Hills, J: Small Accommodation Providers and ‘eWOM‘

Electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM) has recently grown exponentially with advances in internet technology. This new information medium has shifted the power of publication from professional publishers to anyone with an internet connection. Users, and particularly consumers, can now add, edit and view the information available through websites using this technology. Those businesses expected to be the most significantly impacted by the information medium are small accommodation providers. Due to this threat many recommendations have been made as to what managers in these businesses should do. However, limited rigorous research has investigated how these managers perceive eWOM and how they are responding to the phenomenon. This research shows that both the perceptions and strategies of regional small accommodation providers are diverse, and specifically that eWOM is perceived both positively and negatively by different managers. The findings of the research should be of foremost interest to accommodation providers, while the implications are also important to management academics, third party website providers and tourism destination managers.