User categories of mobile travel services

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to identify user categories of mobile travel services and analyze the differences between the categories based on individual characteristics, the individuals' perceived barriers to use internet-/mobile services during a trip and the individuals' preferred channel strategies.

Design/methodology/approach

An extensive online survey in Finland was conducted to collect the data and a cluster analysis is used to identify the user categories.

Findings

The study indicates that there are four user categories of mobile travel services: “info-seekers”, “checkers”, “bookers” and “all-rounders” and one group of “non-users”.

Research limitations/implications

Due to the online data collection method and the self-selective process, the sample may be biased towards respondents finding electronic travel services important. It would be of value to conduct similar studies on a representative sample of the total population of different countries.

Practical implications

The identified categories can be seen as consumer segments for which travel service providers can target mobile services.

Originality/value

This study contributes with a categorization of mobile travelers and provides insights on the diffusion of mobile travel services.

Citation

Eriksson, N. (2014), "User categories of mobile travel services", Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 17-30. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHTT-10-2012-0028