Web Mining in the Leisure Industry

From discounts to reward incentives, companies across the travel industry try to build customer loyalty and brand identity with "frequent traveller" programmes. But does it work?

Tom Anderson and Jesse Chen of Anderson Analytics will next week reveal their findings at the 2006 ESOMAR Leisure Conference, running November 5-7, in Rome. The paper is titled, "Web Mining in the Leisure Industry: Hotel Brands and Loyalty Programs through the Eye of the Frequent Traveller". In the study, Anderson Analytics "content-mined" data available on Flyertalk.com's discussion boards, one of the most highly trafficked travel domains. Flyertalk.com features chat boards and discussions that cover the most up-to-date traveller information.

Randy Petersen, founder of Flyertalk.com commented, "The social networking of travel information is a very hot topic these days and it includes both positive and negative experiences to be shared. I strongly believe that the travel industry can not only learn by listening to their customers in real-time, but that by being active where the customers are on the Internet, they can create a unique generation of loyal, repeat customers. Customer service these days is where the customer is, not where you are."

Text mining of websites can fill in the gaps between quantitative and qualitative data. Due to advances in software it is now possible to automatically identify and classify favourable or unfavourable terms relating to various brands and products. It is even possible to measure and categorize actual emotional reactions.

"The increasing importance of social media (consumer blogging and community boards) is changing how firms should measure marketing and PR effectiveness. Yet very few firms are allocating research funds to measuring the impact of this new media short of going in to monitor what is being said a few times a month," according to Rebecca Gillan, Senior VP, Research & Guest Satisfaction, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. "Consumer blogging and community boards are a rich data source allowing firms to gain unbiased/top of mind thoughts from consumers and having a method to mine thousands of comments so that management can understand what is being said is exciting."

To find out more about ESOMAR Leisure 2006 visit www.esomar.org

Anderson Analytics is online at www.andersoanalytics.com

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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