Technological divisions today transcend the issue of connection. Consumption habits and up to age create important differences between users.
by Glenn Whitiam*
We tend to conceive of the digital divide as the line that divides those who have access to the latest in technology and those who do not (who have previous technologies or none at all). Such a gap exists, but a series of studies from the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research have found other dimensions in the digital divide. That gap includes people who have the technology but use it in immensely different ways, starting with customers who will "use" the technology and those who "won't."
The hospitality industry views social media and mobile computing apps as a major trend in the foreseeable future, and there's no reason to believe those two technologies won't remain a major factor for many years to come. We also see a global electronic network of people sharing information and opinions about hotels, restaurants, casinos, cruise ships, whatever you want. Beyond that, we see the need to monitor and mine data from such sources. It's all true. But so is the fact that many people don't trust the network or don't use it at all, and research indicates that we don't want to ignore them.
Let's start with "future users" versus "non-future users" in relation to home delivery orders at casual quick-service restaurants. A study by Cornell professor Sheryl Kimes of 470 Internet users found that about half had placed their orders using a restaurant's website, a mobile app or a text message. A substantial number of those consumers won't use technology to place a food order because they're looking for a personal connection with someone at the restaurant.
The phone remains the main channel for ordering food (remember, among Internet users). For those who placed their order electronically, the most important factors for your site is that users feel confident that their order will be dispatched correctly. They also want to see the convenience and ease in processing their order, and are strongly inclined to restaurants that offer delivery. Number one among online orders: pizza.
Another recent study looked at how travelers do or don't use social media and the Internet to choose and book their hotel stay. The full report can be read at no cost at the Cornell Research Center, "How Travelers Use Social Media and the Internet to Make Hotel Selection Decisions." Authors Laura McCarthy, Debra Stock and Rohit Verma asked more than 2,800 travelers about how they collect information about their hotel purchases and how they make their reservations.
They found a digital divide between business and leisure travelers in terms of how both groups get information about hotels. Next, leisure travelers presented another type of digital divide between the sources they used to obtain information and the distribution channels to book their rooms.
Considering in the first instance the collection of information by business travelers, it is observed that they tended to use the hotels recommended by their company, even when they used search engines and online travel agents to agree on the details and reservations of the trip. In contrast, leisure travelers did a considerable search to collect information about hotels. That included consulting Facebook and other social sites and searching for online travel agents and search engines, but the number one source of travel information remains personal contacts with friends and family.
So we have another kind of digital divide: customers who use the Internet for information, but still rely too much on traditional voice-to-speech. With the basic information and recommendations at hand, leisure travelers were more likely to search for fare and availability data from electronic sources, including the brand's website, online travel agencies and meta sites. Finally, at the end of the process, travelers could book their rooms through the brand's website or an online travel agent (OTA).
Digital divides don't just appear when we examine how customers use the Internet for their searches or bookings with travel providers; research has also shown a demographic digital divide. Such a division appeared in Kimes' report on electronic food orders. Users of the technology tended to be younger than non-users, and in general users were also regular customers of restaurants.
But there is more (as the saying goes). At the Cornell Hospitality Research Summit talks last fall, Chris Klauda, vice president of quality services for D.K. Shifflet Associates, outlined the dimensions of the demographic digital divide. The challenge begins with the fact that online sampling "only" covers about 75% of U.S. households. There are many people, but it is important to consider the 25% that is left out of internet studies. To do this, D.K. Shifflet studied two consumer groups. A group of nearly 52,000 people received a monthly survey by physical mail. The other of nearly 23,000 consumers filled out a monthly online questionnaire.
What D.K. Shifflet's study found is that Internet-only market research studies are not representative of two major groups: business travelers and households with incomes above $50,000. So if your primary market segment is leisure travelers with household incomes below $50,000 (which is a valuable market), you can rely on consumer data from Internet sources. But act cautiously when it comes to business and exclusive travelers. A combination of electronic and traditional market analysis is probably the best option.
These studies present an overview over time, and we know that the general trend pressures the advancement of Internet and social media use. However, we must not let the enthusiasm for electronic sources lead us to neglect the multiple dimensions of the digital divide, whether for users versus non-users or for business travelers versus leisure travelers. Simply put, don't disconnect your phone line yet.
* Glenn Withiam is director of publications for the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research.
