites of a select group (4- and 5-star) of hotels in Turkey in terms of site design characteristics (interactivity, navigation, and functionality) and site marketing practices on the Internet. This study also investigates variations in design and use of marketing elements on the Internet based on hotel type (4- and 5-star resort and transient hotels). The findings showed that the hotels in Turkey are not utilizing the Internet to its full potential and effectively e-marketing their hotels regardless of the hotel type. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.