Determination of Digital Marketing Tools in Hospitality Businesses: The Case of Ankara

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to determine which digital marketing tools accommodation businesses use more effectively, to what extent they benefit, and what the advantages and disadvantages of digital marketing are from the managers' perspective. Design/Methodology/Approach – The phenomenology model, one of the qualitative research models, was used in the research. The working group consists of 15 accommodation establishments with tourism operation certificates, 3, 4 and 5 stars located in Ankara. A total of 15 questions were asked to the study group, 4 of which were prepared in accordance with the purpose of the research and included demographic information. In the data analysis, after the findings were analyzed with the content analysis method, they were separated by coding and transferred as (K1, K2, K3...) in the findings section. In addition, in the research, a table was created by performing frequency analysis through the SPSS program in order to see the percentage distribution of reservation sites and social media platforms. Findings – According to the findings of the research, it is seen that accommodation business managers perceive digital marketing as an effective tool in terms of increasing their sales and profitability, providing faster returns to customers and attracting potential customers, and increasing the awareness of accommodation businesses. It is possible to conclude that the managers of accommodation businesses mostly benefit from digital marketing tools in customer relationship management, advertising and marketing activities. Discussion – Accommodation businesses, which are among the important components of the tourism industry, can use digital marketing applications to establish more effective and permanent relationships with customers, increase visibility and awareness by being on social media platforms, create a brand identity with their websites, increase sales and profitability, reach more customers faster. and aims to reach it effectively. It was concluded that the accommodation business managers included in the study see digital marketing as a marketing strategy that makes it easier to manage customer relations, pricing and reservation channels.