2013). Brand-building website design for independent hotels: a replicated model. Innovative Marketing , 9(1) RELEASED ON Abstract This paper aims to explore the opportunities that online marketing has to offer and contribute towards small independent hotels in view of the recent decline in hotel brand loyalty. This decline has been fuelled by consumer trends for 'getting their money's worth' and the ability for the small or medium-sized hospitality establishments to reach consumers via Web

more »

... Marketing Strategies. This has narrowed the competition gap with larger international hotel chains considerably. The paper includes a study which identifies the features of hotel websites that are essential to the building and structure of an effective hotel website. The six key elements identified in this paper are accessibility, information, credibility, e-commerce, customer relationship and immediacy. The reliability and validity of this six-element framework as a reflection of user requirements was 'derived' and established using empirical data from a survey. These six elements are established factors in granting online customer satisfaction and gaining customer loyalty. An important or crucial sector covered by this study is the Guest User Interface (GUI) of websites (accessibility). It has proven to be evident that attractive, easy to use or a user friendly interface is vital to keep consumers on the site without navigating them to another site long enough to make decisions. The conclusion of this paper is that independent hotels must leverage this opportunity by establishing a strong Web presence and capitalize on other sideline recommendations which include collaborations with third-party booking sites (such as Hotels.com) and developing informative, feature-rich websites of their own.