The influence of TripAdvisor portal on hotel bussines in Serbia

Numerous researches have shown the existence of influence of specialized Web 2.0 portals on hotel business. One of most famous portals of that kind is TripAdvisor. The goal of this work is to determine the degree and mode of representation of hotels in Serbia on TripAdvisor portal. The results of the conducted research show that in past years the number of hotels from Serbia represented on this portal has increased significantly. At the end of 2012 there have been registered 3.288 comments which evaluated the service quality of 165 hotels from Serbia. The average vote, on five-degree scale, calculated at the level of all represented hotels at the end of 2012 was 3,92. Considering that Belgrade represents the primarily business, administrative and touristic center of Serbia, on the Belgrade's hotels specimen there has been analyzed the connection between business performances of hotels expressed through indicator TREVPAR and their image on TripAdvisor expressed through average vote determined based on user's comments, as well as in relation with TripAdvisor Popularity Index (TPI). The results show the high degree of correlation between analyzed features on the specimen of Belgrade's hotels, in range of hotels of second (4*) and third category (3*). Having in mind the results of conducted research it is obvious that the hotels managers from Serbia should adopt and implement the corresponding procedures of monitoring and adequate reactions on contents on TripAdvisor, considering their influence on behavior of modern consumer in hotels.